Family law solicitor career at Crombie Wilkinson Solicitors

We are pleased to share blogs written by our staff, talking about their job role, working at the firm and career progression at Crombie Wilkinson Solicitors.

In this blog by Laura Parke, Solicitor in our Family Law team at Crombie Wilkinson Solicitors, she talks about her career journey with us.

Thank you to Laura for sharing your career journey so far at Crombie Wilkinson Solicitors.

In his own words, Laura said:

"I graduated from The University of York in 2019, and completed my LPC LLM in 2021 as a mature student. I knew I wanted to qualify as a Family Solicitor but I had no ‘legal’ work experience. A friend of mine from University worked at Crombie Wilkinson and told me about a position as a Legal Secretary in the Family Team. She really recommended the firm and the job role sounded perfect for me, so I applied.

I started with the firm in December 2021 and I initially worked as a Legal Assistant for one of the Directors. I applied for a Training Contract in early 2023 and was successful in obtaining one starting in November 2023. I was also offered a role as a Paralegal from May 2023 until my training contract started. I found this gradual progression really helpful as by the time I started my Training Contract I was already familiar with the case management software, and the procedures and processes. My autonomy also increased with my career progression.

My first seat in my Training Contract was in Private Family Law which was the area I had always worked in. I then went on to complete a seat in Public Family Law, and one in Private Client before returning to Private Family Law after being offered a job upon qualification. I was also able to use my previous work in the family team to reduce my Training Contract by 6 months, qualifying in May 2025. The firm supported my career development and growth throughout, and I feel I have been really lucky to have the support of my line managers in achieving my goal of qualifying as a solicitor.

I would advise anybody approaching a career in law not to be afraid to take an ‘entry level’ job as not only did it open the door to other opportunities for me, I feel it has actually made me better at what I do. Seize every opportunity you are given to attend court, or training courses etc as it all helps you to learn.

For now, I am settling into my role as a solicitor, and I intend to stay at Crombie Wilkinson for the foreseeable future. I hope to progress to Associate in due course and am excited to be working with others on expanding our Family Law offering to include areas such as matters involving unmarried couples and TOLATA claims."