top of page

Double Helping Of Solicitor Qualifications For Law Firm Ellis Jones


A pair of aspiring colleagues at a south coast law firm have taken the next steps in their careers by qualifying as solicitors.


Ellis Jones Solicitors has welcomed the formal qualifications for Tayla Baird and Victoria Simpkin who work in its Employment and Business Services departments respectively.


Victoria joins two other team members at the firm who have passed the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) in the past six months.


Introduced in 2021, the SQE is a centralised assessment route designed to achieve consistently high practice standards in England’s legal profession. Preparation involves balancing the demands of day-to-day work with rigorous study ahead of a two-stage exam process.


Victoria joined Ellis Jones as a Legal Secretary in 2015 working as a paralegal before starting her solicitor training.


Based in Bournemouth, she covers a wide range of business-related legal issues including shareholder agreements, trademark applications, Companies House filings, selling and buying businesses, prize competition assistance and company restructure advice.


Tayla, who is based at Ellis Jones’ London office, completed a Masters in Law in 2020 and has qualified after completing a training contract at the firm.


Her caseload includes advising on workplace disputes and employment tribunal claims.


Before focusing on the Employment department, Tayla spent part of her training contract in Ellis Jones’ Banking & Finance Litigation and Family law teams.


Nigel Smith, Ellis Jones Managing Partner, said:

"Congratulations to Victoria and Tayla on their hard work and much-deserved solicitor qualifications. It is immensely pleasing to see team members with an interest in furthering their legal careers do so well.”

The firm, which has eight offices in Bournemouth, Dorchester, Poole, Ringwood, Swanage, Broadstone, Wimborne and London, has a policy of providing training contracts and other professional development opportunities.


Alongside senior staff, its 190-strong team includes graduates, legal executives, paralegals and placement students.


The first Ellis Jones team member to qualify as a solicitor through the SQE route was Leah Sharman in the Banking & Finance Litigation department in autumn 2024.


Leah was followed earlier this year by Daisy Kershaw in Wills, Trusts & Probate.


Two other Ellis Jones colleagues, Wai Chan in Banking & Finance Litigation and Matt Rushent in Contentious Trusts & Probate, also qualified as solicitors through their training contracts in 2024.

Most Read

Derbyshire Beauty Salon 'Made-Up' By Awards Win

Derbyshire Beauty Salon 'Made-Up' By Awards Win

A Derbyshire beauty salon is celebrating after winning top prize in its category at the industry’s biggest national beauty awards...

Eurostar Foods Launches Green Farm Collective

Eurostar Foods Launches Green Farm Collective

The four farmer founders of The Green Farm Collective (TGFC) have teamed up with Eurostar Commodities to develop a line of flours...

Raja Rani Restaurant Named Best Curry Restaurant In Scotland

Raja Rani Restaurant Named Best Curry Restaurant In Scotland

Raja Rani in Glasgow, has officially been crowned Scotland’s Best Curry Restaurant at the Nation’s Curry Awards 2025. This award-winning...

Categories



The founder of successful nine-year-old PR agency, MacComms has announced details of the upcoming launch of her second business, HelloHope.

 

Ellie MacDonald from Leeds has trained as a mental health and suicide prevention instructor trainer and is launching her Community Interest Company, HelloHope at a special event on 23rd May.

 

Having battled mental health issues and experienced the loss of her dad to suicide when she was just four years old, Ellie is channelling her pain into something positive to bring more hope to people at a time when it is needed most.

 

Ellie comments:

“I grew up sad, angry, and confused by my dad’s suicide, nobody dared speak about it and so it's taken years to be able to understand it and to get to a place to do something positive to help those who, like my dad, may be struggling."

“Timing is everything. This isn’t something I could have handled emotionally a few years ago but having experienced severe depression between 2021-2023, my recovery highlighted a need in me to do something truly purposeful.” 

 

Having been behind PR campaigns such as Champion Health’s workplace wellbeing and suicide prevention reports, supporting charities such as the National Centre for Suicide Prevention, Education and Training, and local homelessness charity Simon on the Streets, Ellie realised how much it meant to be part of something meaningful.

 

Ellie’s desire led her to become a local suicide prevention campaigner for Samaritans and Trustee of national suicide prevention charity, Baton of Hope.

 

With The Office For National Statistics (ONS) reporting that 2023 suicide rates are statistically significantly higher than the previous three years, with suicide listed as the main cause of death in people under 35 years old in the UK, Ellie was keen to do even more.

 

Having spent time observing the sector, retraining, researching and planning, Ellie appointed Leeds-based branding agency, ALLGOOD to create a positive, vibrant brand which aims to make it easier to have conversations around suicide and poor mental health.

 

Ellie continues:

 “The statistics are shocking and it’s about time we finally break the stigma to put an end to people’s silent suffering."

“I plan to use my PR background to run awareness-raising and stigma-reducing campaigns, talks, events and activities in workplaces, businesses, and schools, and of course by getting as many people as possible trained."

 

“HelloHope will deliver simple yet vital lifesaving training to adults as preventative methods so we can all better at understanding the signs to look for and how to get someone who is struggling to a place of safety (whilst keeping the intervener safe)”

 

Over the past nine years, Ellie has won awards for her PR agency which set out to do business better. This includes Yorkshire’s Young Leader of the Year in the Business Desk Yorkshire’s Leadership Awards and Start-Up Businesswoman of the Year in Forward Ladies regional awards.

 

HelloHope will launch at a special event alongside celebrating MacComms’ ninth birthday on Thursday 23rd May at Nexus, Leeds from 5.30pm.

 

Most Read

Derbyshire Beauty Salon 'Made-Up' By Awards Win

Derbyshire Beauty Salon 'Made-Up' By Awards Win

A Derbyshire beauty salon is celebrating after winning top prize in its category at the industry’s biggest national beauty awards...

Eurostar Foods Launches Green Farm Collective

Eurostar Foods Launches Green Farm Collective

The four farmer founders of The Green Farm Collective (TGFC) have teamed up with Eurostar Commodities to develop a line of flours...

Raja Rani Restaurant Named Best Curry Restaurant In Scotland

Raja Rani Restaurant Named Best Curry Restaurant In Scotland

Raja Rani in Glasgow, has officially been crowned Scotland’s Best Curry Restaurant at the Nation’s Curry Awards 2025. This award-winning...

Categories

Dundee Scientist Recognised With Prestigious Medal For Parkinson Research

Dundee Scientist Recognised With Prestigious Medal For Parkinson Research

A Dundee academic has been awarded a prestigious national prize for his work on neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinsons. The...

University Of Glasgow Set To Become Cutting-Edge Nano-Analysis Hub

University Of Glasgow Set To Become Cutting-Edge Nano-Analysis Hub

A major new grant will help to establish the University of Glasgow as one of the UK’s leaders in atom-by-atom of analysis of materials...

Luke Evans Bakery Employee Retires After 50 Years

Luke Evans Bakery Employee Retires After 50 Years

Dispatch manager Alan Smedley has retired after an impressive 50 years of working at Luke Evans Bakery in Derbyshire. He started working...

Recent Posts

bottom of page