Jacksons celebrates four internal promotions

Independent North East law firm Jacksons has promoted four members of its team after supporting them through their legal training.

Alena Din and Victoria Blackham have qualified as solicitors, while Charlotte Barugh becomes a legal executive and Lindsey Scott a licensed conveyancer.

Alena, who joined Jacksons in early 2022 as a trainee paralegal and secured a solicitor training contract that summer, said: “I’m pleased to have been offered a newly qualified role in the commercial property department.

“I started the training contract in January 2023 and mostly remained in commercial property but also did a little bit of work in the dispute resolution department.

“Both teams have been really supportive of me.”

Victoria, who started her career with the firm as a paralegal during one of the Covid lockdowns in 2021, added: “I’m really pleased and grateful to have qualified this year in the residential conveyancing team, where I have spent most of my time with Jacksons, with the exception of a short stint in the employment team.

“I would like to stay at Jacksons and progress into management because it’s such a nice place to work and it’s also growing – It feels like it is going somewhere.”

Charlotte, who has now passed all her CILEX examinations, which she has been studying for the past five and a half years alongside working full time, added: “I am so grateful for the support which Jacksons have provided me with throughout this course as well as my career.

“I am within the dispute resolution team and head up our debt recovery team, where I assist clients in recovery – either bulk debt or one-off debt recovery.

“I also deal with general litigation with a focus on commercial property litigation.”

Lindsey, who completed the CLC Levels 4&6 to become a certified licenced conveyancer in only two years and three months – something which normally takes up to five years, added: “This means that I am able to deal with residential property transactions as if I was a qualified solicitor in the same field.

“What this means to the firm is that they recognise that there are different ways for people to achieve their aspirations of becoming legally qualified when qualification as a solicitor is not an option.

“As I don’t have a degree, I couldn’t be a solicitor and because I knew that I just wanted to do conveyancing there was no point in me doing CILEX.

“This option has allowed me to become trained in solely conveyancing and understand the different types of transactions that are covered under that umbrella.”

The firm, which has offices in Newcastle and on Teesside, recently completed a full rebrand to reflect both its heritage and forward-looking approach.

The promotions highlight Jacksons’ ongoing investment in talent development.

Erica Turner, head of legal at Jacksons, added: “As a firm which is committed to independence and dedicated to growing our team from within, we are very proud to be able to announce these four recent qualifications and promotions.

“I would like to extend a huge congratulations to these four women, who have all demonstrated great dedication and a natural flair for working in the legal profession, regardless of the different routes they have taken to reach their goals.

“I am looking forward to seeing how they all develop within their roles and beyond.”

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