Top lawyer Kim Harrison would love to meet up with her old careers’ advisor again – and tell her she was so wrong.
As a teenager Kim was told by a college careers adviser that someone like her could never become a solicitor and that she should choose another career instead. ‘People like her’, working class with her East Midlands accent, didn’t become solicitors, she was told. But Kim was determined to make it as a lawyer, despite that lack of encouragement. As International Women’s Day approaches on 8 March, she has recounted her journey to her dream job.
She knew from her teenage years, having seen the unfairness around the world in the then Apartheid South Africa and the Tiananmen Square massacre in the 1980s that she wanted to be a lawyer – so she could make a difference in the world by helping vulnerable people who did not have a voice.
These days, Kim, who grew up in the Kimberley area of Nottinghamshire, is president of national campaign group APIL, which is based in Lenton, Nottingham, and fights for the rights of victims who have been seriously injured due to negligence.
She is now based in Manchester and, after an early career in industrial disease litigation for victims of asbestos related diseases, she specialises in representing survivors of child sexual abuse in civil claims and associated human rights cases. Her work has seen her represent over 100 abuse survivors at the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA).
She has also represented victims of paedophile football coach Barry Bennell, and celebrity publicist Max Clifford. She has also been involved in high profile cases including representing half the bereaved families of the Manchester Arena bombing victims at the public inquiry and advising the group on possible civil remedies. She’s currently representing Clinically Vulnerable Families at the ongoing Covid-19 Public Inquiry.
Mum-of-two Kim said: “As International Women’s Day approaches, I want my story to inspire other women to dream big and to never be put off achieving their ambitions – even if someone tries to tell you won’t make it or you’re not the right fit.
“I sometimes look back at the careers advice I was given all those years ago and think that I would like to see that adviser again now and show her what I have achieved through my own hard work and belief in myself, rather than doubting myself based on my gender, social class or background. Or, indeed, my accent,” she said.
“I went to an ordinary state school in the East Midlands and the local college. I remember telling my careers adviser at college that I wanted to be a solicitor but she said that wouldn’t be possible ‘for someone like me’. I also remember a girl in my college saying to me that she thought it strange I was doing so well at my A-levels because she didn’t think ‘people with my East Midlands accent’ were clever.
“I had always wanted to be a lawyer so I could help people by fighting for what is right. I was determined to study law at university, so I pushed on and got the A-levels I needed to get into one of the top 10 universities for law. I went to the University of Sheffield where I went on to get a first-class degree in law, winning a number of prizes, including the Freidmann Prize for Tort Law. I then went to Nottingham Law School where I achieved a distinction on my Legal Practice Course. I was adamant that I would push through the barriers which women faced as they tried to pursue their chosen careers.”
Kim, who is recognised in the leading independent legal guides Chambers and the Legal 500, says she is using her time as president of not-for-profit group APIL (the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers) to fight for improved rights for injured victims of negligence, including women, who if they are injured or made ill due to their jobs are less likely to pursue the compensation need.
She said: “APIL research on the ‘gender justice gap’ in relation to work-related injury and illness claims found women are three times less likely than men to claim compensation. Despite women representing more than half of work-related injury and illness victims, they make up just 27 per cent of employers’ liability claimants. The reasons for this are unclear.
“Central to our work at APIL is generating a better understanding of personal injury and the needs of the injured people we look after, so they are at the heart of Government policy-making instead of so often being the victims of policy-making,” she said.