Changing roles from fast-track to serious injury during the pandemic

Sharanvir Cubra, Assistant Fee Earner, shares her career progression from our fast-track team to our serious injury team. 

Having worked in fast track for just over three years, I had gained lots of experience in a fast-paced environment – call handling, dealing with medical evidence, a quick turnaround of cases managing approximately 250 at any one time, and settling MOJ cases up to £10K. Having gained the experience I needed for my CILEx qualification and to meet my personal goals, I felt it was time for a change. This just happened to be when the pandemic struck.

During the pandemic, Minster Law colleagues were able to work from home as part of the firm’s business continuity plan. It was whilst working from home that I took the decision to move roles to the serious injury team. Despite the challenges this brought and training taking place virtually due to lockdown conditions, I didn’t want the pandemic to affect my personal progression.

Initially I assisted an associate with their cases. The case load varied with up to seven files at any one time, with a value between £1 to £3 million.  In contrast to fast-track cases, cases in serious injury can take a few years to settle due to the detail and nature of injuries on these files.  I was trained to liaise directly with medical agencies, courts and set conferences with barristers. After a few months working alongside the associate, I was able to transition to assist a grade B solicitor which allowed me to have some broader experience dealing with between 14 and 20 files and giving me the opportunity to contact clients directly, take care statements and provide letters of instructions to experts.

Overall, the change in my role has widened my horizons and the variety on a day-to-day basis kept me on my toes during lockdown. Learning a new role virtually was not an easy experience as I did self-teach certain aspects. However, this has shown what I am capable of, and the new role has expanded my knowledge contributing to me completing the CILEx.