The Policyholder Podcast: Presented by Fenchurch Law
The Policyholder Podcast, presented by Fenchurch Law, the podcast that aims to bring insights from a variety of guests with different perspectives on the insurance market, in a way that’s relevant to policyholders, and the brokers who represent them.
The Policyholder Podcast: Presented by Fenchurch Law
S1E2 - Meet the Team: Simran Matharu
Meet Simran Matharu, who joins us to share her journey as Fenchurch Law’s first-ever Solicitor Apprentice.
Simran walks us through the structure of her six-year apprenticeship, a comprehensive programme that blends academic study with hands-on experience. By qualification, Simran will have spent six years immersed in the inner workings of a law firm, making her "worth her weight in gold" compared to traditional trainees just starting their professional journey.
Simran represents a new generation of legal professionals entering the field, whether you're considering alternative pathways to qualification or simply curious about evolving approaches to legal training, Simran's insights offer a compelling glimpse into the future of legal education.
Hello and welcome to a new podcast series hosted by Fenchurch Law. The series aims to introduce every member of our four offices being London, leeds, singapore and Copenhagen in a short informal podcast. Today I'm delighted to be joined by Simran Matharu, who joined the London office in 2024. A very warm welcome, simran.
Simran:Thank you, Drew.
Dru:So before we dive into the pod, let's start with some quickfire questions. Firstly, podcasts or music, music Instagram or TikTok, tiktok.
Simran:Oh, I disagree. I don't even have TikTok.
Dru:Morning workout or evening workout Evening Just not with the phone, because we don't and time travel. Or evening workout, evening Just not with the phone, because we and time travel or teleportation.
Simran:Oh, time travel.
Dru:Yeah, I think I agree with you there. So, sim, thank you for being our first guest of the series. Something unique to you in the London office is your age, and I'm not usually in the business of asking people how old they are, but I think, as you're a teenager, hopefully you won't see it as rude. So, simi, how old are you? I'm 18. Thank you, 18, with maturity, well beyond your years. Thank you. Well, that question was a clunky way of segwaying into what I'd love to ask you about, which is your experience as Fenchurch Law's first ever solicitor apprentice. So could you explain to the listeners what a solicitor apprentice is?
Simran:so the solicitor apprenticeship is a six-year course where you qualify as a solicitor with a degree and you do your qualifying exams. You spend, I think, about four years doing the degree so I'm with the university of law and then two years doing the degree so I'm with the University of Law and then two years doing the um solicitor qualifying exams yeah, and that was six years at the same firm.
Dru:Yeah, so we've got you for the foreseeable. Yes, um, and you said you spend a day a week at university, and what do you learn about that?
Simran:it's obviously a range of things. At the moment I'm studying, taught and common law and ethics, moving on to contract law soon, um. So yeah, I'm really enjoying it and how many people are in your uh, in your intake class so because I'm doing in-person um uni, there's actually only five of us in my cohort wow but as, like the whole cohort, all together there's hundreds, I'd probably say, but they're all online yeah, well, call me old fashion, but I'd much rather be in class than be learning online.
Dru:Thanks very much to me. And given that you've only been here for a few months, what does your role at Fenchurch Law involve at the moment?
Simran:so I'm currently working with operations. Natalie's my supervisor.
Dru:Shout out to.
Simran:Natalie. So at the moment just learning what the business is, how it runs, how the accounts are run, you know admin work.
Dru:And you're here trading for six years. What are?
Simran:you most looking forward to in that time, I think, just becoming the best sort of solicitor I can be. I think I'm going to learn so much doing this route that I just want to make sure I take up it up every opportunity that I can um, so in the end it's gonna be marvelous.
Dru:Yeah, exactly. Well, I can tell you for free, if you spend six years in an office and then you're, you're going to be invaluable by the time you qualify, because I don't think anyone would say on my first day of my training contract that I was particularly.
Dru:Well, I mean I did my best, but I mean you'll have been here for six years and been doing so much stuff. You'll be worth your weight in gold. And finally, who is your favorite? No, I'm just joking. Finally, who is your favourite? No, I'm joking, no, sorry. My final question is what sort of questions do your friends have about your apprenticeship? And this is on the premise that some of them might have gone into other jobs, but I imagine most of them at university.
Simran:Yeah, most, yeah Probably all of them are at university. I wouldn't say there's specific questions. I think my year at school there was quite talked about, so I think people know what it is.
Dru:but I think they're just so like in awe of the apprenticeship because obviously the they're paying for their tuition and yeah having to do all the all of that, and that's not what yeah, and then you show up at dinner and with a salary and they all look at you very jealous and so obviously at the end of this you'll be a qualified solicitor. Mm-hmm, I'm just thinking because obviously you made this decision when you were fairly young, as in you would have been sort of at school and to make it sort of well from my point of view, I didn't know that I wanted to go to law school until probably towards the end of my undergraduate. So this is a long winded way of saying, rather than, what made you want to become a solicitor apprentice, what made you want to become a solicitor in the first place?
Simran:I think there was a few reasons. I think number one I was quite exposed to this career because I had a lot of family who were already lawyers. But I think the one big thing that made me realise that I wanted to be a solicitor was because I think I want to say it was year nine there was this opportunity to do this mock magistrates court trial and I really wanted to get involved in it and I and I did, I just really enjoyed it. I loved the process of, you know, looking at the cases and looking at the points that we could make, and then, um, we went to this magistrates court and we actually like presented our case and stuff. So it was quite cool. I think. From there I just was instantly attracted to this career wow, good stuff.
Dru:So yeah, died in the wall died in the wall solicitor to be. Thank you very much for coming on and I've obviously really enjoyed chatting to you, notwithstanding that we sit about five feet away from each other, but it's been great to chat and learn a little bit more about solicitor's apprenticeship and, yeah well, I'm looking forward to the next five and a half years.
Simran:Thank you.
