Welcome aboard Jennifer Shaw

We are delighted to welcome highly qualified Jennifer, who joined us in March this year as a paralegal. Jennifer works with us in two main capacities within the team, assisting with our After the Event (ATE) insurance products, and conveyancing legal indemnity products. Jennifer has achieved excellent results in her studies, graduating in 2020 with a first-class degree, despite the course ending prematurely due to COVID, and then undertaking her LPC and MSc in Law, Business and Management from home, obtaining a distinction. Wasting no time to get all the experience she could, Jennifer secured a position at Gorvins Solicitors, working in a fast-paced, hands-on environment in high-volume conveyancing.

What particular insight did you gain in your first role at Gorvins, Jennifer? 
It was a very proactive role, learning whilst doing the job. No spoon-feeding, which is the best way! I learnt how to manage my own caseload and manage client contact. The experience particularly gave me insight into managing client expectations, which is really important for the ATE work I’m doing now. It also gave me a level of knowledge and insight into the conveyancing sector more generally.

You’ve had other areas of legal experience too, haven’t you?
Yes indeed. I knew from quite an early age I wanted to work in legal so my first work experience, while still at school, was with a law firm. Since then, I’ve got involved in pro bono work, writing letters of advice, interviewing clients, and also volunteering for the National Centre for Domestic Violence, writing up witness statements for pursuing injunctions. There are so many aspects to legal work. I’ve always found it really exciting, from the client contact to going to court, to helping people access justice, I’ve always known it was the career for me.

And what does an average work day look like for you now at Prosperity Insurance? What are you involved with and who do you talk to?
There are two main elements to my job, conveyancing and ATE. The conveyancing side is relatively new, and the past few months have focussed on us building this side of the business and making the conveyancing policies an effective, money-saving prospect for firms. So initially, a lot of my work has been focussed on helping to make sure the product is the best it can be, through ensuring that the policies are well-written and that the pricing matrix is right, and liaising with our underwriters. ATE is the other side of my work, where we already have lots of clients and that’s about managing claims as they come in. Assessing and reviewing documents to see if we can indemnify a claim and keeping records of assessments and claims is a big part of my role and managing that workflow successfully.

Are any aspects of your role particularly challenging?
With any new role, getting into the flow of it is challenging, but I’m well and truly over that hump now. Medical negligence reports can be heavy going to read. And sometimes it’s not possible to indemnify as the prospects are just not going to make it possible. I like the fact we are helping claimants get access to justice so it’s hard when we can’t do that. But it has to be viable.

Is there anything going on in the industry at the moment that’s of particular note?
Yes! Conveyancing and the property market is booming and it’s a seller’s market, which means there’s even more of a need for indemnity policies in order to fast-track the process. Indemnity policies speed things up and get issues resolved quickly.

On the ATE side, there’s a recent Government consultation over fixed rate costs, so that will be interesting to see if it’s implemented. And no-fault compensation. There’s a lot of movement in these areas and we shall be keeping a close watch.

When you’re not at work Jennifer, what do you enjoy? What do you do on a weekend?
I try to go to the gym and I really enjoy hiking. I live very near the Peak District so I’m often hiking with my partner. And we hope to get a dog soon. I love travelling generally and I’m a keen amateur photographer, so I am looking forward to travelling abroad again later in the year. I’m also trying to cook more; my partner’s a chef and has been teaching me how to perfect a few dishes, so I am slowly getting better in the kitchen.

If you could have your kitchen anywhere in the world, where would it be?
Well, if we’re talking about having my own kitchen, that means my own house, and right now, I’d just like to buy a house! But if it could be anywhere in the world then definitely somewhere by the lakes in Italy would be my first choice. And maybe Perth too, so we could visit my partner’s family. Ideally, in future, the property sector is something I will be more personally involved in, as I think it is a great sector to invest in.