‘Why I turned down a place to study law at Manchester University to become a legal executive’

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By Legal Cheek on

Is Rhys Bevan crazy? Why would anyone in their right mind reject a place at one of the top universities in the country to go and do an unglamorous legal apprenticeship at a local authority? Actually, though, when 24 year-old Bevan explains his career choices to date, they kind of make sense…

Now with six years of legal experience under his belt – four spent at Bury Council and the last two with the Local Government Ombudsman in London – Bevan is close to adding to his legal executive qualification the title of solicitor. Meanwhile, many of his peers who did go to uni find themselves on the outside of the legal world looking in as they scavenge for training contracts.

Legal Cheek editor Alex Aldridge – who recently wrote of his regret at wasting so much of his life in higher education – is impressed. As is Bircham Dyson solicitor Kevin Poulter, whose humble Doncaster roots have imbued in him a deep suspicion of formal learning.

Together, in the delightful confines of Poulter’s luxurious Kings Cross home, the trio discuss Bevan’s interesting journey through the law.

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