A newly-qualified lawyer has secured a highly-competitive training contract with a leading law firm.
Briony Finn completed her law studies at the University of Chichester and graduated in 2024. She will now join the training programme at Irwin Mitchell. Growing up in Gosport, Hampshire gave her firsthand understanding of legal challenges that shaped her career path.
According to Ms Finn, people close to her needed legal help when she was young, especially concerning family disputes or inheritance issues.
She explained that around the age of 15 or 16, several friends’ families could not access the legal support they required, which highlighted to her how vital accessible legal services are.
Initially, Ms Finn considered a different academic path.
She said she originally planned to study forensic science, but was unable to obtain the required mathematics qualification.
She added that she was lucky to have a teacher named Fiona who motivated her to continue her education at college.
She then chose to study law at the University of Chichester, where she gained practical experience.
Ms Finn recommended that students should not wait to pursue work experience while studying for their degree.
She completed several short mini pupillages in Chichester and took part in the Access to the Bar programme, which her Senior Law Lecturer Amy Elkington suggested she pursue during her first year.
This experience really set her graduate job applications apart – in fact, she obtained the first position she applied for after completing her studies.
All these efforts help strengthen your CV.
She found her tutors at Chichester very helpful whenever she had questions.
After graduating, she worked as a paralegal in the Will, Trust and Estate Disputes team at Irwin Mitchell’s Chichester branch.
She discovered the training contract vacancy through a LinkedIn post by the firm’s Early Careers Service.
Ms Finn mentioned that discussions with current trainees at the firm showed her different routes into training, which encouraged her to submit her application for the training contract in October 2025.
She received notification of her success the previous month, which was wonderful news.
Irwin Mitchell is among the United Kingdom’s largest law firms, providing specialist legal advice to individual clients and businesses alike.