Laura McCarthy

My training contract started in our Agriculture and Private Client Team in our Norwich office.  I already had an enthusiasm for specialising in Agriculture and it was an excellent early opportunity for me to get exposure to agricultural property transactions.  With the support and help of the partners and team members I quickly gained the first-hand experience I needed to confirm that I wished to qualify into Agriculture.  I then moved to seats in our Commercial Property, Corporate and Property Litigation teams, all of which expanded my experience as well as giving me the opportunity to work in both our Norwich and Ipswich offices.  The different seats gave me a very good insight to the firm’s work and different areas of law; I greatly enjoyed the company of my colleagues and the variety of the work throughout.

As my training confirmed for me that I wished to qualify into Agriculture, the firm arranged for me to receive some ‘hands on’ experience shortly before I qualified.  I spent two weeks on clients’ farms – including duck farms, an arable farm and a farm specialising in free range pigs.  The time was invaluable and most definitely helped me understand the world in which farmers live and work and the daily pressures they face.  I feel better placed to help clients as a result.

I qualified in October 2008 and now act on behalf of individual farmers and farming partnerships.  My work involves agricultural property transactions, especially the sale and purchase of bare land, farm buildings and farmhouses.  I also act for some of our larger estate clients, dealing with issues that arise from day-to-day estate management, such as sales of small parcels of land, the assignment of leases, tenancy issues, deeds of easement and property refinancing to name but a few.  I also continue to experience the farming world first hand, attending various business and social events, such as farming conferences, estate tours, farm walks and the Suffolk and Norfolk county Shows.  I am meeting more farmers and other rural professionals all the time and making new contacts is very rewarding.

I can already see that my training seats prepared me very well for a career as an agricultural lawyer.  My day is very busy and, as I continue to gain experience across a wide range of work, I feel I will be well placed to decide in which particular aspects of agricultural law I wish to specialise in due course.