Gina Hughes, a paralegal in our Swansea office, has been shortlisted as a finalist in the Best Conveyancing Paralegal category of the National Paralegal Awards.
Organised by the Professional Paralegal Register, the awards champion and reward the work undertaken by paralegals across multiple legal disciplines with each area of law having its own category.
The final will take place in London on Friday 27th March.
A Career Change from Translation to Conveyancing
Gina is proving to be a talented legal professional with great prospects. The Swansea University graduate initially aimed to pursue a career in translation, after achieving a first-class honours degree in German.
Her legal journey properly began when Gina left her role as an established Senior German to English Translator and Translation Project Manager to start at the bottom of the legal career ladder in November 2016.
Working as an Admin Assistant in a small law firm, Gina was promoted to the role of Trainee Paralegal and after just six months she gained her first experience of conveyancing. Progressing quickly, Gina was confidently writing mortgage offer reports, answering enquiries on freehold sales, and issuing leasehold, freehold, unregistered contract packs.
Dealing with clients daily helped Gina’s career progression. She subsequently progressed to more complex matters, such as reviewing searches, raising search enquiries, and answering leasehold sale enquiries, confidently dealing with client queries on the phone.
Joining Howells Solicitors
Gina joined our conveyancing department in our Swansea solicitors office in November 2018 and is a very well-liked and respected member of our team.
Since joining Howells, Gina has continued to develop her knowledge and experience and is now able to undertake freehold title checks, draft statutory declarations, and write and submit land registry applications, waivers, and disclaimers for her assigned fee earner.
Commenting on her career to date, Gina said:
“In three years, I have gone from knowing nothing about conveyancing to being a senior paralegal at an established company who is entrusted with day-to-day running of a very busy team in the fee earner’s absence.
“I believe that it is almost impossible to know and understand every single aspect of conveyancing, given the huge range of issues and complexities that can arise in the course of transactions, but I am becoming more knowledgeable and confident every day.
“My experiences and journey as a paralegal show that, if you are passionate about law, you do not need to go through the traditional route to be a successful legal professional.”
Sara Miles, Partner and Swansea Branch Manager, works closely with Gina and is delighted she has been shortlisted as a finalist. Sara said:
“Gina thoroughly deserves to be shortlisted. Her dedication to progressing her career is quite something. Gina began studying for her Masters in Law just a year ago and combines her full time job with her studies and spends a lot of her own time with her head buried in textbooks.
“If that isn’t enough, she is also buying her first home with her fiancé and planning their wedding! On behalf of everyone here in the Swansea office and the rest of Howells, we are wishing Gina the best of luck for March 27th.”
Wishing Gina The Best of Luck!
Keep an eye on this blog for any updates on the awards or for more company news.
In the meantime, if you would like to find out more about Gina, or any other member of the Howells team, please take a look at the Our People section of our website.
