shelter and I’ve been here ever since. I finished off the training. I was actually articled to John Clarke, who’s based in our Lewes office, and didn’t intend to be here for 22 years. So the thing that I always say is that law is a very female friendly and non-ageist career. I think it gives many people opportunities that you might not find in other walks of life just because of the type of work, in a sense, the more experience of life you can bring with you, the better you are at it and the better your relationship with the client can be. When I first came here and first qualified, we didn’t specialise as much and I primarily did a big mixture of property work and a lesser amount of probate, trusts and wills, and then over the years we have all had to specialise down even more. I think I’m probably the only head of department who’s a hybrid because I still do some property work as well as doing the rest, but to a much lesser degree than in the past - but the thinking in the past was more that you really qualified, unless you had a burning passion to go off and do something you fitted in with whatever the firm’s needs were at the time. So regardless of what your personal preference might have been, if they need a property lawyer you wanted to stay and you became a property lawyer.
People now tend to have a more fixed image of what they see themselves doing. So quite often trainees who we would have kept but they want specifically to do something in an area that we had no need for will go, which is a great shame because you’ve put all that effort into growing them and then they disappear. But that’s life, people are different and firms are different because the nature of the work has changed insofar as there is a stronger sort of commercial outlook on the part of law firms now because people can do so much more for themselves, or they think they can. There’s so much more information out there on the internet and whereas at one time people weren’t brave enough to have a go at things, they would just pile through the front door, they don’t anymore. So you might feel competitive, you have to be much more alert and the younger solicitors coming through are much more business aware than we ever had t ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????M??????e?????????????????????$???????Q??????????????????M???????$???????????%?e?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????]??????????????????????????????????????????????????????Q???e??????()?????????????????????????????????%?e?????????????$?????e???????????????????'?e?????????A???????????????????????$?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????Q????????????????????????????????????????????????????????$????????????????$??????????????????????????e??????????????????????????????????????????????e???????????????????????????????????????????????I???5??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????%?e???????????????????????????e???????????'?e?????????????????????????????????????'?e???????????e????????????????????????$????????e????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????M???????????????????????????????????????????M????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ??????????????????????$???????????????????????????????????????????e?????????????????????%?e??????????????????????????????????????????$???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????((??((