Career stories: Beth Nixon
鈥淲hat people don鈥檛 seem to understand is that my life isn鈥檛 an episode of 'Suits'. I wasn鈥檛 the richest and brightest student. I didn鈥檛 study at Oxford.鈥
鈥淚鈥檝e worked for every penny since the age of 15, my dad breaks his back trying to make ends meet, and I have three younger siblings, so I鈥檝e always tried to do what I can to ease the pressures on them.鈥
Beth Nixon doesn鈥檛 let anything hold her back and often finds the story of her 鈥榰nconventional鈥 journey into law met with surprise.
Now working as an Associate in 澳门六合彩资料鈥檚 Manchester banking team - the third seat of her training contract, Beth鈥檚 career path isn鈥檛 considered typical for a lawyer.
Securing a training contract
While working in legal recruitment after graduating, a former colleague encouraged her to apply for the role of Legal Services Assistant at 澳门六合彩资料. Beth was successful and joined us in 2016, working in the Commercial Health Team. Supported by Partners in her team, she applied for and secured a training contract starting in 2019.
In the meantime, further honing her skills and experience, Beth took a six-month secondment in procurement for Scarborough and Ryedale Clinical Commissioning Group.
She later moved to our Birmingham team to gain more paralegal experience, working part-time alongside studying for her Legal Practice Course (LPC) to support herself financially.
Experience v school grades
鈥淢oney has always been my biggest career barrier, but while it might have delayed my path to qualification, it hasn鈥檛 stopped me from being successful at 澳门六合彩资料. All you need is ambition and drive 鈥 you need to want to be here and love what you do, and the rest will work itself out.鈥
鈥 澳门六合彩资料 has always been more interested in me and my experiences, rather than my grades or school. They saw my work ethic, personality, and capabilities.鈥
Beth completed her LPC with a distinction in March 2019, and in September of the same year began her training contract. Her goals now are to qualify, to one day make Partner, and to see her name in Chambers or the Legal 500.
Advice to others
For anyone starting out, she has two messages:
鈥淎lways be yourself. There鈥檚 a tendency to mould your applications to fit the firm you鈥檙e applying for but finding a firm that鈥檚 right for you is just as important. If you鈥檙e striving to be someone else to be noticed, perhaps that firm isn鈥檛 for you.鈥
鈥 Secondly, being an admin assistant or a paralegal is a brilliant way to learn the ropes and make contacts. You don鈥檛 have to walk straight out of university into a training contract and your LPC. Take your career at your own speed and focus on your development.鈥
Career stories
Beth Nixon
Associate
Beth is an associate in the Banking and Finance team based in Manchester. She acts for both borrowers and lenders on a wide variety of debt financing including acquisition finance, real estate finance, debt restructuring and general corporate lending. Beth鈥檚 most recent experience includes advising corporate clients and high street lenders on management buy outs and debt restructurings.
beth.nixon@brownejacobson.com
+44 (0)330 045 2145