FORMER Nunnery Wood High School student Stephanie Richardson has her feet on the first rung of the ladder to becoming a solicitor.

Stephanie, from St Peter's, Worcester, has started her training contract with Thomas Guise Solicitors, one of Worcestershire's major law firms, aiming to becoming a qualified solicitor in March 2009.

She has been an assistant at the firm's Worcester city office for 18 months and was given the training contract in recognition of her dedicated and thorough approach to her job.

Initially employed to support the commercial property department, Ms Richardson has assisted on major care home sales and purchases, commercial lending and commercial leases.

Her interest in law started with a clash of subjects on a timetable at Worcester College of Technology, which meant she had to choose law as one of her A-level courses. "Thankfully, the teachers were great which made the subject fun and interesting, igniting my enthusiasm," she said.

Having completed her A-levels in her home city, she then moved on to Birmingham University where she enrolled on a law degree course. Once completed and after a short spell temping to pay off student debts, she signed up to Birmingham's Law School for a 12 month curriculum, qualifying at the end of 2005.

She joined Thomas Guise at the start of 2006 and has steadily built up her knowledge within the commercial and residential property field and broadening her experience with dealing with commercial lenders.

Her training contract is for an 18-month period, which will be reduced due to her having already gained the required amount of para-legal experience. She will also spend time within Thomas Guises' corporate, litigation and private clients at their Worcester, Studley and Selly Oak offices.