After more than 30 years working as a welfare rights advisor and sitting in two tribunals, Katy Turquoise decided it was time to take on a new challenge and become legally qualified.
“It started a couple of years ago when one of the judges I work with asked me whether or not I was legally qualified,” Katy tells us. “If I had been, then he would have encouraged me to apply to become a judge. I wasn’t at the time, but that got me thinking because I’ve always really enjoyed the legal part of the job and understanding the way the law works.”
But Katy knew one thing for sure: she didn’t want to return to university. So, she began researching her options for qualifying without taking on a lengthy and costly degree. “I didn’t have the time or resources to go back to university and do a law conversion degree,” she explains. “But I became aware that the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) had started. It could be studied remotely. It could be done in your own time. The speed and the cost-effectiveness, and the coming out fully qualified at the end of it – it seemed to be a more efficient way of becoming a solicitor.”
So she enrolled on Law Training Centre’s SQE1 preparation course, determined to study alongside her full-time work as a tribunal member and adviser. “There are challenges in terms of time management,” she admits. “What I tended to do was work until 11 o’clock at night. I’d get my job done, do my case preparations, and then settle down and work on the course.”
Her dedication paid off, as Katy successfully passed SQE1, marking a huge milestone in her journey to qualify.
Reflecting on her success, she credits Law Training Centre’s accessible structure and supportive team. “Law Training Centre has been absolutely fantastic. The tutors are always accessible. The course materials are really well structured and explained. You can accrue knowledge as you go along, cross-reference as you go along. There are hundreds of multiple-choice questions available as well. I think having access to questions which test your own understanding and prepare you for the format of the exam was a really big thing, and it really helped with my passing the exams.”
Katy found the mock exams and interactive workshops particularly transformative to her studies: “The mock questions and the mock exams are really essential. The way that the questions are formatted for the exam is very particular…Having the ability to practise time and time again, applying what you had learned to new problems, really helps stretch the brain.”
It’s clear to see that Katy’s passion and ambition have driven her to great success, and prove that you really can achieve your career goals if you have the right learning environment and the right support.
Her message to others thinking about following the same path? “If you want to become legally qualified, I really wouldn’t hesitate in recommending Law Training Centre. Go for it. I really can’t praise it highly enough.”
