Rachel Hoyland

"My personality types are: Coach, Manager and Quality Controller. All of the work that I do requires management and quality control skills. Handling legal work and cases involves making sure many small steps are taken on time and with good attention to detail. We have to make sure the work we do is of high quality too, at every stage, and we need to think in advance about what challenges we might face along the way, both from the other party in a dispute and in relation to processes we engage in on our client's behalf, such as court proceedings or vessel arrests. As well as managing and quality checking my own input, I am often working in a team with other people including more junior colleagues and external suppliers of services, such as surveyors or lawyers qualified in other countries. My role requires that I manage their input and make sure that their work is of sufficient quality too, otherwise the whole project can be compromised. The qualities of a coach are also relevant as my work often involves understanding a situation from another party's perspective and asking questions of clients, opponents and contributors on my own team to draw out the important issues we need to deal with. I also need to help clients understand what is important to them so that they can be clear about what they are trying to achieve and can make decisions accordingly. I also do some coaching when I am working with more junior team members, helping them to develop and stretch their skills and grow their confidence. "

"My work mostly involves representing clients in their disputes with other parties. This means having a good understanding of the relevant law and of the processes available to help clients resolve their disputes and then advising the client in relation to those and guiding them through the process they decide to pursue.I spend most of my time working at a computer and have to spend a lot of time reading documents, planning the way forward and communicating with lots of different parties about what is going on. What I most enjoy, is getting stuck into a challenging problem, such as a complicated contract or a large volume of evidence, and working on coming to an understanding of it. It feels good to be able to make complex things become more simple and then to be able to explain them to other people. I also enjoy working alongside smart and interesting people and dealing with cases which connect to real life, i.e. the sea, the weather, the movement of foods and materials and goods around the world. Even though what I deal with directly is ideas, those ideas are always connected to real life events, stories and problems and I like that those stories are always international. It is great to have contacts all over the world, and to be in touch with them on a daily basis. I don't travel to see those contacts in person often (I travel maybe two or three times a year) but when I do it is a pleasure to visit clients or to go to meetings overseas. The starting salary in my job, as a trainee solicitor, is probably around £30,000 to £50,000 depending on which firm you work for and in which part of the country you work, salaries in London are usually higher. You can expect to spend the first few years in a job like mine going to an office every day but after that there are often options to work more flexibly and to work some of the time from home, as most of the work involves spending quiet time sitting at a computer. "

"I studied Biology, Chemistry, English and Theatre at A level then went on to study English at Leeds University. While I was at University I did an elective module in International Law and within that came across 'Law of the High Seas'. I enjoyed the module and followed it up with some work experience in a law firm in Newcastle which did shipping work. The firm then offered me contract to train with them so, after I finished my degree, I studied at University level in Leeds for another 2 years, to complete qualifications in law and legal practise. Then I worked for the firm in Newcastle for 2 years as a trainee solicitor. At the end of those 2 years I qualified as a solicitor. While I was studying I wasn’t paid by the firm but the firm did pay the cost of my studies (around £9,000 a year then) and gave me around £6,000 a year to help with living expenses. Once I became a trainee solicitor the firm did pay me (around £25,000 a year then).Upon qualification I took a year away from the profession to pursue other interests (and take a break!). After that I moved to Liverpool and took up a job 'in house' with a French shipping company, CMA CGM, meaning that I worked as a lawyer within the company, rather than working within a law firm. My job at CMA CGM was diverse and intense and involved building up my department and team, being involved in projects all-round the business and dealing with 100’s of claims involving all kinds of cargos. I loved it, but after 3 years there I felt like I had fulfilled the challenge it offered me and that I needed to look for something else in order to keep learning and growing so I moved to a job within a law firm, Hill Dickinson, so that I could be amongst other lawyers and could learn from them. At Hill Dickinson I worked in the Liverpool office for 4 years and then moved to the London office to join a bigger team. I still live in Liverpool though and travel to the London office every other week, working at home the rest of the time. "

"In my spare time I like to be active - being a lawyer does involve a lot of sitting down! I do yoga, go rock climbing and run a few times a week. I also like to go skiing in the winter and on long walks in summer and nowadays I work just 4 days a week to give myself a good balance between work and the rest of my life on an everyday basis. Earning a good salary has helped me to do this and also means I was able to buy a house about 6 years ago, so some of my time is also spent decorating that and growing veggies in my little garden. It is important to me that I don’t put off doing other things I want to do in life, outside my legal career, so I have taken quite a bit of time off in the last 10 years. When I first qualified as a solicitor I took a whole year off to lead expeditions overseas in Africa and South East Asia (I am also a qualified outdoor instructor). That was brilliant, and perfect preparation for taking up a job as an in-house lawyer afterwards! Then in 2018 I took a 7 month sabbatical and lived in Italy growing vegetables on an organic farm, going running in the mountains and learning a new language, which I am now able to use when socialising with my Italian clients. In my experience, taking time away from law has catalysed my progression in it, so don’t ever think you have to give everything else up to also be successful in a challenging career! It’s good to have a broad skill base and to be able to handle all kinds of life situations, it helps keep things in perspective and gives you a wide range of resources and experiences to call upon when you need to solve problems at work (which is every single day!). It also helps you to stay energised and to be motivated in your work. "

"In a typical day I work around 8 hours. When I am working at home I spend most of that time at my computer. The first part of the day is usually spent checking email, updating my task list and planning what to do for the rest of the day. If I have a lot of small jobs to do, like arranging travel and raising bills, I tend to get those out of the way first then I get stuck into the tasks that need me to concentrate for a few hours solidly.In the weeks that I work at the office in London my days are usually more varied as I spend time discussing things with colleagues, in meetings about general business issues (such as diversity or training) and I usually arrange to see clients or other contacts for lunch or coffee. Often I attend evening events too, such as lectures and seminars, and occasionally there will be a dinner or an awards event to attend and it’s nice to get dressed up for those. Often I am working on 5-10 projects at once, some of which will be cases for clients whilst others will be my own projects such as running events or writing articles. Typically my day involves doing work on at least a few different projects. Sometimes though one project can take over and there can be real peaks of intensity, such as when Court deadlines fall due, as well as sudden troughs of inaction, such as when a case settles and ends suddenly. Because of this is can be difficult to predict exactly how the month or the year will unfold, however, its quite nice to have a change of pace and I do usually have a good idea of how the day and the week will unfold. "

"AS level - Theatre StudiesA levels - Biology, Chemistry, English and General StudiesDegree - EnglishPost Graduate Diplomas - Law, Legal Practise Solicitor of the Courts of England & Wales"