Welcome Sophie

This month we are super excited to welcome Sophie our brand new Associate to the team. Sophie will be based at our Head Office in Harrogate as one of our family flex team members, she’ll work hybrid with some days at home.

Sophie is Yorkshire based and lives in the same little village as two of our team. Sophie used to work with Eleanor, one of our Senior Associates, so she already feels like one of the IDR family.

What led you to choose law as a career?

Well, oddly, when I was young, a family member became involved in an inheritance dispute and although I was quite small at the time, it really captured my interest and I have never forgotten it. The dispute went on for many years and so I heard about it a lot growing up.  I wasn’t party to the detail but I overheard many a conversation between adult family members and I used to ask lots of questions as I found the legal system fascinating. As a result I decided to study law at university.

I studied at Northumbria University in Newcastle, here I completed my LLB (exempting) degree which incorporated the Legal Practice Course with the traditional LLB honours degree over 4 years. The course was more practical in nature than other traditional law degrees and as a result, during my final year at university,  I went into the Student Law Office which gave me the opportunity to handle a few of my own files under the supervision of a qualified solicitor. I really enjoyed the client contact and from then, I knew I wanted to help client’s in difficult situations, navigate their way through the legal system to resolve their disputes and that is now what I do on daily basis.

What attracted you to IDR?

After 7 years at Knights (formerly Shulmans),  I felt it was time for a change and a new challenge and I had been wanting to focus my attention on inheritance disputes for some time. Following qualification in 2015, I gained some really great general commercial litigation experience, such as dealing with complex, high value contractual disputes, shareholder/ director disputes, partnership disputes and professional negligence claims however in recent years I have had the opportunity to concentrate my attention on inheritance disputes. I realised that this is the area that I am most passionate about and wanted to focus solely on this area of law.

Inheritance disputes can be really complex and are, by their nature, very sensitive and personal. I genuinely like helping people to resolve these issues so they can move on with their lives. IDR have recruited some of the best in the business and I wanted to work alongside those experts to deliver the quality advice and great service to clients.

I have known Martin by reputation for many years having worked with some of his previous colleagues and I have always been aware of his dedication to this area of the law. When I met Martin and the rest of the team we just clicked and I am really excited to start my journey with them.

The firm is doing really well and is very forward thinking when it comes to flexible working for parents.  The flexibility means that I can do drop off and pick up of my daughter at nursery and I can manage my time around my family. When I considered all this, the decision to join IDR was an easy one.

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Describe what it’s like to work at IDR in three words.

Specialist, progressive, friendly (that’s more IDR in words)

 Just for fun tell us something interesting about you that your co-workers wouldn’t know!?

Before becoming a mum to my two year old little girl I used to love travelling and have been all over from South Africa and Mauritius to the states. I actually got engaged in Yosemite National Park in California which was incredible. My husband and I love Greece, in particular Corfu and we got married there in 2019.

Something a bit more obscure? I used to be a die-hard fan of the noughties boyband Blue and have seen them 18 times – I am due to see them again in December… please don’t judge me!

I also like team sports and play a bit of netball (when I get a moment!)