Northern Ireland law firm qualifies its first homegrown solicitors

Two Northern Ireland women have made company history by becoming the first newly qualified solicitors to complete Lewis Silkin’s training programme in Belfast.

The firm first offered its two training contracts in 2022 to Sarah Mohan and Megan Kerr who now hold the historic position of being Lewis Silkin’s first homegrown lawyers in Northern Ireland.

GB-based Lewis Silkin first joined forces with employment law specialists Jones Cassidy Brett in 2021 before acquiring tech-focused Forde Campbell the following year.

With keen interest in aspects of employment law, particularly issues relating to discrimination, unfair dismissal, and disciplinary and grievance matters, Sarah Mohan joined Jones Cassidy Brett as a paralegal in 2019 before the merger.

Megan Kerr started with Forde Campbell in 2021 to assist in the intellectual property and dispute resolution team prior to the firm teaming up with Lewis Silkin in 2022.

Ciara Fulton, partner and head of the Belfast office says that Sarah and Megan’s qualifications are a testament to the firm’s dedication to growing its own talent.

She explained: “We’re incredibly proud to see Sarah and Megan qualify with us. Since both joined us as paralegals with Jones Cassidy Brett and Forde Campbell respectively, they’ve been an integral part of the team, working across different areas of law to gain valuable knowledge and experience to secure their qualifications.

“Our training programme offers a great opportunity to extract wisdom and learn from individuals who are considered leaders in their field. With the merger, we have an advantage in terms of our local knowledge and specialisms – which include employment, immigration, intellectual property, tech and data.

“We look forward to continue working with Sarah and Megan in the employment and dispute resolution and intellectual property teams respectively and we hope that this is just the start of our journey to qualifying more of our own solicitors.”