Starting at Minster Law when new to personal injury law

Tom Goodison, paralegal at Minster Law, shares his recent experience starting at Minster Law and in the personal injury field. 

Starting a new job is daunting enough, but coming into a new place of work with no previous experience in the area of law that you’ll be practising is a whole other level of challenging!

Coming from a finance and defendant background to a personal injury and claimant firm was always going to have its challenges. New processes, terminology, the other side of the scope of the Civil Procedure Rules to familiarise myself with, as well as building a personal rapport with clients who I’m working hard for to achieve the best possible outcome for their injury.

Having an experienced buddy show me the ropes was a great way to learn the role of a serious injury paralegal. At previous firms, all I’ve had is the mandatory elearning courses and online learning through watching videos on a screen. However, at Minster, I’ve been able to see in person and have hands-on training of the roles the paralegal community take on and how they help support not just their fee earners but each other as well.

Within the first three months of starting here, I’ve been lucky enough to engage with clients who have complex injuries due to their road traffic accident and gain a real insight to their rehabilitation needs, looking at all the ways we can help them get the best possible treatment they need to recover. I was fortunate enough to go on a client visit within a few months of my employment here, as Minster offers their clients the opportunity to see their file handler face-to-face. These client meetings help build a relationship with your clients and I got to see first-hand how a family, not just the client, was affected by the road traffic accident and what their needs were for rehabilitation. I’ve not been at a firm before where they strive to meet their clients in person and strengthen that relationship.

I attended the client meeting with an associate and listen as he explained the firm’s claims process, how we are here to help and always have the best interests of our clients at the heart of what we do. The visit was insightful for me as I learnt more about how our claims are funded and the importance of building up a rapport with the client at an early stage of the claims process.

I was also privileged enough to join a video conference with a medical expert and counsel. This opportunity gave me a real insight to the depth these medical experts go to when assessing our clients’, injuries and their recommendations for rehabilitation. It made me realise the importance of the accuracy of these reports, how counsel scrutinise the reports and seeing them put the hard questions to the expert was interesting stuff!

All in all, the opportunities I’ve had so far at Minster have been amazing and resourceful to my learning! I look forward to continuing my journey at the firm and the future prospects for my career.