Connor Hawkins’s Career Journey
Connor Hawkins became Bolt Burdon Kemp’s first Solicitor Apprentice Qualifier after joining us as a Graduate Solicitor Apprentice in 2022.
Read on to find out more about Connor’s career journey to date, and his experience of the apprenticeship route.
- What’s your first memory of wanting to become a lawyer?
I don’t have a specific memory of when I first wanted to be a lawyer. In all honesty, the prospect seemed quite out of my grasp when I was a student at a non-selective state secondary school. I always knew I wanted a rewarding career, and I had an amazing history teacher who used to be a lawyer. I remember asking her about it and how someone becomes a lawyer, and I ran with it from there.
- What attracted you to working at Bolt Burdon Kemp?
I remember when studying for my LLB that the law module I always loved the most was Tort. I remember then seeing the ad for the Graduate Apprenticeship with BBK and reading about the firm. I think there were two main things that attracted me at first. Number one – the firm only did Claimant PI / Clinical Negligence work. I knew I wasn’t going to work for a firm that had its hand in a hundred different pies and I was not going to have to work in an area that I had no interest in. And number two – the firm seemed really committed to social mobility. I felt that the firm was interested in all of my experience and not just what vacation schemes I had taken part in.
- Why did you decide to take the apprenticeship route?
Before the SQE apprenticeship route, you would have to either go down the traditional sponsored training contract, in which a firm paid for you to sit the LPC and then commence training. The problem with this was, nearly all law firms required you to do this full-time and I was already working full-time in a supermarket, and I could not afford to quit my job to study full-time and unpaid for the exam. Otherwise, I could have self-funded the LPC and hoped to get a training contract down the road. However, it was very difficult for me to commit to spending a great deal of money on the LPC without any guaranteed return on that investment. The apprenticeship route allowed me to work (while earning a wage) and to simultaneously study towards my qualification. This allowed someone like me to commit to a qualification route that did not disadvantage me because of my financial status.
- What impact do you think the apprenticeship has made on your route to qualification?
On the broad picture, I am doubtful that I would have qualified without the apprenticeship. Aside from the financial aspects, the apprenticeship allows you to gain real legal experience while studying for the SQE, which means that a lot of the content you study is no longer merely theoretical to you. I was studying service deadlines whilst drafting and serving Particulars of Claim for instance. This had a big benefit on my studies which I think has been really important and useful, in particular with the adjustment to the SQE.
- What was the most challenging part of your qualification journey?
I think the most challenging aspect has definitely been the SQE. I found the SQE, in particular SQE1, to be so unlike any exam I had ever done before that I think it took some real adjustment to navigate its structure. I did not pass SQE1 on the first sitting and I think that was a real blow for me, as I had never struggled so much with an exam before in my life. However, with some good advice from my manager at the time I managed to pick myself up and press on to adapt to the exam.
- And what was the most rewarding?
I think the whole experience has been incredibly rewarding, in particular looking back at my progress from when I first joined compared to my experience now moving into qualification. I was very inexperienced and somewhat self-conscious when I started. However, looking back I have made massive strides and really think of myself as being well equipped to start my journey as a solicitor.
- Who is your biggest inspiration?
My parents. From a young age they worked so hard to give me better opportunities than I would have had otherwise. My dad, in particular, put a lot of faith in me and worked hard to ensure I had a strong career that he didn’t. As a bricklayer, I would see him leave for work at 5am and return at 7pm, physically exhausted but always pushing me to do well in school. I know much of his work was in service of giving me opportunities that he didn’t have when growing up and I hope that by continuing to develop my career he can see a return on that investment.
- Do you have any tips for others considering an apprenticeship?
Have a really strong understanding of why you want to work in an area of law and what you want to get out of the apprenticeship. The apprenticeship is difficult and if you have a really strong understanding of why you are doing it and you love the work that you do, it will make it all worth it in the end. I don’t think it is enough to simply know that you want to be a solicitor, you should know what type of solicitor you want to be and why.
- What are you most looking forward to on the next step of your career journey?
I am really looking forward to working in our Brain Injury Division as a solicitor and to work closely with our clients to bring them the best results possible in their claims.
