Name: Pamela Robotham
Female
Solicitor
Academia

My name is Pamela Robotham and I have been a solicitor since 1996.

I did not set out to be a lawyer and have had a number of quite different jobs, all of which have been related to housing and social welfare issues. I have always had an interest in social policy and I worked in the Housing Benefit Department of the Greater London Council (GLC) during my gap year after my A Levels.  I wanted to be a sociologist when I went to the University of Essex to read Sociology in 1982 and I obtained a 2:1 honours degree in 1985. I continued to work in the housing benefit department during all the major holidays of my degree.

After leaving university in 1985 and with the burning ambition to be a sociologist, I worked as a Housing Aid worker for the Deptford Housing Aid Centre for three years. There I provided housing advice and casework to members of the public. This began my involvement in Housing Law which has lasted for over 20 years.

I worked as a Special Projects Officer for three years for Hyde Housing Association where my duties included helping to set up, design, fundraise and run specialist housing projects, for example, for the single homeless, disabled and drug addicts. I often helped housing groups design their legal documents, including tenancy agreements and provided advice about the best legal ways to achieve their aims.

I then moved to the OSCAR Housing where for two years I developed, fundraised and managed a housing project for young people suffering from the debilitating illness, sickle cell anaemia.

By 1992 I had decided that, given my wide ranging housing experience, I wanted to qualify as a solicitor. I completed the Common Professional Examination (as the Graduate Diploma in Law was then known) part-time and by correspondence between 1992-3. In 1993 I did my Law Society Finals (as the Legal Practice Course was then known) full-time whilst continuing to work for OSCAR Housing on a part-time basis.

On completing my finals, I lectured for a year full-time at Southbank Polytechnic (now Southbank University), teaching Housing and Landlord and Tenant Law mainly to housing, surveying and building professionals.

I obtained my Training Contract at Glazer Delmar, a mid-sized High Street firm, specializing in predominantly Legal Aid Work, before I completed the Law Society Finals. I believe that my extensive knowledge of housing law played some part in my getting the contract. Between 1994 and 1996 I completed my training and at the same time continued to lecture part-time at Southbank for a further year.  I trained in housing, conveyancing, wills and probate and personal injury, all of which complemented my interest in housing law.

I became a specialist housing lawyer at Glazer Delmar after my admission as a solicitor in 1996 and remained with them until December 2004. During this time, I developed my practice and assumed responsibility for the training of our department's trainee solicitor. I joined the College of Law as a Supervising Solicitor in January 2005.

My work at the College of Law involves supervising students on the Legal Practice Course (LPC) at the Legal Advice Centre (LAC) which is runs during term-time. The LAC provides: an “advice-only” service, run by LPC students on housing, employment and education; a leasehold advice and representation service, provided by the Bar Vocational Course (BVC) students; and a legal literacy project, run by the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) students, at an estate in Clapham, London. Part of the LAC involves training trainee solicitors from City firms who take on pro bono cases at the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal.

I run a Housing Casework Scheme for the LPC students and my post is funded by the Legal Services Commission. The LAC has been awarded the Legal Services Commission Quality Mark in Housing. We help people with a low income in housing need with a variety of problems, including: homelessness, eviction, unreturned deposits, disrepair and sundry disputes with landlords, for example deposit claims. We receive referrals from a number of sources, including local solicitors, a collection of housing lawyers, internal referrals from our sister schemes, and eight London County Courts, including the Central London County Court.

All students attend my training workshop on housing law before they interview a client. If the case is suitable and we are able to deal with it (given the timescale and any urgency) we will offer the clients an appointment with the students. The students work in groups of two and three and before the interview they meet to discuss the legal issues involved. I then meet with them and agree the approach they should take, necessary documents and the relevant questions to ask the clients.

The students see the clients alone. After seeing the clients, they discuss the matters with me, especially as to suitability and they give the feedback to the clients. Where suitable they agree a timetable with the clients. Most students obtain experience in drafting a witness statement and a letter of advice. They will also negotiate with third parties to obtain the desired outcome for the client. I approve all the work done by the students every step of the way and I sign the documents with them. Throughout the duration of the students will also obtain training and instruction in legal research, case and time management. I also run an ethics workshop.

I have had a series of mentors during my career and have found them invaluable. They provided me with guidance and support and help throughout my career. One of my mentors helped me during the process of trying to obtain a training contract: she made sure that I made applications and kept me going when my energy levels were low and I found the whole process too difficult.

What I enjoy the most about my work is doing something I love. I like working with clients, I like the intellectual challenge of housing law, which is an expansive area, encompassing: landlord and tenant, public law, tort, contract and nuisance. I am good at helping people obtain realistic outcomes and I enjoy passing these skills onto new lawyers.

I am also interested in contributing to the development of free legal services abroad and over the past two years I have provided training to legal professionals in Uganda and Antigua.

The best advice that I could give those starting out is:

• Do not let anyone define what you can and cannot achieve! 
• Develop an area of interest and expertise, which you can shape your training contract application around. 
• When applying for jobs be selective and only apply for jobs you really want. The “scatter gun” approach does not work, especially if you are in some way different to the usual 23. 
• Be knowledgeable about the recruitment timetable of the organisation you are applying to.  
• There is, of course, room for speculative letters but there is no substitute for a good-quality covering letter that is directed at the specific organisation to whom you are applying, demonstrating your knowledge of the organisation and what you have to offer them.  
• Your CV should not exceed two pages with the latest information first and a coherent and attractive layout.
  

My plans for the future? Continue to practice law.

If I could start my career again I would not change anything at all. I firmly believe that you should have more than one career and I have had a few!