Eastbourne law firm trains the next generation of legal talent

Catherine Mears, Kate Gillies, and Katie Bacchus have all been awarded training contracts at the Eastbourne-headquartered law firm.

SO Legal is delighted to announce that Catherine Mears, Kate Gillies, and Katie Bacchus have been awarded training contracts at the firm. They are the latest in a long line of aspiring solicitors to benefit from the Sussex-based firm's established paralegal-to-trainee scheme - designed to bring through the next generation of legal talent.

The firm is proud of its record of awarding over 25 opportunities since the scheme's inception in 2016 - with almost all trainees going on to successfully qualify for the profession.

New trainee contracts 2023:• Catherine Mears joined SO Legal's Eastbourne team as a paralegal in August 2022. In 2021 she completed her Bachelor of Laws qualification in international law. She currently attends Nottingham Law School, where she is studying for her Legal Practice Course qualification alongside a masters in Professional Legal Practice.

• Kate Gillies joined SO Legal as a paralegal in August 2022. She graduated from Newcastle University, having studied Law (LLB), and is now completing her Legal Practice Course with masters (LLM) at the University of Law.

• Katie Bacchus joined SO Legal's Brighton team as a paralegal in July 2022. She is currently studying for the Solicitors Qualifying Examinations (SQE) to qualify as a solicitor. Katie graduated from the University of Southampton with a 1:1 in History and obtained a distinction in the Post Graduate Diploma in Law (PGDL) at BPP University.

Elsewhere, Dylan Leet, Hemmat Ovaisi, Jessica Barnes, Megan Grover, and Nathalie Mackinnon are also currently undertaking training contracts with SO Legal.

Securing a training contract is one of the toughest challenges graduates and paralegals face in the legal industry. The Law Society's latest annual statistics report highlights that annual trainee registrations dropped by two per cent to 5,495 – the lowest in the past five years.

Trainee opportunities at regional law firms are also extremely limited - with the City of London making up over a third of all registrations. Collectively, with the rest of London, half of all registrations are within Greater London.

Hamed Ovaisi, managing director and co-founder at SO Legal, said: "We are delighted to welcome Catherine, Kate and Katie as our latest trainees. I want to congratulate them for embarking on this important milestone in their careers, and we wish them success.

"We heavily invest in our paralegals and trainees, allowing them to build long-term careers at our firm. The number of those who choose to stay with us once qualifying is a testament to the quality of our training programme. We have a reputation for promoting from within wherever possible - several of our senior solicitors, including partners, joined us as trainees."

Co-founder Jamie Salvidge added: "When we founded the firm, a significant part of our aspiration was to provide opportunities to aspiring, ambitious young solicitors. We've seen some extremely dedicated and talented trainees come through the process at SO Legal, and I'm sure these three exceptional ladies will be no different. It is a proud moment for all of us."

Established in Eastbourne in 2016, SO Legal is a specialist law firm with offices in Brighton, Hastings, London, Uckfield, and Ulverston, with a diverse client base, including national retail and restaurant chains, commercial agents, property agents, developers, and private individuals.

The firm provides a range of legal services, including commercial property, corporate law, litigation and dispute resolution, private client, and residential property.