My week’s internship at Olliers by Christopher Phillips

Olliers’ Intern Christopher Phillips reviews his experience with the firm during a week spent with Olliers in August 2021

I would like to say that working as part of this team for a whole week has been an invaluable experience. I am genuinely grateful to be able to work with such an amazing team and firm. Olliers has been a learning experience for me as I understood so many valuable skills and qualities from the team. Not many firms are lucky to have such a remarkable team consisting of solicitors and administrative staff. I honestly enjoyed every discussion I had with the team because everyone had something interesting to say.

Attendance at the Police Station

My week started a little bit differently from other interns because from the minute stepping into Ollier’s I was told I was going straight to the police station. I was so thrilled and nervous at the same time as this was my first time going to a police station, let alone going into a police interview. Helen Buxton was the first lawyer I had met that day and I can say she is the type of individual  you want defending you in a police station. She made me feel so welcomed and our conversations felt like we had been working together for years. To say I started the week off by making an impression is an understatement when I nearly pressed the emergency button at the police station to try and leave. I felt like a child on Christmas when Helen told me, I would have to say my name and occupation in the interview, I spent a good 30 minutes, practising how to say my name in my head before the interview.

The Magistrates’ Court

I was lucky enough to be able to follow through with the case I saw at the police station regarding possession of drugs with the intent to sell to sentencing. I can’t say how incredible it was to watch David Philpott in court. He was very prepared with all his cases and every question I had asked him, he answered in such detail. I felt very involved in the whole experience, to the point where an usher confused me with being one of the defendants for the day. I had visited courts before today but on this occasion, I had felt more like a solicitor than I ever had before.

I cannot fault the administrative staff in any way, they are all so lovely and they are the backbone of the firm. Janet O’Keefe and Diane helped me so much throughout my week here and made sure I always had something to do or to go somewhere with the solicitors. Janet has worked especially hard throughout the pandemic to make sure the firm remains practising safely. I would also like to mention Hannah Poole who has been one of the nicest people I have ever met. She joined the firm as a paralegal but has been able to get a training contract here and she deserves it, she works incredibly hard all day every day and will make a great solicitor one day.

Criminal Law 

As an aspiring solicitor, I can say this firm has confirmed I have a passion for a career in criminal law and to work somewhere as amazing as Olliers would be an unbelievable achievement for me. Being able to read the cases the firm have dealt with and dealing with, allowed me to dive deeper into what is ahead of me in my legal career. I was given a work-load whilst being her and that consisted of, being given a summary of evidence to summarise and an 8000+ page documents to navigate through. Most people would look at that and think ‘oh my’ but to me this was exciting and something amazing for me to read.

All I can say is Olliers Solicitors is one outstanding firm and I hope to be back here in the future, If that’s as a trainee solicitor or part of the administrative team, I would be extremely pleased to be back here as part of the team. Thank you Olliers team for allowing me to take part in your summer internship.

Written by Christopher Phillips

Olliers Internships 

Olliers offer week long internships in criminal law at their Manchester office every Summer for graduates and undergraduate students. Applications for 2022 internships will open in April 2022 and will be publicised on our website and social media channels at such time.