Staff Testimonials
Kate Brazier, Deputy Director - Business Systems
Rob Dudley – Director of Re-Qualification Programmes
Janet Wright, Deputy Director – Staffing
Kate Brazier, Deputy Director - Business Systems
I joined the Guildford teaching centre in 1996 as an Assistant Branch Admin Officer (equivalent these days to a Student/Admin Services Manager). Prior to this I was an Office Manager/PA in Buckinghamshire.
I spent three years in the role, dealing with student credit control, centre facilities and services, customer service and general course administration. During this time I showed an aptitude for and interest in working with computers and so, when the College decided to buy a new student records database, I was drafted in to help with the specification and then the implementation. Within a year I had transferred to the IT department to take on responsibility for the new database.
Since 2000, the role has steadily grown to encompass a support, administration, development and liaison role across all the College's third party applications. In 2005 I was promoted to what is now called Deputy Director level and the team has steadily grown, incorporating a business systems analysis function from 2007, to its current size of eight.
Throughout my career at the College I have taken advantage of any training offered and have also identified courses I wished to pursue in order to develop my skills further. I am proof that if you show yourself to be capable of more, the College can accommodate, support and encourage you.
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Rob Dudley – Director of Re-Qualification Programmes
Having studied modern languages at university I had two criteria from my employment wish list that had to be fulfilled; one to be in a dynamic environment surrounded by young people (the transition from university to a full-time job had to be easy one!) and secondly, the position had to satisfy my interests in international business. This was made possible through my first position at the College in 2000 working as an assistant for the International Department in Store Street. I was responsible for running a number of programmes targeted at overseas lawyers which were funded by government bodies and international initiatives. One day I would be queuing up at foreign embassies obtaining visas, the next taking a group of European lawyers to Northern Ireland for a study trip. A thoroughly diverse role!
Having exhausted my administrative skills, my mind turned to management in 2002. An opportunity opened up in the College’s Chancery Lane centre working for the Professional Development division in an operational role as Venue Services Manager. Gone were the young overseas lawyers, my working life now revolved around negotiating rates with building contractors, managing a small team of staff and overseeing the operations of all the College’s PD programmes. A daunting task for someone who knew nothing about the physical workings of a building coupled with the additional responsibility of managing 4 people! I walked into this environment with some trepidation yet I established an efficiently run operation which in no small part was due to the support network I had behind me at the time. By the time my tenancy came to end there was nothing I didn’t know about vending machines and room set-ups!
Come the early part of 2004 I was itching to move up a gear in the PD division. I felt I had accomplished everything I could at Chancery Lane but had been repeatedly told that I should turn my thoughts towards further staff management. My boss at the time suddenly announced she was expecting so I was given the chance to cover her maternity leave in the role of Head of Client Services in Guildford. Next thing I know I’ve bought a house in Godalming and have settled into the position of managing 20 staff across 3 College sites, maintaining law firm relationships and managing the course bookings processes for the department. With the exposure I had had with law firms over that period, I decided I needed to develop my understanding of law to give me more confidence when discussing future business with them. So, I enrolled myself onto the distance learning GDL which I studied for 2 years to give me the grounding I so desired.
I knew from the outset that the Client Services role was a fixed term contract and by this time, I had developed a keen interest in project and business development. A newly created role of Head of Project Management was offered to me in mid 2005 which gave me the opportunity to put everything I had learnt in my 5 years at College into great effect. I was tasked with setting up overseas exam centres, financial planning for new courses, creating law firm training tenders and general logistics and planning. In addition to this I maintained my involvement in managing the European Lawyers Programme that was the first course I ran back in 2000.
During 2005, the PD division went through a large period of change and it was re-organised to replicate the changing structures of law firms. This re-organisation, coupled with having completed my legal studies in 2006 gave me the opening I needed to move that much higher within the department. I commenced my current role in August 2006 as Director of Re-Qualification programmes of PD. A role in which I have finally achieved my ultimate goal of being a key player in the College’s global business pursuits, being at the forefront of new programme development, most notably the College’s International LL.M and using my legal experience to great effect with client and firms. In the 7 years I have worked for the College it has changed and progressed dramatically. I have been able to progress with it, owing to the opportunities it has afforded me, and now hope to be able to make decisions for the organisation which will ultimately develop legal training in the UK and overseas for the future.
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Janet Wright, Deputy Director – Staffing
I joined the College of Law in Birmingham as a lecturer in 2001 when the centre first opened. Before then I was an assistant solicitor in private practice, specialising in Employment Law. I needed a new challenge and really enjoyed client training and so thought I would try my hand at teaching.
Since starting work here I have taught on the Legal Practice Course, Graduate Diploma in Law, and Professional Skills Course. I have found teaching to be extremely rewarding. The job can be challenging, no two students are the same, but there is nothing better than helping a struggling student to get through the course and see them go on to have a career in the law.
However, being a tutor at the College is not just about teaching. I have been able to get involved in a wide range of work including the administration of courses, course and assessment design, pro-bono activities, marketing, personal tutoring to name just a few. New tutors are encouraged to have some responsibilities and so when I first started I was centre’s subject leader for Employment Law and Interviewing, I also helped establish the centre’s Street Law project. After a few years I became a Senior Lecturer and took over as the centre’s subject leader of Business Finance. This role enabled me to have greater input into the design of one the larger courses on the Legal Practice Course and to try my hand at managing a team of people.
I realised that I really enjoy organising and so, when the post of Deputy Director of Staffing came up I applied and was successful. I now manage a team of 40 teaching staff and am responsible for the allocation of their work, training and development needs, and the recruitment of new tutors. I also sit on the Birmingham centre’s executive board and so have more of a role in the strategic development of both the centre and the College.
I remember when I first came to work at the College someone said to me “You’ll be bored after a few years teaching the same thing all the time.” Working at the College just isn’t like that. No two sessions ever turn out the same and there are so many courses and other areas to get involved in the job never becomes boring. It is a great alternative to a career in practice.
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