“It’s a great feeling, something that I’m really proud of. When you look at all the other finalists and everyone who was shortlisted in the subcategories, and you see the great work they are all doing it really is an honour to be singled out for my work and contributions to the area. Not only that, but it also serves as a bit of a driver, not that you do the work to win awards, but it certainly helps put a smile back on your face when you are having a bad day and you can look at your award and think – yeah, I did that.”
How long have you worked for Mander Hadley?
“I’ve been at Mander Hadley for four years specialising in Mental Capacity Law, and Wills and Probate. Prior to that I’d spent three years at Coventry City Council Legal Services in the Adult Social Care department.”
What is the most satisfying part of what you do? / what is your favourite part of your job?
“It’s the ability to genuinely help people through a difficult period using skills and knowledge I have had to work hard at to get. My area of law is very client facing and people focused, and I’m often dealing with clients who are going through some kind of crisis. Being able to advise them, and assist them through these times and seeing the resulting relief this can bring is really rewarding. Whether that be obtaining legal authorities to assist loved ones who have Mental Capacity Issues, or just taking the pressure off the family when a relative has passed away, it’s really satisfying to be in a position to help, but also doubly rewarding to be in that position and have that opportunity because of the work I’ve had to put in to get that skill set.”
What tips would you give for someone wanting to become a Solicitor?
“Learn to love coffee – it’s your friend!
Joking aside, it goes without saying but – work hard. The legal profession is ultra-competitive, so you are only doing yourself a disservice by not going for it 100%. This applies to all aspects, whether it be at degree level, training, applying for jobs and in even more so when practicing. That one extra change to a CV, or that additional networking event, might just be the difference to being given a great career opportunity!
Be open minded. None of the practice areas that I’ve had exposure to were areas that I thought I would want to work in. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t aim for the area you want, or indeed that you should settle for something else, but at least be open to trying your hand at something different as it often turns out to be really enjoyable, and in my case lead to developing a specialism in an area of law that I can really focus my career on.
Be patient and resilient. Not everyone will fall out of law school and into the dream training contract with the big city firm. Whilst this does happen, there are even more stories of people having to start at the very bottom and work their way up, and there’s often a lot of heartache and rejection along the way. Wherever you end up, it’s important to maximise these opportunities and get the most out of them and learn from the experience. If you can stay patient whilst maintaining the drive to achieve your goal of qualification you will ultimately get there, (it took me 8 years after graduating!), and it makes it even more satisfying in the end.”
The thoughts and opinions expressed on this blog are those of Andriy Buniak and do not necessarily reflect those of Coventry and Warwickshire First. All content on this blog is for informational purposes only. The owner of the blog is not responsible for content found by following any link on this site.
We are delighted to announce that Paige Howitt has taken over as Chair of the Young Professionals network for the next 12 months. Paige takes over from 2017/18 Chair Holly Brain.
Paige is a Corporate Tax Senior at Dafferns and has been an active Young Professionals committee member since 2013. She is an avid fundraiser and has achieved her ACCA and a Batchelor’s degree alongside working full time. She is also a finalist in this year’s Young Professional category at FirstPro.
Paige said:
“I am delighted to be taking over as chair of CWFYP and look forward to the year ahead. I’d like to thank Holly Brain on behalf of the network for all of her hard work over the last year. I hope to increase the size of the network and fulfil members’ expectations. If you have any suggestions on what you would like to see from the network, I’d be happy to hear from you.”
If you’d like to get involved in the Young Professionals committee yourself we do have a small number of vacancies for motivated, enthusiastic individuals. For further information and to express your interest please contact Paige.
The thoughts and opinions expressed on this blog are those of Chrissie Elliot-Duxson (or guest contributors) and do not necessarily reflect those of Coventry and Warwickshire First. All content on this blog is for informational purposes only. The owner of the blog is not responsible for content found by following any link on this site.
2017 has been another great year for the Young Professionals group with plenty of events, fundraising and networking opportunities.
We started the year with the inaugural YoungPro awards. These were put on as a joint project between the Coventry and Warwickshire First main group and the Young Professionals, to showcase the region’s most talented young people. We were able to recognise some of the impressive work going on in and around the city, and we were delighted with the calibre of the nominations received. The next YoungPro event is due to take place on 26 January 2018 with the shortlist to be announced soon. Book your tickets now.
Also in 2017 we were delighted to announce that we had raised £650 for our nominated charity for 2016/17, Molly Olly’s Wishes. We continued our 2017 fundraising efforts with our 2017/18 nominated charity, Free Radio’s Cash for Kids, and we have already raised over £800.
This year’s social events included a beer and pizza evening run jointly with Handelsbanken, and our annual rounders tournament. We also took a trip to The Other Place in Stratford for a theatre and costume tour as well as some networking.
In October we held a second successful Young Professionals quiz at the Triumph Club in Coventry. This was in aid of our charity of the year and was won by Shakespeare’s.
Chair Holly Brain announces the winners of our charity quiz
The end of the football season saw Nathan Lapsley from Wright Hassall win the Young Professionals fantasy football league.
Last but not least we’ve had some committee changes this year. I handed over my Chairmanship to Holly Brain of HCB Group. We also said goodbye to Carl Malcolm, Phil Ballard and Sal Khan, and welcomed Vangeya Murphy and Molly Alcock.
In 2018 we look forward to bringing you another exciting range of events including a murder mystery and a networking event at Rising Café in Coventry.
In the meantime we wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
The thoughts and opinions expressed on this blog are those of Chrissie Elliot-Duxson (or guest contributors) and do not necessarily reflect those of Coventry and Warwickshire First. All content on this blog is for informational purposes only. The owner of the blog is not responsible for content found by following any link on this site.
We are delighted to announce that the Young Professionals have raised around £650 for local charity Molly Olly’s Wishes during the past tax year.
Molly Olly’s Wishes aim to support the lives of children with terminal or life threatening illnesses throughout The Midlands and the UK, and to advise and assist their families. The money raised helps support children and their families who need additional help beyond that given by the NHS and its supporting bodies.
We have been really excited to support the charity over the last year and would like to thank everyone who contributed to the total raised. The money was raised through various events such as YoungPro 2017 and our Historic Warwick Charity Trail.
We can also now announce that our charity for the next year is Free Radio’s Cash for Kids. Charity Officer Paige Howitt said:
“With Free Radio being our local broadcaster, the decision was made to work with them and support the children of Coventry and Warwickshire. All money goes to local children so that they can ‘live life to the full and realise their potential.’ It seemed a good charity to support as our local children are the young professionals of the future and we felt that it’s important to support children now to ensure they have the opportunities we currently have as part of the network”.
Free Radio Cash for Kids is a part of Bauer Radio’s Cash for Kids, a registered charity (1122062).
We’ve started our fundraising efforts with a raffle for Coventry Blaze tickets at our summer networking event, which was won by Kimberley Brookes from Wright Hassall. We are also organising a charity quiz which will take place on Thursday 28 September 2017. If you would like to enter a team please contact Paige Howitt – Paige.Howitt@dafferns.com
In the meantime you can make a donation at any time by visiting our fundraising page.
The thoughts and opinions expressed on this blog are those of Chrissie Elliot-Duxson (or guest contributors) and do not necessarily reflect those of Coventry and Warwickshire First. All content on this blog is for informational purposes only. The owner of the blog is not responsible for content found by following any link on this site.
We’re delighted to announce that this season’s online Fantasy Football League was won by Nathan Lapsley of Wright Hassall. That means the trophy has been won by a Wright Hassall employee for the second year in a row after Steve Halkett took it last year.
Steve was relegated to second place this season with Craig Spafford in third.
Chelley Yates and Patrick Murtagh brought up the rear with a total of 28 teams taking part this season. Better luck next time Chelley and Patrick!
Many thanks to former Young Professionals committee member Phil Ballard for setting up the league.
The thoughts and opinions expressed on this blog are those of Chrissie Elliot-Duxson (or guest contributors) and do not necessarily reflect those of Coventry and Warwickshire First. All content on this blog is for informational purposes only. The owner of the blog is not responsible for content found by following any link on this site.
Before we get too stuck in to 2017, let’s take a moment to look back at some of the highlights of being a member of Coventry and Warwickshire First Young Professionals in 2016. A fantastic range of social events
We had lots of fun building relationships through social events in 2016. We began with a curry at former Chair Gus Bhandal’s pub, going to on the annual CII quiz, a trampoling social at JumpIn Warwick and of course our annual Christmas dinner! These social events are a real committee team effort but special thanks should go to Dan Smith and Holly Brain, our Social Officers. Donating £1,500 to Myton Hospice
Our ‘Charity of the year’ runs to the same timings as the tax year, so in April we were delighted to be able to give Myton Hospice a cheque for £1,500 representing funds raised from a number of fundraising events. These included the wolf run, Halloween quiz and table football. Joint Charity Officer Paige Howitt was instrumental in our fundraising work leading to her winning Charity Fundraiser of the Year at a local awards ceremony. Our first ever rounders win!
After playing an annual rounders match with the Young Lawyers for a number of years we finally won! Around 50 attendees turned up to have a go at this fun summer event. A new mentor scheme cohort
Lots of work was put in by our mentor scheme co-ordinator, Kelly Schofield, alongside Keith Boxley from the main CW First group, to ensure that a new cohort could join the mentor scheme. This time round we had eight pairings and had a launch event at Wright Hassall.
We hope that 2017 will be just as action packed. We kick off with the YoungPro awards run by CW First and hope to bring you a quiz, football tournament and CPD seminars along with our usual networking sessions.
On Friday 2 December we held the annual Young Professionals Christmas party.
This year we took over a section of the White Horse in Leamington Spa for a three-course dinner and plenty of conversation. There were representatives from a wide range of sectors including automotive, education, finance, banking, legal, insolvency and insurance. We were delighted to welcome new members Chloe Pass and Chrystal Wheatcroft from Yorkshire Bank.
The main topics of conversation for the evening were the nominations for the first ever YoungPro awards taking place in January and of course preparations for Christmas! The YoungPro awards will be our next event and you can book on here.
The 2016 Young Professionals Christmas meal at the White Horse
Myself and representatives from Mander Hadley, HCB Accountants and Aston Martin enjoying the Christmas party
Adam Bexon from Burrows Scarborough enjoying the Christmas dinner
If you have any other photos from the Christmas meal that you’d like to share with us please email them to C.A.Duxson@warwick.ac.uk
The thoughts and opinions expressed on this blog are those of Chrissie Elliot-Duxson (or guest contributors) and do not necessarily reflect those of Coventry and Warwickshire First. All content on this blog is for informational purposes only. The owner of the blog is not responsible for content found by following any link on this site.
At the end of September the Young Professionals held a new event for this year – the Historic Warwick Charity Trail.
Participants had to follow the trail around Warwick answering questions about the history of the town, with the first person to finish answering the most questions correctly winning a prize. Fabulous new Warwick restaurant Dough and Brew, who specialise in woodfired pizzas, were kind enough to donate the prize of a meal for two with a bottle of wine.
There were several participants who came close to winning including Raymond Nsemwa from RBS and Graham Ball from National Grid, but in the end Dan Smith from BRI just beat them to it.
A lot of fun was had during the evening, which also included several pub stops along the route of the trail. It was great to see some new faces from Leigh Christou as well as representation from finance, accounting, legal, banking, engineering and insolvency sectors.
The most interesting fact we learned on the night was that the Lord Leycester Hospital building was never actually used as a hospital!
The £140 raised will go towards the total raised for the young professionals current charity of the year – Molly Olly’s Wishes.
The thoughts and opinions expressed on this blog are those of Chrissie Elliot-Duxson (or guest contributors) and do not necessarily reflect those of Coventry and Warwickshire First. All content on this blog is for informational purposes only. The owner of the blog is not responsible for content found by following any link on this site.
On Tuesday 26 July we held the Young Professionals Summer Networking at The Moorings at Myton.
It was great to see some new faces including Raymond Nsemwa from RBS and Jessica Fletcher-Hall and Emma Parry from Alsters Kelly. There was representation from a number of Warwickshire businesses including Wright Hassall, Burrows Scarborough, BRI and the University of Warwick. We were also delighted to welcome committee member Jodi Pearson back from maternity leave. She is now working as a self-employed consultant.
We were fairly lucky with the weather so managed to make the most of sitting out by the canal.
This month’s business card draw for a bottle of Prosecco was won by Rubeena Mehat from Mander Hadley. We also held a raffle for our chosen charity, Molly Olly’s Wishes, for which the prize was a bottle of Prosecco donated by Vin Neuf, and a bottle of red wine donated by HCB Group. This was won by Liz Jennings who is also from Mander Hadley so it was a lucky night for them!
We won’t be holding a Young Professionals event in August because we know a lot of you have holiday plans, but we’ll be back with two events in September to make up for it. Keep an eye on the events page for more details.
The thoughts and opinions expressed on this blog are those of Chrissie Elliot-Duxson (or guest contributors) and do not necessarily reflect those of Coventry and Warwickshire First. All content on this blog is for informational purposes only. The owner of the blog is not responsible for content found by following any link on this site.
On 30th June we held our annual joint event with the Warwickshire Young Lawyers. As usual this took the form of a game of rounders followed by pizza and networking.
The weather just about held out and, although it was very cold, it didn’t actually start raining until the last whistle had already blown.
I’m delighted to report that we had around 50 people take part this year. The Young Professionals narrowly beat The Young Lawyers in our first ever victory. It was fantastic to see people from so many different businesses and sectors take part, including representatives from the Coventry University Law Faculty, HCB Group and Lodders Solicitors, as well as from our sponsors.
Talking of sponsors we need to thank Robert Walters, St Ives Chambers and Wright Hassall LLP who all sponsored this year’s event. Without them we would have been unable to provide the food, drinks and equipment. I’d also like to thank the Xcel Centre Coventry who allowed us to use their facilities free of charge for the evening.
Rebecca Freeman gives the team a motivational talk
Getting ready to run for it!
Some praise should go to Carl Malcolm from Legal and General, who I believe scored a rounder on every go! My personal highlight was when the 15kg of pizza turned up to feed us!
Attendees munch their way through 15kg of pizza – well it’s hungry work playing rounders!
The next Young Professionals event is Summer Networking at The Moorings at Myton on Tuesday 26 July at 5.30pm. The Moorings is run by two young entrepreneurs and has a large beer garden next to the canal (but also a large indoor area in case the sun we’re keeping our fingers crossed for doesn’t appear!). Please register for your place now so we know to expect you.
The thoughts and opinions expressed on this blog are those of Chrissie Elliot-Duxson (or guest contributors) and do not necessarily reflect those of Coventry and Warwickshire First. All content on this blog is for informational purposes only. The owner of the blog is not responsible for content found by following any link on this site.
