Successful former secretary Emily Skillcorn has risen through the ranks to become associate solicitor – and now heads up Jacksons’ equine law services.
A qualified solicitor who graduated in 2017 continues to inspire other young professionals, as she celebrates six years with Jacksons Law with two recent promotions.
Emily Skillcorn, who has dreamed of becoming a solicitor since the age of 15, is now head of Equine Law services at Jacksons, where she rose from the role of secretary to associate solicitor in little over five years.
Emily is also one of three young lawyers from Jacksons who set up the NEtwork, to help new professionals grow their networks.
The trio felt that networking events they experienced weren’t very inviting to younger or junior colleagues and could even be quite overwhelming.
But now the trio host a regular event of their own – and Emily is has flourished in her Jacksons career, where she also devotes her time to extra activities outside of work.
This includes work with the High Tide Foundation, a charity of which Jacksons is a corporate patron, where she is supported to inspire other young people.
The charity delivers meaningful work experience and careers programmes to schools, colleges and young people across the Tees Valley.
Speaking of her Jacksons career, Emily said:
“It’s been a wonderful six years of gaining lots of new experiences and trying out seats in different departments, as well as meeting and working with the amazing team here at Jacksons.
“I’m looking ahead to the next stage in my career with confidence and optimism, thanks to the support of people around me who have helped me reach this point.”
Emily graduated in Law from Durham University in June 2017 and initially started her career as a receptionist and later secretary with a Middlesbrough-based criminal law firm.
However, she was determined to get more exposure to different areas of law and joined Jacksons as a secretary in 2018.
Emily said: “I started in the residential conveyancing department, dealing with all elements of conveyancing transactions, including home sales and purchases, remortgages and buy-to-lets.
“When training to become a solicitor, you tend to rotate around different specialisms and in doing so, I realised I could make my dream to become a solicitor as a 15-year-old come true!”
Emily started her training contract in law in March 2020, but was three weeks in when Covid hit and she was put on furlough.
Thankfully, Emily resumed her training contract in July 2020, when hybrid working became the norm in office life.
Emily spent four days per week at work and one day per week at University to complete her Masters.
She experienced seats in Litigation and Debt Recovery, Family and Commercial Property, as she worked towards her LLM in Legal Practice at Northumbria University.
In March 2022, she qualified as a solicitor and now works full time in the firm’s Litigation and Debt Recovery department, from the Teesside head office.
She now deals with all aspects of dispute resolution, including contractual disputes, professional negligence, landlord and tenant disputes and debt recovery.
Emily said: “I enjoy working at Jacksons and it offers a very good work life balance, with the chance to progress in your career.
“In the six years I have worked here, I have gone from being a secretary, to a trainee solicitor and eventually becoming fully qualified and then further promoted with a great deal of support from senior colleagues.
“Jacksons is a great firm for young trainees to experience many different specialisms and the firm have also been very supportive of Charlotte, Samantha and I in our networking endeavours.”
