Paul’s story

I grew up in Newcastle upon Tyne. My homelife was a happy one, but with its challenges. My father died when I was 12, so my mother, Alice, then became the breadwinner. She had an incredible work ethic and often held down several jobs at the same time. She was strong, independent and made a lot of sacrifices to ensure that I had whatever I needed. You don’t fully appreciate things like that at the time.

School was enjoyable but it wasn’t somewhere that encouraged academic ambition. I was a good footballer which bought me some credibility with other kids and meant that I didn’t get too much grief for also being a ‘swot’!

I had a mixture of pals, not all of whom managed to stay on the right side of the tracks sadly, but many of my friends were made through football and shared my love of sport, teamwork and competitiveness.

Education beyond school wasn’t something you considered because you just didn’t know anyone who did that. Most left school at 16 (as I did) to look for work, mainly in the building or related trades. I actually left to become a professional footballer but that didn’t work out. From there, I had temporary jobs. It felt important to me to contribute financially at home.

While working I studied ‘A’ level subjects at night school. By then I was gaining a clearer understanding of career choices. Law seemed like an interesting option where you could earn decent money, so I then joined the law degree course at Northumbria University (then Newcastle Polytechnic). Unlike today, education grants were available – I wouldn’t have been able to take a degree without that support.

After graduating, I trained with a small Bradford firm and, upon qualification, joined a bigger corporate firm in Leeds. Despite the interesting work, a big firm wasn’t for me. At three years qualified, I moved on to join Gordons.

Gordons had a personal feel and some great clients. I’ve always liked dealing with entrepreneurs and got on with them – they’re open minded and interesting. Gordons represented a lot of them.

It was an excellent move for me. After a couple of years, I was made partner. In 2000, I became managing partner and continued until 2023. In that time, we grew and were successful but it was also important to us to ‘do the right things’.

Gordons is a great firm. We have many talented people with good values This gives us a positive culture and attracts, and retains, excellent clients.

Social mobility has always been an issue I have championed. It’s really about having an ‘open to all’ environment and giving people with the right attitude a fair chance to to ‘get on’. This resulted in us becoming the first law firm in the UK to create an apprenticeship scheme. We are proud of this.

To reach beyond our apprenticeship scheme, we have been looking to engage school heads to understand their perspective and how we can address this. It hasn’t been easy. If this is our experience – as a law firm committed to social mobility, then I imagine it must be the same for others.