Meet Richard, Associate Solicitor at Helix Law

I left sixth form college in 2004 and worked as a chef for 12 years. By the time I was 27 I’d had enough and completed an Access to Higher Education diploma. I managed to get a place at university in 2015 to study Law and graduated with a first.

I had applied for training contracts, vacation schemes and open days with a number of big firms whilst completing my degree and afterwards. None of the big names even did me the courtesy of a reply. It has been incredibly satisfying to be on the other side of those big firms in my day-to-day work. I love beating them.

I came across Helix by accident. I had recently been made redundant as a legal adviser writing wills, I took the old-fashioned route and went about Brighton with my CV, giving one to every law firm in town. Helix called me back, gave me a chance and the opportunity to prove myself. I started work for Helix in March 2019 as a paralegal. After 8 months, they gave me a training contract.

I studied for my LPC part-time at De Montfort University during my training contract, completing the course around September 2022. I was admitted as a Solicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales in October 2022.

I was promoted again to Associate Solicitor and I feel part of a team with direct access to the firm’s owners..

My practice focuses on commercial chancery work; land and property disputes, business disputes, shareholder disputes, insolvency and professional negligence work. Since 2019, I have litigated over everything, from helping a landlord recover a few thousand pounds from a debtor tenant or a builder enforce an invoice, to managing group claims for more than 70 property investors to collectively recover millions of pounds from professional indemnity insurers due to the negligent advice of their insured conveyancing solicitors.

I have bankrupted individuals, wound up companies, obtained injunctions and settled millions of pounds in dispute in negotiation and mediation. I have helped my clients force their opponents to pay millions of pounds to them and enforce their rights over land and property, or avoid paying anything at all. I have secured dozens of evictions and hundreds of judgments. I have recovered many millions of pounds in damages and costs. I help my clients obtain justice.

In the process of doing so, I have been paid at levels I never imagined possible.

I am a litigator, and I love it. You need to have the fighting spirit to do this job well and to be happy in it. If you don’t have it, don’t apply; it isn’t for you.

Don’t be under any illusion, the work is hard, emotionally draining and challenging. But that is what you get paid for, and the money is good. If you want to learn how to be a top-rate Solicitor and litigator, then this is the place to do it. On top of that, you can learn how a successful business is run. The only limit on your success at Helix will be you.