Alumni
Alumni profile jperry
Alumni e-newsletter - Winter edition
Alumni profile: John S. Perry BA (Hons)
John Perry began his Bachelor of Arts in Law at Ealing Technical College in 1971. Three years later he graduated and after qualifying from the Legal Practice Course he joined Palmers Solicitors as an articled clerk where he is now a Senior Partner.
Last summer University of West London Alumni contacted all Law alumni with news about the Alumni Association and the approaching Annual Law Dinner.
John Perry responded to our letter and as well as bringing his record up to date we got a glimpse of his journey since graduating from ETC.
Now the re-elected president of the Surrey Law Society for 2008 - 2009 we asked John for his University of West London story:
University of West London ALUMNI: Why did you choose to study Law at Ealing Technical College?
JP: I knew that my heart was in the practical side of law, meeting real people in the work place and assisting them with their day to day troubles.
A helpful careers master at Hampton Grammar School, where I then was, suggested obtaining advice from the Advisory Centre for Education who pointed out that a Technical College degree was a practical one, largely taught by solicitors rather than a more abstract theoretical degree.
It was also driveable from my family home in Teddington so was a lot cheaper!
University of West London ALUMNI: What was the most important or significant thing you learnt on the course?
JP: Probably that the law can be a lot more fun than it appears at first sight!
Practically the art of applying what may appear to be obscure legal theories to the actuality of everyday life, why laws are passed, what they are aiming to achieve and how they evolve.
University of West London ALUMNI: What or who is your most abiding memory of your time at ETC?
JP: The staff. They were an incredible mix.
Alan Bonner interviewed me by sitting me down, looking at my CV, and saying 'That looks ok, would you like to come in October?' He also played the piano very badly.
Mike Molyneux smoking like a chimney, arriving late for lectures, interspersing the Law of Contract with anecdotes about various BBC personalities he had met and leaving the lecture 10 minutes early to record a piece for 'Nationwide' at the studios.
John Bentil struggling to pass his driving test and plenty of others, oh and beating the Law staff 9 - 1 at football. I kept goal and scored a penalty!
I also enjoyed the Law Department's annual dinner.
The speaker was Lord Justice McKenna who was a Law Lord whom I had the pleasure of meeting later and who was a kind and gentle man and a great influence.
That dinner was the first occasion where I took my girlfriend out formally. The waiter threw mushroom soup all over her new white dress and the staff were watching Cooper versus Bugner right behind us.
This was at Café Royale! We have now been married 31 years!
University of West London ALUMNI: How did you mix music and law during your time at ETC?
JP: I have always been a singer from my days as a treble in the Westminster Abbey special choir.
My broken voice had settled as a tenor and I had sung a few carols by a composer called Donald Cashmore who meant nothing to me.
When I arrived at Ealing I found he was in charge of all the music.
I sang with the College choir extensively and in fact came back for about 15 years after I graduated to join in the Carol Service at St Mary's Church.
Donald asked me to join his City of London Choir and that was my entré into adult London music for which I will be eternally grateful.
I had the pleasure of seeing Donald, now in Sidmouth, on his 80th birthday and met him for lunch again recently. He is on fine form.
I still sing a great deal on a semi-professional basis.
As I write this I am just about to go and sing with the English Chamber Orchestra in Cadogan Hall.
None of that would have been possible without Ealing so I suppose it shows that a degree is not just for the subject one is studying!
Through all the various contacts I actually sang with 55 different choral societies in my three years of study at Ealing.
I didn't tell the lecturers that though! I still have all the programmes!
University of West London ALUMNI: How did you make the step from being a Law graduate to actually practising your profession?
JP: In those days the path was pretty well laid out for you.
From Ealing I went to the College of Law in Guildford to do the Law Society part 2 exams (now called the Legal Practice Course) and then it was into Articles.
Again I was lucky as I played cricket in a team with a solicitor whose boss happened to be looking for an articled clerk in Kingston and so with very little effort I became articled to Palmers, qualified in 1978, became a salaried partner in 1981 and subsequently an equity partner and now I head up the firm with my colleague Jeff Horstman.
John Palmer, to whom I was articled, has just celebrated his 80th birthday and the firm its 50th. So we are pretty well established now!
University of West London ALUMNI: What impact has your University of West London qualification had on your career?
JP: Lawyers are not supposed to use Latin any more but I would call it a sine qua non (look it up!).
The degree itself was a necessary part of qualification and the people I met led me in all kinds of directions which I have thoroughly enjoyed since.
This year I have the honour of being President of the Surrey Law Society (there are 3,500 solicitors in Surrey) and I often look at my office wall where hangs my degree certificate and have a quiet chuckle about the, no doubt, well meaning advisors who said I could never be a successful lawyer unless I went to a red brick university!
Alumni profile: John S. Perry BA (Hons)
John Perry began his Bachelor of Arts in Law at Ealing Technical College in 1971. Three years later he graduated and after qualifying from the Legal Practice Course he joined Palmers Solicitors as an articled clerk where he is now a Senior Partner.
Last summer University of West London Alumni contacted all Law alumni with news about the Alumni Association and the approaching Annual Law Dinner.
John Perry responded to our letter and as well as bringing his record up to date we got a glimpse of his journey since graduating from ETC.
Now the re-elected president of the Surrey Law Society for 2008 - 2009 we asked John for his University of West London story:
University of West London ALUMNI: Why did you choose to study Law at Ealing Technical College?
JP: I knew that my heart was in the practical side of law, meeting real people in the work place and assisting them with their day to day troubles.
A helpful careers master at Hampton Grammar School, where I then was, suggested obtaining advice from the Advisory Centre for Education who pointed out that a Technical College degree was a practical one, largely taught by solicitors rather than a more abstract theoretical degree.
It was also driveable from my family home in Teddington so was a lot cheaper!
University of West London ALUMNI: What was the most important or significant thing you learnt on the course?
JP: Probably that the law can be a lot more fun than it appears at first sight!
Practically the art of applying what may appear to be obscure legal theories to the actuality of everyday life, why laws are passed, what they are aiming to achieve and how they evolve.
University of West London ALUMNI: What or who is your most abiding memory of your time at ETC?
JP: The staff. They were an incredible mix.
Alan Bonner interviewed me by sitting me down, looking at my CV, and saying 'That looks ok, would you like to come in October?' He also played the piano very badly.
Mike Molyneux smoking like a chimney, arriving late for lectures, interspersing the Law of Contract with anecdotes about various BBC personalities he had met and leaving the lecture 10 minutes early to record a piece for 'Nationwide' at the studios.
John Bentil struggling to pass his driving test and plenty of others, oh and beating the Law staff 9 - 1 at football. I kept goal and scored a penalty!
I also enjoyed the Law Department's annual dinner.
The speaker was Lord Justice McKenna who was a Law Lord whom I had the pleasure of meeting later and who was a kind and gentle man and a great influence.
That dinner was the first occasion where I took my girlfriend out formally. The waiter threw mushroom soup all over her new white dress and the staff were watching Cooper versus Bugner right behind us.
This was at Café Royale! We have now been married 31 years!
University of West London ALUMNI: How did you mix music and law during your time at ETC?
JP: I have always been a singer from my days as a treble in the Westminster Abbey special choir.
My broken voice had settled as a tenor and I had sung a few carols by a composer called Donald Cashmore who meant nothing to me.
When I arrived at Ealing I found he was in charge of all the music.
I sang with the College choir extensively and in fact came back for about 15 years after I graduated to join in the Carol Service at St Mary's Church.
Donald asked me to join his City of London Choir and that was my entré into adult London music for which I will be eternally grateful.
I had the pleasure of seeing Donald, now in Sidmouth, on his 80th birthday and met him for lunch again recently. He is on fine form.
I still sing a great deal on a semi-professional basis.
As I write this I am just about to go and sing with the English Chamber Orchestra in Cadogan Hall.
None of that would have been possible without Ealing so I suppose it shows that a degree is not just for the subject one is studying!
Through all the various contacts I actually sang with 55 different choral societies in my three years of study at Ealing.
I didn't tell the lecturers that though! I still have all the programmes!
University of West London ALUMNI: How did you make the step from being a Law graduate to actually practising your profession?
JP: In those days the path was pretty well laid out for you.
From Ealing I went to the College of Law in Guildford to do the Law Society part 2 exams (now called the Legal Practice Course) and then it was into Articles.
Again I was lucky as I played cricket in a team with a solicitor whose boss happened to be looking for an articled clerk in Kingston and so with very little effort I became articled to Palmers, qualified in 1978, became a salaried partner in 1981 and subsequently an equity partner and now I head up the firm with my colleague Jeff Horstman.
John Palmer, to whom I was articled, has just celebrated his 80th birthday and the firm its 50th. So we are pretty well established now!
University of West London ALUMNI: What impact has your University of West London qualification had on your career?
JP: Lawyers are not supposed to use Latin any more but I would call it a sine qua non (look it up!).
The degree itself was a necessary part of qualification and the people I met led me in all kinds of directions which I have thoroughly enjoyed since.
This year I have the honour of being President of the Surrey Law Society (there are 3,500 solicitors in Surrey) and I often look at my office wall where hangs my degree certificate and have a quiet chuckle about the, no doubt, well meaning advisors who said I could never be a successful lawyer unless I went to a red brick university!
John Perry being invested as president of the Surrey AGM
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