Bevan Brittan

A day in the life of... Herbie Dyer, 6th Year Solicitor Apprentice

Departments to date: Health & Care and Litigation, Advisory & Regulatory

Hello, my name is Herbie Dyer and I am a fifth year Solicitor Apprentice at Bevan Brittan LLP. I have worked for Bevan Brittan since September 2018 following completion of my A-Levels. Initially, I was enrolled onto the Chartered Legal Executive course with CILEx, so I completed my Paralegal Apprenticeship with CILEx and then moved onto the Solicitor Apprenticeship with BPP University in January 2021. I have just completed my final piece of coursework towards my LLB Law and Practice degree and I will hopefully be qualifying as a Solicitor in August 2026, upon successful completion of the SQE exams.

From joining Bevan Brittan in 2018 until last year, I was based in the Health and Care Resolution team in Bristol. The work I completed predominantly consisted of investigating and responding to contentious clinical negligence claims instigated by patients, or their families, against NHS Trusts, General Practitioners and Private Hospital. During my time in the team, I assisted my senior colleagues with defending a wide range of high-value claims, from brain injury claims to cases involving amputations. I also managed my own caseload of claims, which gave me some great case management experience!

From September 2024 onwards, I have been based in the Litigation, Criminal Regulatory and Compliance team meaning I have had exposure to a wide spectrum of work from all areas of the business. Some examples of the work I have been involved with includes contract disputes in relation to waste management and IT contracts; reputation management cases such as claims in harassment and defamation; corporate disputes surrounding share purchase agreements; and advisory work in the field of health and safety and building safety.

Due to the variation of work I am currently exposed to in my team, my days can be very varied and the work I am completing can completely change from one day to the next. In my experience, this fast-paced variation of work seems to often be the case when working in litigation because instructions for new work regularly comes in on a very urgent basis due to Court deadlines often being involved. This means your whole day can change in an instant and all other work has to be worked around in order to deal with the urgent matter – I love the variety and fast paced environment!

In terms of a realistic day in the life, my first job of the day, before I do anything else, is to work through my emails received overnight and sort my inbox so that it is organised and only contains emails I need to respond to, or tasks I need to action. I will then write down a to do list for my day based on the tasks I need to complete and try to plan my day ahead depending on the deadlines I have upcoming (although this plan can often change!).

Once I have sorted through my to do list, I will make a start completing my more urgent tasks for the day, which is usually those with imminent deadlines upcoming. Currently, I am dealing with quite a number of reputation management claims, where my clients are either issuing, or defending, harassment and/or defamation claims. This means my workload currently consists of several litigated claims of this nature and also a number of other cases where the parties are currently in the process of exchanging Pre-Action correspondence. This means my mornings currently consist of spending a significant amount of time reviewing evidence and new disclosure, drafting correspondence to parties and the Court, and drafting Court documents, such as applications and Orders.

Once I have completed my urgent work throughout the morning, I will usually spend my afternoons focussing on the tasks that are likely to take me longer to complete which are usually those I have to get my head into the details and really apply my mine to the complex issues. Examples of these tasks can include drafting advice notes to clients; drafting lengthy witness statements for use as evidence in proceedings; drafting instructions to experts or Counsel; or completing detailed legal research surrounding complex issues.

The last part of my day often consists of ensuring any work with an imminent deadline is completed, updating my supervisor on any urgent matters so they are aware of progress, and reviewing my to-do list to check I have completed all urgent tasks for the day. My last task of the day is always to review my time recording for the day and ensure all entries have been accurately documented and close so a correct account of the work I have completed is logged and updated to our billing system before. This allows me to feel that I have ended the day with a clean slate ready to start afresh the next working day!

About the firm

Senior partner: Duncan Weir

Managing partner:  Jodie Sinclair

Other offices:  Bristol, Birmingham, Leeds and, London.

Who we are: Bevan Brittan is a leading commercial law firm. Alongside our recognised expertise in housing, local government, and health and social care, we are specialists in the construction, energy and resource management, higher education and financial services sectors.

Our award-winning and growing legal teams are led by over 100 Partners. With vital backing provided by our valued business services professionals and support teams, we work together to support almost 2,000 organisations with commercial, corporate, property, finance, regulatory, employment and litigation (commercial and clinical negligence) legal and advisory services.

What we do: Our award-winning teams provide commercial, corporate, property, finance, regulatory, employment and litigation (commercial and clinical negligence) legal advice.

What we’re looking for in an apprentice: We are looking for individuals with enthusiasm, to get stuck into the high-quality and interesting work that we do while we support you to be your best.

What you’ll do: At Bevan Brittan we provide aspiring lawyers with the skills and support to set them up for a successful career. Our solicitor apprentices gain hands-on experience in legal work while studying to qualify as solicitors. Working alongside experts and gaining early exposure to real work for real clients, they follow a tailored training and development programme. This carefully managed learning process enables their confidence to grow alongside experience.

Perks: Life insurance, private healthcare insurance, pension, group income protection, health assessments, cycle scheme.

Sponsorship

Full sponsorship of the apprenticeship programme, including SQE exam costs.

Seat options

Health and care; employment; pensions and immigration; construction; banking; energy and resource management; corporate; ICT; commercial and public law – health; commercial and public law – local authority; litigation; advisory and regulatory; housing; housing management; social housing; property – independent health; regeneration; commercial property; property litigation.