Aimee Bowles

Probate Executive, completed the GFL programme and studying the SQE1 prep course. The GFL programme was the College's  law conversion course that ran from 2022-2023 (now replaced by the GDL).

Hello, my name is Aimee. I graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science in Psychology and worked in schools for most of my career. I always kind of knew I wanted to do something different. When my friend who was a solicitor said ‘why don’t you come work here?’, I applied for a job which I didn't think I’d get. To my surprise, I did and found my interest in a legal career from there! I’m now a Probate Executive and recently completed The College of Legal Practice’s Graduate Foundation in Law, and I’m now currently preparing for SQE1 with them.

I always wanted to go to the next step. I'm quite ambitious, and I think I don't like to just be sort of stuck in the same thing. I work in a law firm and I was doing a lot of work with the clients and really enjoying it, so it felt like the right next step was to take on the workload myself and my own clients and progressing that way. 

Why did you choose to study with The College of Legal Practice?

As someone working full-time, whilst I was looking for a conversion course, I knew that I wouldn't be able to attend somewhere in person, so I needed a provider that was online. When I was looking for other providers, The College of Legal Practice seemed like a really good fit for my needs and helped me get the knowledge that I needed quickly, whilst still being able to work full-time. 

In the programme you get a folder, which is a physical copy of printouts of all the information you need, which is really handy. I highlighted everything and used Post-it notes which was really good. All of the questions and work fit in really nicely with the handbook we were given, too.

The Zoom workshops were the most helpful for me. Each week, we were assigned tasks which we’d be expected to complete beforehand. This will include scenario and research-style questions where we would then have the opportunity to discuss any challenges with the tutor and fellow students. There is no pressure to talk if you don’t want to. You can very much just sit back and listen if you prefer. It's up to you - you can engage as much or as little as you want to, but I would recommend engaging, as that really is an opportunity to ask any questions you have and take the opportunity to really learn from your tutor. This allowed for a better understanding of difficult concepts, especially those which were quite tricky.

It’s all very relatable to work - it's almost like how it would be if you were in a law firm and talking about a case with your colleagues and hear their opinions and discuss their perspectives.

If I hadn't done the GFL, I might not have understood these areas so well - it does give you a really good basis that you can build on and gives you a good understanding of research skills and study skills. Coming straight into the SQE now, I take it for granted that I've already had that experience and I could just hit the ground running. I definitely wouldn't advise people to go straight into the SQE without doing a bit of preparation before and getting that knowledge in place particularly if you’re from a non-law background.

Now I'm working towards the SQE exams, I'm doing the SLK course and preparing for the SQE1 - which is very scary, but I'm feeling really good about it. The course I'm doing- it moves on really well from the previous course where I did lots and lots of practice, so I'm hoping by the time the exams come, I can do it in my sleep. 

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