Tosif’s story

I grew up in Wakefield and attended the state-funded Wakefield City Academy. I quite enjoyed school and look back on it with fondness.

Our year group was split into five sets based on academic ability. I was in the higher sets along with most of my friends. We were frequently encouraged to go to university, and there were various trips to the University of Leeds. Going to university wasn’t a given, but was almost expected for those in the more academic sets. This expectation was boosted by various schemes at that time, such as ‘Aimhigher’ which encouraged higher education.

However, had I been in a different set, I think my experience would have been vastly different; I think there were more barriers for those in lower sets to aspire to further their learning and less encouragement to continue in education.

I loved maths but was put off when letters got involved! I realised it was the problem-solving side that I enjoyed, so I studied A-level law at college, and loved criminal law. My A-level tutor was really engaging, and after just two weeks of learning it in college I decided I wanted to pursue law. Things may have been different had I had a different tutor. I continued to study law at university.

I applied for and got a place on Gordons’ vacation scheme in 2023. Through that, I was offered a training contract, and was lucky enough to be able to work as a paralegal for a year before my training started.

I really enjoyed the culture at Gordons and the responsibility given to juniors, who are enabled to feel like part of the team, rather than just someone in the corner.

Looking back, I think my experience of being in the academic set at school and getting good grades made the path towards a career in law relatively straightforward. However, there is still a gap between the opportunities for those at state schools and those at private schools. In state schools, getting the best grades is potentially more challenging, and, unfortunately, we are still in a system that values grades above everything else.

The environment itself is then a barrier, through no fault of the individual. This has a trickle-down effect and impacts what university an individual gets the grades to attend, or whether they can attend university at all. I think state schools have a responsibility to encourage further education / professional careers to more students, not only the higher achievers. Law firms and similar can also play a part by contextualising grades, for example, not automatically disregarding a CV that got BBB for one with AAA and assuming they are the better candidate. Grades don’t reflect an individual’s attitude and willingness to learn and improve themselves.