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
S1E6 - Meet The Team: Jessica Chappell
Meet Jessica Chappell, a Senior Associate in Fenchurch Law’s FinPro team. Jess shares her journey from general commercial litigation to specialising in coverage disputes, reflects on the highlights of her first year at Fenchurch Law, and talks about teamwork, memorable cases, and how she switches off outside the office.
Hello and welcome to a new podcast series hosted by Fenchurch Law. The series aims to introduce every member of our four offices in a short informal podcast. Today I'm delighted to be joined by Jessica Chappell, who joined the London office in 2024. A very warm welcome, jess.
Jessica Chappell:Hi Drew.
Dru Corfield:Before we dive into the pod, let's start with some quickfire questions. What is your favorite podcast series?
Jessica Chappell:Anything true crime related.
Dru Corfield:Okay, and are you books or audio books?
Jessica Chappell:Books. Pizzas or burgers, Ooh pizzas.
Dru Corfield:Yeah, I'd agree with that. And what is your favorite Pink Floyd album?
Jessica Chappell:Oh, don't do this to me. I don't know.
Dru Corfield:For the benefit of the tape. Um, I made a dark side of the moon comment to Jess and she came back with what is that so ever since then? Um, anyway, jess, it's great to have you on the pod because it's not like we know each other really well and talk at least 12 times a day. Because, uh, you're obviously a senior associate in the FIMPRO team and I am an associate with you and we have a lot of matters together. So, jess, you joined us in January 2024. Could you walk us through your career journey before joining Fenchurch?
Jessica Chappell:Yes, sure. So I qualified in September 2015, having trained at a West End firm. I had predominantly done quite a bit of conveyancing stuff in my training contract, but then had really enjoyed the litigation side and so qualified into litigation. I was there for a couple of years and then moved with my old sort of partner and team into a new firm and then did that again a few years later into what is a litigation boutique firm. So I did general sort of commercial litigation before joining Fenchurch.
Dru Corfield:Yeah, so I suppose that's going to play into my next question, which is how does your role at Fenchurch differ to those prior roles?
Jessica Chappell:So it differs in the sense that I now only obviously do coverage work. Previously I had done a bit of my old firm, but it was more of a general litigation focus.
Dru Corfield:And what does a typical day look like for you as a senior associate in the FinPro team?
Jessica Chappell:So I think as a senior associate I generally sort of have the day-to-day running of my matters. I liaise with the partners on those matters, clients council often. We've had quite a few litigator cases this year as well. So just dealing with that sort of procedural timetable and getting things ready for trial uh yeah, that is a general day, I'd say yeah, no, I.
Dru Corfield:I can concur, because a couple of those litigated matters we're working on together yeah and so, in terms of you know your, you've obviously had general commercial litigation roles. But what attracted you to fenn church law as a firm rather than as a practice area, and how have you found working in a specialist coverage law firm?
Jessica Chappell:uh, so I think initially, which probably doesn't quite answer your question, but initially, I was attracted to fend church law just because I had enjoyed the coverage experience that I had had in my general commercial litigation role, so that initially when I saw this opportunity that came up, that initially attracted me to it, and then when I learned more about the firm, I just really like what they stand for leveling the playing field for policyholders, free tweet and yeah. Then I met people and yeah, it's a really good place to work. Just working in coverage law in particular is also really interesting. It's quite a complex area of the law, I'd say, and sort of every day is different and varied and it's pretty intellectually challenging, which I like. I mean I got stuck in quite quickly to some really sort of interesting litigated cases and I think at Fenchurch we do get really good work, sort of big ticket work but it retains a sort of small vibe feeling.
Dru Corfield:Yes, definitely Market leading work, top tier ranked work.
Jessica Chappell:Exactly.
Dru Corfield:And can you? I mean, you've been here for over a year now, but can you think of a sort of memorable team moment that really made you feel part of the gang and that you sort of look back on fondly?
Jessica Chappell:Yeah, definitely. I think, as I was just mentioning just then, the sort of big claims we've had. One of them, which was a real team effort, was a case where we had to get permission for an expedited trial just because of the BI loss that the client was incurring was just accruing every day. And we did get permission but obviously that meant sort of condensing a year to 18 months worth of pre-trial work into about four or five months.
Dru Corfield:What a great summer.
Jessica Chappell:Yeah, which was pretty intense, but, um, we all really clubbed together as a team and, yeah, I look back on that with, even though it was intense at the time, with fond memories yeah, no, I think you were.
Dru Corfield:That was very much. Mems made quite quickly on that one. So outside of work, outside of the office, how do you sort of switch off and stop thinking? Because actually I asked this question specifically to you because obviously this is true of partners, but I think senior associates are always thinking about okay, so what's the next step and what's something I can't miss and like it's very much. You are responsible, partners have ultimate responsibility, but obviously you are, as you said at the beginning, managing the day-to-day. So how do you sort of not go stir crazy and think about work the whole time at home? How do you sort of chill?
Jessica Chappell:yeah, no, I think I'm pretty good actually at sort of compartmentalizing that. Um, I definitely got better with that as I've got older and more experience in my career. Um, so I do try and sort of you know, you can't help thinking about things, but I do try and switch off um, and I yeah netball with sort of netball on a tuesday very talented netball player hanging out with friends and family, gym, that kind of thing yeah, just sort of quite a bit of reality tv for my sins, but there we go.
Dru Corfield:I can't do it. I can't deal with reality, telly. And if you weren't a solicitor which we'd all hate because you're really good at your job, but what job could you see yourself doing instead?
Jessica Chappell:do you know what I think? I? Would born lawyer yeah, I think no, maybe in another life a therapist really yeah, I think so. Really I'm very interested in people and I can see that and my, my goss yeah and your yeah, which is plenty Steady.
Dru Corfield:And here's a sort of more open-ended question what's a great piece of advice you've received? It doesn't necessarily have to be a work piece of advice.
Jessica Chappell:Yeah, I think I mean it sounds a bit cliche, but really life is just too short to sweat the small stuff, so I do try and kind of live by that by that daily.
Dru Corfield:Don't think about the clean form on the netball pitch netball court. Is it a court or a?
Jessica Chappell:pitch.
Dru Corfield:It's a court and what's your position? Either center or wing attack yeah, um, I don't know what either of those means, but you're always playing and you're always in finals, so it sounds like you're really good, okay, well, actually, just I think that is being a smooth sailing, great pod and it's been really fun. Uh, you know, we obviously work together a lot, and so this has been yeah, it's been thoroughly enjoyable for me and I hope you've enjoyed it a bit. Thanks for having me oh, always a pleasure, come back soon.
