A love of true crime books and TV has led to a blossoming career for the latest fully qualified paralegal at Edinburgh law firm Gibson Kerr .
Katherine Logan, 30, joined the Edinburgh company in 2014 as a secretary, having had a long-standing interest in law. She has since completed an 18-month Specialist Paralegal Qualification in Family Law at the University of Strathclyde. Now she hopes to add a law conversion degree to her qualifications.
Logan previously studied Professional Practice Studies at Northumbria University and started her career in Newcastle in property management before moving to East Lothian and taking up a secretarial position with personal, family and property law experts Gibson Kerr.
She said: “I’m so happy to have become a paralegal and really begin to establish myself in the legal profession. I have always been interested in true crime, and when I was younger I wanted to become a criminal defence lawyer. Knowing what I do now, I feel I’ve definitely found my calling in family law.
“We work so closely with our clients in family law, when they are often at their lowest ebb, so it’s incredibly rewarding when they come out of the process satisfied. In my early professional career I’d become somewhat put off by law as I just didn’t think it was something I could get into without being a fully fledged law graduate.
“I think it’s really encouraging to know that there are more ways of getting into law than the traditional route, and so it is far more accessible than I first thought. Completing the 18 month course whilst also working full time was sometimes tough but the support I received from Gibson Kerr and my family made it so much easier.”
Fiona Rasmusen, Logan’s mentor and head of family law at Gibson Kerr, said: “We have seen so much potential in Katherine since she started here five years ago. She is incredibly passionate about law so we were just as eager as her to see her propel her law career.
“She brings so much energy to the team so it’s great to be able to give her progression from her valued secretarial role and into a more hands-on position so clients can experience that also.”
