Claire’s a high-flying legal eagle

Claire Garbutt first became interested in Law when working for the Law Society in London. This interest has now reached fruition, as Claire has graduated from the University of Teesside with an LLB (Hons) degree. She will also start a post-graduate course in September, which will set Claire on the path to qualifying as a Barrister.

Claire, 34, from Linthorpe, Middlesbrough, left Boynton (now Hallgarth) School at 16, enrolling for a BTEC in Business Studies at Kirby College. Following this, Claire moved to London, where she first worked as a Secretary for the Law Society for two years.

She said: “I helped put together examination papers for students sitting their bar exams, which gave me an interest in studying Law at degree level.”

Claire didn’t take the academic plunge straight away, she moved from the Law Society to Paramount Pictures, again for two years. At Paramount she booked film crews into different locations, including the USA location for the 1990 Tom Cruise / Nicole Kidman film ‘Days of Thunder’. She also attended the premiere of the box-office hit ‘Ghost’ in the same year.

On returning to Teesside, Claire enrolled on the Law degree. She combined full-time study with bringing up her three children, twins Charlie and Tom, now seven, and Abi, nine.

Claire said: “It hasn’t always been easy, when you’ve put the kids to bed at 9pm then the academic work starts. I’ve really enjoyed exploring the subject of Law; it impacts on every aspect of life. Family Law was a particular favourite, it’s related to people and I’d like to specialise in this area after I’ve finished the Bar Vocational Course.

“I’ve met some really nice people from all over the country at the University and it’s very well resourced. I’d tell any mature student who is thinking about University that it’s worth it in the end, you can get a better standard of living by having more qualifications.”

Claire is the daughter of Brenda and Peter Garbutt and the first in her family to graduate from University.

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