S3E2 - Meet the Team: Chloe Franklin

In this episode of the Fenchurch Law Meet the Team podcast, we're joined by Associate Chloe Franklin, a member of Fenchurch Law's Construction and Property Risks team based in Leeds.

We discuss Chloe's return from maternity leave, her experience of settling back into work, and why becoming a mother has made her far more patient than she ever expected. The conversation also explores her unique career journey through insurer claims handling and broking before qualifying as a solicitor, and how that experience continues to shape her approach to policyholder insurance disputes today.

Chloe also discusses one of the most memorable cases she has worked on at Fenchurch Law, the landmark World Challenge case, before sharing why the Leeds office continues to be known for its unrivalled team spirit and good vibes.

Transcript

Meet Chloe And Quick Fire

Dru Corfield 0:05

Hello and welcome to a new podcast series hosted by Fenchurch Law. The series aims to introduce every member of our offices in a short, informal podcast. Today I'm delighted to be joined by Chloe Franklin, who joined Fenchurch Law in 2022. Chloe is an associate solicitor in our construction and property team and is based in our Leeds office. Very warm welcome, Chloe.

SPEAKER_00 0:25

Thanks for having me, Drew.

Dru Corfield 0:26

So before we dive in, let's start with some quick fire questions. We always do on the Policy Holder Pod. Question one, Leeds or York?

SPEAKER_00 0:34

Oh, leads.

Dru Corfield 0:36

Question two, pizza night or curry night?

SPEAKER_00 0:38

Well, it has to be pizza.

Dru Corfield 0:40

Yeah, well, we just had pizza for lunch.

SPEAKER_00 0:41

I know, and I'm also lactose intolerant, so it seems counterintuitive, but it has to be pizza.

Dru Corfield 0:46

The commit commitment to the pizza. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Snacks or naps?

SPEAKER_00 0:50

Oh. Probably snacks. I'm not a napper.

Dru Corfield 0:54

Oh. See, I'm both. I don't think I could even answer that question. Uh if you could and finally, if you could have a fictional character around for dinner, who would it be?

SPEAKER_00 1:05

Fictional. Probably somebody interested. This is not very quickfire. Like Sherlock Holmes. Yeah, that's a good way. You could just stories galore. Yeah, you could really interrogate them, couldn't you?

Dru Corfield 1:18

Or they could interrogate you. Or yeah, true, true, yeah. No, I think that's that's a very good answer. I th I would have gone with some like comedic character, but I think you probably have a more I had Flintstone or something. Okay, well, there we go. Quick far as ever. Welcome back, Chloe. The benefit of the tape.

Returning From Maternity Leave

Dru Corfield 1:35

Chloe has recently returned from maternity leave, and that seems like a very well natural place to start. So I I guess the first question is um how are you finding it all?

SPEAKER_00 1:45

Yeah, it's it's a real adjustment coming back. First of all, things change when you come back, and uh people just don't think that anything's changed because it's just back it it's sort of happened in the normal course of the last year or so.

Dru Corfield 1:59

Or in the background a bit, because you're yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 2:01

And then you come back and you you notice all these different changes, but nobody has really thought that they're big things, so it's just f finding your feet again like that. Yeah, just taking some time to settle in, but it's good to be back and using my brain again.

Dru Corfield 2:15

So and uh and how's the sleep?

SPEAKER_00 2:19

I shouldn't say this on a public forum, but good.

Dru Corfield 2:23

Really?

SPEAKER_00 2:24

Yes. So well done, baby. I don't like to uh make other people feel bad, but I am just lucky, I think.

Dru Corfield 2:31

Well, I can actually think of a couple of colleagues who will not look at it. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 2:34

So I try I I I try to keep my uh gloating to a minimum.

Dru Corfield 2:38

Yeah, pity that this is going on the internet, yeah. And so I guess obviously you have haven't been back for um for that long. But what's one thing you'd say you've learned about yourself since becoming a mother? And actually, I'm gonna rephrase that. It doesn't have to be about in a context of work, but is there anything that you've sort of surprised yourself with over in the last year or so? Or that has surprised you perhaps?

SPEAKER_00 3:06

Yeah, I'm probably more patient than I thought I was. I would have probably characterised myself as quite an impatient person. And uh I relate to that. Yeah, but then having a child just forces you to be more patient.

Dru Corfield 3:22

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 3:23

And yeah, definitely more patient. I've surprised myself there. So it'd be good if I can bring that into my uh into my work life because I know that I uh Well I didn't know you were particularly impatient before you uh I'll get sort of if I'm a little bit quiet, I get a bit itchy feet straight away.

Dru Corfield 3:38

I I can't Are you not very good at doing nothing?

SPEAKER_00 3:41

No, terrible at doing nothing. In fact, that's actually the worst thing I can be doing.

Dru Corfield 3:47

No, that that that that makes sense. And I said, yeah, the impatient thing, I mean you kind of have to be, right? Because your baby can't the baby will always win the sort of impatient competition.

SPEAKER_00 3:58

But precisely, you're not reasoning with a child at the end of the day, so you just sort of have to go with the flow a little bit more.

Dru Corfield 4:03

And I think you kind of already answered this next question because it's about one thing you're looking forward to doing now you're back at work, but yeah you said using using your brain.

SPEAKER_00 4:12

Yes, engaging my brain a bit more, interacting with adults a bit more often.

Dru Corfield 4:18

It's gonna be nicer about your husband there, Kevin. Sorry, I didn't actually mean to fire shots. I actually don't know, don't know your husband at all. That was very rude. My apologies.

SPEAKER_00 4:27

Oh no, it's all all all good, all good. But uh yes.

From Insurer Claims To Broking

Dru Corfield 4:30

Well, quick, let's quickly let's move on to insurance law.

unknown 4:33

Yeah.

Dru Corfield 4:34

Traditionally clumsy segue into talking about insurance, as is uh as is the way on the policy holder pods. Well, I what I did want to ask you about is your role as a broker, because I know that you spent some time doing broking. I'm not sure if that's how you say it, but I know you spent some time as a broker. So where did you hatch of questions here? Where did you work? What did you do, and how long did you do it for?

SPEAKER_00 4:55

So broking, I actually came out of uni and went into in an insurer doing claims, and then and then I moved to another insurer, and then I ended up in broken.

Dru Corfield 5:07

Oh, I didn't okay, so sorry, can we hear about the insurer thing? Because I think you're one of the few people at the firm who has truly been on the dark side.

SPEAKER_00 5:15

Yes, I have, yeah, absolutely. So the first job was actually an arm of our donor group, and we did claims handling and for various insurers, we were sort of an outsourced claims team doing liability claims. Then I left there and started doing liability claims at ecclesiastical insurance, which is really interesting. Loads there. It's a really interesting the types of risks that they have.

Dru Corfield 5:48

Yeah, what what kind of stuff were you doing?

SPEAKER_00 5:50

It's historical buildings, churches, schools, that kind of thing. So the the types of claims you got in there were were were sort of a lot of the time specific to that genre of risk. And then I left there and moved to interbroking briefly as a claims handler, and then I moved again and I worked at a nationwide broker as a technical claims manager.

Dru Corfield 6:21

So what's the difference between a claims handler and a technical claims manager?

SPEAKER_00 6:25

So I to be honest with you, the the role titles vary from business to business. I think it just depends on how what the setup is. Um but from my perspective, a claims handler was the day-to-day handling of individual claims, and you'd have a work, a caseload of so many claims that you did the day-to-day running of. And then in my last role, what I did, I was the technical referral point for all the claims team. We had multiple claims teams by the time I ended up leaving. So I was the technical referral point for them, and also so I would help with claims strategy and can the com commercial relationships with insurers and things like that.

Dru Corfield 7:08

And how so was any of that role sort of a a little bit legal as an Oh yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:14

All of it was really from start to finish. When I I think I naively took on the role coming out of uni having done law, and thought, oh, liability, claims handling, that's transferable skills, but hadn't appreciated just how legal it was going to be. And then as I progressed in my career in that side of the industry, it became more and more legal because obviously, as a technical referral point, you are I was the I was the the point of contact when it did when it did get down to the nitty-gritty and you needed some legal advice. Although I wasn't giving I wasn't giving strict legal advice, I was interpreting the law and then having conversations insurance.

Dru Corfield 7:52

So that's I mean, my next question's about how has that knowledge influenced your work as a solicitor? But it sounds like fun fundamentally because you learn most people learn on the job as a trainee, but you would have started your training contract at Fenchurch in 22?

SPEAKER_00 8:06

22.

Dru Corfield 8:07

But you did you did it, you did it. Uh I think that I'm right, sorry, I'm putting words in your mouth. But I think the firm truncated your training period because they were like, this is way this person is way beyond the trainee standards.

SPEAKER_00 8:19

Because I actually applied to be in Phil's team in the consultancy side of things, but it it transpired that it it might have been a benefit hadn't having done my legal exams and my LPC to uh you had the LPC. I did my LPC, I did my master's and my LPC in my fourth year of uni together alongside each other.

Dru Corfield 8:39

That is horrible. Yeah, it was that sounds so intense.

SPEAKER_00 8:43

No what I said about being impatient. Yeah.

Dru Corfield 8:47

My brain cannot comprehend how much work that is. Oh yeah. Wow. Well done.

SPEAKER_00 8:51

So then I came out of uni and didn't really flex that sort of side of my career. And I really enjoyed working in the insurance industry in in Broken. But so yeah, so it it's it's completely fundamental, really, to everything I do now.

Dru Corfield 9:06

God, that is so much experience. So you're you're really dyed in the wool insurance sort of coverage. It's been everywhere. Claims person. Well, I I hadn't actually appreciated the insurance side stuff. Thanks

The World Challenge Win And Leeds

Dru Corfield 9:18

very much. And next question is what would you say the most interesting case you've worked on at Fenchurch Law is and why, with the caveat that you have to be able to talk about it?

SPEAKER_00 9:27

Okay.

Dru Corfield 9:27

As in the sense that obviously we have confidentiality stuff.

SPEAKER_00 9:30

So yes, but I think interesting to me means great outcome.

Dru Corfield 9:37

Are you um are you competitive?

SPEAKER_00 9:39

Not at all, don't know what you're talking about. But also, it was a very interesting case with World Challenge. It was a great outcome for us. It was essentially a travel company that provided tours to schools for uh school-aged children to go around the world, and their insurers had historically paid claims for cancellation and then refused the cancellation claims which were triggered by COVID.

Dru Corfield 10:07

Because there was all of them.

SPEAKER_00 10:09

Yes, because that was their business. Yeah, so and it set some well, it it it it brought some real interesting conversation around estoppel, and yeah, it was a great out from the outcome from the clients. So yeah, uh I definitely will challenge.

Dru Corfield 10:26

No, I remember I actually because obviously you're in you're in Leeds, but I remember the judgment in London, and I think there was almost whooping and cheering in the office because it was because actually, no, to the estoppel point's really important because it's actually sort of I've kind of furthered the law in that regard. So it's really significant, and it's a great, it's a great thing that policyholders can now it's just beneficial for policyholders in general in coverage disputes.

SPEAKER_00 10:51

Yeah, absolutely.

Dru Corfield 10:52

No, no, well done, team, world challenge. And okay, final question, sadly, because I'm really enjoying this. But I know that your colleagues are going to be delighted to have you back in the Leeds office because for a variety of reasons it's been a little bit quieter than usual this year. Basically, how how are the vibes up there?

SPEAKER_00 11:10

Well, you know the vibes are always good in Leeds.

Dru Corfield 11:12

The vibes are immaculate in Leeds.

SPEAKER_00 11:13

Yeah, very, very good. And uh and I said to Dan Shout out, shout out Dan.

Dru Corfield 11:17

Yeah, also very belated, but shout out Phil. Phil got a mention and I forgot to shout him out. But we love we do love our Phil and our Dan.

SPEAKER_00 11:25

I said to Dan when I came back, if I've got no work to do, I can bring the vibes. So it's okay. It's okay. So no, we're we're we're all good, back on track, I think.

Dru Corfield 11:33

Yeah, well, anyone listening to this pub will know for an absolute fact that you do bring the vibes, Chloe. Uh thanks very much for coming in. It's it's great to have you back, and it's been really great to talk to you. And uh how long until our wine tasting just got to two or three hours?

SPEAKER_00 11:46

Yes, believe it or not, no wine already. Yeah.

Dru Corfield 11:50

Anyway, thanks very much for coming in and yeah, yeah, we had a great chat. Bye bye.

SPEAKER_00 11:54

Thank you.