Here’s a better way to get legally legit

“Girls only cook and clean. ”
I call BS

It seems bonkers now, but at 13, I was taken out of school. Why? So I could take over the household’s cooking and cleaning while my mum socialised. I was brought up to believe that this was a woman’s role. But even then, I wasn’t buyin’ it.

Fast-forward to age 16, when my mum caught wind of a youth training team that taught you how to sew. She signed me up, and each fortnight I was paid, my mum would keep all the money.

I soon discovered that the training team offered a typing course. So, I made a deal with the director (on the down-low, so my parents wouldn’t find out). And negotiated to sew half the week and learn to type the other half. He agreed. I got to work.

The cheeky office junior

A little while later, a job came up to work as an office junior in a law firm. I would’ve killed for that job! But remember, mum had no idea I could type… So I had to think on my feet. I told my mum how unfortunate it was that I couldn’t take on this opportunity. After all, it paid 600 pounds a month (hundreds more than the sewing)! My mum said, ‘leave it with me, I’ll sort it out with your dad’.

Miraculously, I got the job. Without being able to tell the firm about my typing #skillz, I had to sell them on my personality. Luckily, they liked it.

I wouldn’t see a cent of my hard work (my mum took that too). But I couldn’t have been more delighted. Mum cheered for the money. I cheered because I, y’know, got the job.

Women can be anything

That job opened my eyes to the world. I met amazing women. Powerful women. Friendly women. Women in respected roles who were achieving incredible things.

I soon realised that the message my mum had given me all my childhood was wrong. Women really could achieve anything.

These brilliant women I met led me to decide that one day, I was going to be a lawyer.

I’d negotiated my way here – so why not try again? I bargained another deal with my mum and went to night school to do some extra learning.

After graduation, I left home, travelled from Wales to Australia – then to Scotland and spent the next year doing night school and summer school.

Negotiating my way into a law degree

I landed an interview with the dmissions officer at Aberdeen School of Law, and convinced him to allow me in, despite the school’s strict entry requirements. Then at 24, I began studying law.

To pay my way through school I worked an evening job at a supermarket and convinced petrol stations around the North of Scotland to buy the brand of ice cream I was promoting on weekends. Then, every summer until graduation, I worked with a law firm.

For the next 5 years, I worked in law firms in Scotland before moving to Australia to continue working in law.

Creative thinking is a superpower

As well as being passionate about law, coming up with creative ways to grow and adapt businesses has also been just as transformative for me over the years.

In 2010, I set up an ecommerce business selling grooming products. That exact store rose to 6-figures through hard work, creative thinking, perseverance and a can-do attitude. I learnt so much from running this business (especially the fuck-ups!).

When my kids (who were IVF babies) were 8 and 10, I started Foundd Legal. And through my understanding of the pain points creative business owners deal with on a daily basis, I began designing affordable industry-specific templates.

Throughout my life, overcoming obstacles has remained constant. Creative thinking has always been my preferred way to overcome things that have stood in my way. And if you’re here, my guess is that it's been yours, too. I’d love to help you feel legally legit in all your creative brilliance.