Jessica Irving

Jessica has recently joined the training contract element of the apprenticeship and is currently sat in the Commercial Litigation team. She is currently assisting on a range of high value disputes and large-scale trials relating to contracts, professional negligence, judicial review and breaches of confidence and restrictive covenants.

Previous experience

Jessica spent her first two years as a solicitor apprentice in the Debt Recovery team, which involved drafting documents including Letter Before Action, Bankruptcy and Winding Up Petitions, issuing County Court claims and reviewing Scottish matters. She then assisted with more complex matters such as court bundles, applications to amend or strike out and Part 18 requests. This helped towards gaining confidence to manage her own caseload, conduct client meetings and handle a large number of calls daily from debtors, clients and third parties.

Jessica’s third year was spent with the Commercial Property team, which involved due diligence enquiries, Land Registry applications, title reviews and creating monthly client reports. She also had the opportunity to draft Leases, Licence for Alterations and Rent Deposit Deeds as well as organising completions and SDLT payments. In addition, she was involved in internal initiatives within the department such as organising the team’s weekly training sessions to ensure everyone maintained their CPD hours.

A particular stand-out matter was involvement in the introduction of the High Street Rental Auctions for one of our Local Authority clients. Jessica worked closely with Newcastle Executive Partner, Nick Gholkar on this and enjoyed the opportunity to see a piece of legislation develop from the ground up and to be part of the team advising on its implementation.

Jessica spent her fourth year with the Employment and Education team. She assisted with a large amount of SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) claims for large local authority clients, working closely with supervisor, Tom Shears. This involved liaising directly with clients, counsel, the Tribunal and parents. She also had the opportunity to attend several Independent Review Panel hearings, grievance meetings, disciplinary meetings and Tribunal hearings. In addition, she was involved in a significant piece of work in the department which involved the handling of a large amount of settlement agreements.

As part of her apprenticeship, Jessica attended university one day per week to obtain her law degree and is now working towards taking the SQE (Solicitors Qualifying Examination). She was appointed to the Law School Honour Roll for the academic year of 2022-2023.

Jessica is a member of the Retail Sector Group at the firm as well as the Trainee Social Committee organising firm wide events for charity, Corporate Social Responsibility days, Trainee and Apprentice group meetings and socials. In addition, she is a member of the Gateshead Networking Scheme, Young Professionals and the Northeast Women’s Law Division.