Interview with Thomas Tanner: Paralegal, Mentor, Future Trainee Solicitor

By Arafath Ahmad, interviewing Thomas Tanner

Thomas is a Regulatory Paralegal at Blake Morgan and a future trainee solicitor, who I connected with through the GROW Mentoring program, where he became my mentor at a time when I was still figuring out my path in law. Through his mentoring, he has helped me understand the profession better, given me application advice, and been someone I could always reach out to with questions.

In this interview, Thomas talks about his journey into law, his experience as a paralegal, and the advice he has for students hoping to follow a similar path.

Could you tell us a bit about how you first became interested in law and what your path into the profession looked like?

I am somebody who has always known what they wanted. According to my parents, when I was 11 years old and looking around my future secondary school on a tour, I told them, “I am going to go to school here, and I am going to be a lawyer”. I will say - though - that I doubt younger Tom knew the intricacies of what it meant to do law, or even the difference between a barrister and solicitor.

As I got older, I knew that in my career I wanted to help people and make an earnest difference to people’s lives. My greatest skills were written and spoken communication, articulating arguments, and building relationships. Hence, being a lawyer was the best way for me to help people, as my natural skills lent themselves more to law than anything else.

In 2021, I went to the University of Warwick for my Law LLB – and the rest is history.

As a current paralegal, how does the role differ from what a solicitor typically does, and what skills or experiences do you feel paralegalling has given you that will help you once you begin your training contract?

For context, I am currently a paralegal at Blake Morgan, within their (Medical) Regulatory business group – pending the start of my Training Contract with Blake Morgan in September 2026.

I think, in many ways, the role of a paralegal does not differ from that of a solicitor. For example, in my current role I do many witness interviews and draft witness statements, but fully qualified solicitors (and even senior associates) also do witness interviews and draft statements. Depending on the firm you work in, some paralegals can do work that is almost identical to a solicitor – with little difference in responsibility. Many paralegals even have their own cases!

At Blake Morgan, there are tasks that are reserved for the CM (usually fully qualified solicitors) that a paralegal does not need to worry about (phew). For example, this might include billing the client (ouch).

With hindsight, I am so pleased that I have been able to paralegal full time before starting my training contract. When you start a training contract, there is so much on your plate already – namely, having to get used to 3 or 4 areas of law (seats) that might be completely new to you. I am reassured that, when I start my training contract, I will have less to worry about, because I will already be fully familiar with the IT system and many of my colleagues.

Being a paralegal has also reassured me that Blake Morgan is the firm for me! I am so lucky to say that I actively enjoy going to work. This means that the idea of me remaining at Blake Morgan for my training contract is not daunting or scary, but rather exciting.

When you were applying to different firms, what factors influenced where you chose to apply? Were there particular things that made certain firms feel like a better fit for you than others?

Firstly, I do believe you need to look for firms that practise within areas of law that you are interested in. We spend too much of our time working to not enjoy what we do, and your lack of interest in what a firm practises will shine through in an interview. It was important to me that my training contract firm was a full-service practice, as I wanted experience in different areas during my training. Blake Morgan offered so many departments that I was interested in, like private client, family, employment, regulatory, and property law.

Additionally, another very important factor when looking for a firm was the firm culture. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, I wanted a place of work where I felt I could turn up as myself and not have to censor or dampen any parts of my personality or identity. When I went to Blake Morgan’s vacation scheme (which led to a final training contract interview, and training contract offer), it was Pride Month. The firm had pride flag lanyards, and had pride activities in the breakout room. Further, the simple way in which every member of staff made you feel welcome was so comforting. It was through this experience that I knew that, if I worked at Blake Morgan, I could fully show up each day as Tom Tanner, and this would reflect in the quality of my work and my contributions to the firm.

For this reason, I really do recommend making use of vacation schemes, work experience, and open days. There are things that you can only really decipher about a firm once you have been there or worked there. Remember! It is not just a firm that decides whether they want you to work for them – you also get to decide whether you want to work for the firm.

Are there any areas of your work or parts of the legal world that you think are often overlooked, but would actually find really interesting once they learn more about them?

So many!

I think there is a tendency for Law Societies at universities to focus almost exclusively on Corporate and Commercial law careers, and I think this reflects an underlying tendency for some people to pursue what makes money rather than what they are passionate about.

I think it is important for students to be shown corporate and commercial law careers, but they should also be shown the whole other plethora of careers within law that are not spotlighted. This is why I joined the Executive Committee of a society called Critical Lawyers at Warwick society during my time at University of Warwick. This was a society that spotlighted other areas of law, since we had noticed that the Law Society focused almost entirely on corporate and commercial work.

For example, I now work within Regulatory law, particularly within the healthcare regulatory sector. Blake Morgan’s clients are major regulators - including the HCPC - and I get to work and investigate on their fitness to practise cases. Working within this area of law is both interesting and rewarding. I get to know I am protecting the public, and making a difference to society was a key motivator for me getting into law. These cases blend elements of criminal law, employment law, medical malpractice and more. The cases each look so different, and the work never gets boring.

What motivated you to start mentoring, and what do you enjoy most about supporting students?

When I was in my second year at Warwick, I spontaneously attended a family law careers panel after a day of lectures. It was there that I met a man called Brendan Fleming, who ended up letting me do a year of part time work experience (very flexibly) amongst my studies - in Birmingham. I do believe that without this work experience, and the skills I got from it, I would not have gotten my training contract, and have been where I am today.

This is why I believe it is so important for adult professionals to help, where they can, to support university students or people at the beginning of their career. Brendan Fleming probably thought that he was doing something so simple by attending the panel that evening, but he literally changed the trajectory of my life/career.

I’m not saying that I am able to change the life of a person I mentor (I do not have that power, unfortunately). However, if I can help someone in even the slightest way with their career, it will be worth it. I am also a people person, and love a “yap”, so helping over a chat sounds like a good time to me.

Is there a piece of advice you wish you had received earlier in your career?

I wish I had been aware of the intricacies of law careers earlier. Ironically, a bachelor's degree in law does not necessarily prepare you for a career in law. If you want to find out how to become a solicitor/barrister, you kind of have to do your own research. I was not aware of things like vacations schemes or periods of work experience until later in my second year of undergraduate study. I would not change anything about my university experience; in my mind it was perfect, and everything turned out very well in my professional life. But, I do acknowledge that if I started with those things earlier, my CV could have been even more “stacked” by the time I was making applications.

What’s one small habit or approach that students can adopt now that will make a big difference later in their careers?

I would always advise university students to work consistently hard, and work to an almost 9-5 schedule despite not being in a 9-5 environment.

Because of the flexibility of university work, I know many people end up hardly doing work at all, or doing a bit of work for most of the term, and then pull all-nighters (caffeine filled) to help them close to deadlines and exams.

In university, I never worked outside of the hours of 9AM and 6PM. (This did not happen in first year, when my sleeping schedule went out the window, I will admit). This really helped me separate work and my social life. Mainly, though, it was helpful because consistent hard work is far more effective than cramming. I got very good grades (do pardon the brag) and results without having to do crazy late nights finishing an assignment. This was all down to working consistently, but not excessively, hard throughout the whole year.

If the inconsistent schedule, night-time work and caffeine-filled cramming works for you then, by all means, go ahead. But I do think it will be a very harsh transition when you start working a 9-5 (plus a potentially lengthy commute), 5 days a week.

Looking ahead, how do you see the legal profession evolving over the next few years, and what changes do you think students entering the field now should be aware of?

To start off with the obvious one, the field is becoming more and more technology based- so students should have a base level of IT skills.

However, to be a contrarian, in an age where we wonder whether AI might steal our jobs, student lawyers need to realise the qualities they have that AI cannot imitate. No AI can fully replicate the stirring quality that the advocacy of a barrister can produce. No computer can replace an emotionally understanding solicitor, looking a witness in the eye and handing them a tissue as they recount their traumas. Students should realise these irreplaceable attributes of a human lawyer, be it emotional comprehension or otherwise, hone these skills, and realise their value within a workspace.

Edited by Artyom Timofeev