Congratulations To Tom Sedley On His Qualification As A Solicitor

• Published date: 29 September 2020
• Subject Matter: Litigation, Mediation & Arbitration, Arbitration & Dispute Resolution, Professional Negligence
• Law Firm: Butcher & Barlow
• Author: Butcher & Barlow

Congratulations from the Butcher & Barlow team to our newly qualified Solicitor Tom Sedley. Tom joined Butcher & Barlow in 2017 as a paralegal, before commencing his training contract in September 2018.

Tom will be working alongside Managing Partner Anthony Higham in the Dispute Resolution team at the Firm's head office in Bury.

To get to know a little more about Tom, we each settled down in front of our laptops for a virtual chat:

Hi Tom and congratulations on your qualification as a Solicitor.

Thank you! It's been a strange few months leading up to this point! But I am now back in the office and raring to start interacting with people again!

You've qualified in to the Dispute Resolution team. What types of matters will you be working on?

I cover the whole range of disputes from complex clinical negligence claims to contractual disputes to personal disputes. I may specialise in one specific area eventually, but for now, the breath and depth of experience I am getting is exceptional and I can draw off one area to use in another.

This exposure to different legal disputes is one of the biggest attractions in working at Butcher & Barlow - I could be involved in a multi-million pound clinical negligence claim involving a very complex brain injury during childbirth and the next day I could be in a field taking instructions from a client who has a dispute with his neighbour regarding an overgrown tree or hedge. It keeps it interesting.

Pandemic aside, has your typical working day changed since you qualified?

Not at all! I was afforded responsibility from early on in this team meaning that it has been more of a slide than a jump between pre and post qualification.

And it may be a cliché, but there is no such thing as a 'typical' day as no two days are ever the same.

However, they usually start by checking my emails for anything that has come in overnight that requires my immediate attention. I'll make a plan of the cases that I need to deal with that day, although in the fast paced world of litigation, that plan often goes out of the window as an urgent email or order from the court is received which then requires dealing with straight away.

My working day can involve anything and everything from answering emails and providing advice, to conferences with counsel and experts regarding a complex clinical negligence claim, to drafting a witness statement in a commercial dispute or attending Court. I have even needed to break out the Wellies for several site visits!

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