MY JOURNEY IN LAW

Graduation day is a milestone in any student’s life. For Pearls Eddo (Law 2024) it held an extra surprise.

“When I turned my phone on after the ceremony there were two missed calls and a voicemail.” She rang the number back – and it was the job offer she’d been hoping for.

“I’d applied a few weeks before, done tests and an interview but I wasn’t very confident about it. My family were all there when I got the news and they were so excited.”

For Pearls, landing her first job in a specialist law team is the latest step in a six-year journey which began during her sixth form studies when she applied for the Pathways to Law programme. Run by social mobility charity the Sutton Trust, Pathways to Law supports young people of all backgrounds to pursue their ambitions for a legal career.

“I wasn’t actually successful with that,” says Pearls. “But they suggested I apply to Reach for Excellence at Leeds.” Funded by donors, Reach for Excellence has a strong track record of supporting students from less-advantaged backgrounds during their A-level years, and guiding them as they prepare for University.

Though the programme works primarily with schools and colleges in Yorkshire, Pearls, from Cheshire, won a place on the scheme. “I travelled to Leeds each half term and came to the summer schools. I really loved being involved. It introduced me to campus, and what was great for me was how they helped you apply to Russell Group universities. They walked us through the whole UCAS process so it was already familiar to us when teachers back at college discussed our coming applications.”

In Pearls’s case, that application was to Leeds, and after her A-levels she enrolled in the middle of the pandemic.

Teaching moved online and she was largely confined to Devonshire Hall: “Covid-19 robbed me of my university experience, particularly in the first year.”

So she threw herself into her studies: “I was brought up understanding the transformational nature of education,” she says. “Before I was born, my parents moved from Nigeria because they wanted to give their children opportunities they didn’t have. I worked hard at school because I always intended to go to university.”

As the first member of her family to go to university, from a low-income background, and unable to rely on parental financial support, Pearls was eligible for a scholarship – and credits this as making a transformative difference to her time as a student. “My scholarship reduced the pressure. I was able to make the most of the opportunities I had and concentrate on my studies.”

“At university there are a lot of costs, some which you don't think about when you're applying. It’s not just books and rent, it’s the general cost of living, doing activities, going to interviews and so on. I still needed a job – I worked in the Old Bar and as a Student Ambassador – but the support meant I didn’t have to do so many shifts and could enjoy my university life.”

Her degree included a year in industry with Disney in London, and she was selected for the Laidlaw Foundation’s Undergraduate Leadership and Research programme. Established by Irvine Laidlaw (Economics 1963), the programme supports talented and motivated students to gain the knowledge, skills and experience to become active global citizens and future leaders.

She gave back locally too, volunteering as a welfare assistant for Citizens Advice in Chapeltown, supporting local people with benefit applications.

With her 2:1 secured, Pearls is embarking on the next phase of her life: “I’m based at DLA Piper in Leeds, working as a paralegal in the firm’s Legal Delivery Service in the Contentious Public Law team. I have also worked on pro bono matters, namely the Kids In Need of Defence (KIND) clinic, which aims to support families trying to apply for British citizenship. She also serves as a Diversity and Inclusion Ambassador within the service.

“As for the future, I really want to be a solicitor. I’m interested in employment law and regulatory law and I’ll apply for a training contract. They recruit people two years in advance, so I’m at least four years away from qualifying.”

Pearls is quick to acknowledge the help she has been given along the way. “Support for someone from my kind of background can be so helpful. It allowed me to go to the university of my choice and has changed me as a person and helped me become a lot more confident.

“I’m so appreciative of the support I’ve been given. It’s so empowering. If I hadn't come to Leeds, things might not have happened this way.”

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