​​Hello, I'm Phil Steventon and welcome to my website. I designed it to be a digital extension of myself, and also a way to add value to myself and others.

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I'd consider myself to be a very hard and determined worker, I'm always looking for ways that I can help my colleagues and peers and add value to whatever they are doing, be it work or otherwise. I always strive to go above and beyond for my colleagues and peers and clients, and I am determined to realise my goal of full qualification as a lawyer.

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Where I live

I'm from West Bromwich in the West Midlands and lived here since birth. I've travelled around the country for school and education, but West Bromwich has always been my home.

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My education

I attended Nottingham Trent University for my undergrad Law degree and graduated in 2012 with a 2:2.

I completed the Legal Practice Course at De Montfort University in 2019 where I earned a Distinction.

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My work and experience

I have worked in a number of roles so far. I've been:

 

• a volunteer working on the frontline to support victims and witnesses of crime who are giving evidence in Court;

• a call handler for a well-known charity offering support to victims and witnesses of crime;

• an assistant course developer responsible for the maintenance and development of advanced-level training courses for practitioners such as solicitors, accountants, or those in Financial Services and Private Client;

• a Legal Assistant at a local authority assisting in the negotiation of settlement agreements of Equal Pay claims;

• a Paralegal at a FTSE 100 telecommunications company responsible for negotiating access agreements to grant the telecoms operator's staff and contractors permission to install apparatus that is used to provide a communications service;

• a Paralegal at a small start-up private practice firm assisting in the recovery of rent and service charges over residential and commercial properties;

• a Paralegal at a young full-service firm assisting with a variety of corporate and commercial tasks including drafting agreements, T&Cs and general policies, meeting minutes, stock transfer forms, IP licences, Stamp Duty returns, and some Employment- and HR-related tasks such as drafting directors' service agreements and advising on policies and procedural documents both for clients and internally;

• a Paralegal at an environmental NGO assisting senior lawyers with research tasks around ongoing and potential actions and interventions;

• a Paralegal at a young and innovative start-up firm assisting with a range of corporate, commercial and employment law tasks including reviewing staff handbooks and statutory policies, reviewing and advising on NDAs, and providing ad hoc advice whenever needed to subscription-based clients;

• a regular writer for a renowned, comprehensive online resource and content platform for aspiring lawyers; and

• an Associate at a training provider assisting with training their delegates on how to better communicate with neurodivergent people.

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In between all of this, I have also:

• shared some of my own blogs on the most renowned, comprehensive online resource platform for future lawyers;

• been invited to take over the Instagram page of the very same platform;

• been invited to share insight and experiences of working as a paralegal and gaining a paralegal role at Universities and other content platforms;

• offered a consultative business development plan to a small firm in the South West on how it can bring in and retain clients and save on costs;

• been invited to appear on legal and business podcasts;

• been invited to speak and present on the topic of neurodiversity in the legal workplace and profession;

• been acting as Treasurer for my local Junior Lawyers Division; and

• been a Trustee of a new charity from 2021 to 2022.

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My free time

In my free time, I enjoy training at my local gym, kickboxing, cooking, baking, travelling, gardening, having new adventures with friends and family, visiting Comic-Cons around the country (yes I do have an outfit!), escape rooms (9 wins at the time of writing this, plus 2 visits to the Crystal Maze Live Experience in London and Manchester), and indulging in video games - currently playing through Horizon: Zero Dawn on PS4.

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You might read this and think that I'm a fairly ordinary person and, for the most part, I'd agree.​

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However the thing that makes me unique is that I am autistic.

 

My diagnosis of Asperger Syndrome came when I was very young, around 6 or so. It can present a number of challenges in work and in life. Some of the ways that it can affect me include:

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• some difficulty at times in fully understanding and interpreting new information, abstract concepts and highly technical language;

• some difficulty at times with meanings and intentions behind questions or statements, which could mean times when I might misinterpret the intention behind a question or a statement; 

• some difficulty in correctly interpreting or "reading between the lines" in certain social situations, perhaps not being fully aware of unclear or unwritten rules or codes in these social situations, perhaps being too literal, missing some non-verbal language cues, some difficulty with eye contact, taking more time to warm up to people in social gatherings or events like networking events, or not seeing how something that I say can be interpreted in many other ways other than the way that I intended it to be

• some difficulties with regulating focus, including putting too much or too little focus on something and going down "rabbit holes".

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They are not uncommon obstacles that those of us in the autistic community may find ourselves navigating. Though this list isn't exhaustive; it is just a taster of the challenges that we can face, and certainly ones that I face.

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Whilst it is not to say that it is impossible for me to overcome these challenges, the learning curve is slightly different for me in that it certainly helps to have that understanding and patience from my colleagues, peers and friends, along with certain support measures such as extra time to do a task or being able to ask more questions and not be judged if something is a challenge for me that otherwise wouldn't be for someone else.

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The positive aspects, on the other hand, are plentiful.

• I have a very analytical mind and methodical ways of working,

• My attention to detail is very good once I am fully in the swing of things,

• Because I see, interpret, experience and interact with the world differently from my peers I can see different and potentially more efficient ways of working and raise different questions that may not have been considered until I came along,

• Because of a trait of strict adherence to rules, I'm good around proper practice and compliance tasks,

• I don't judge or prejudice at all because I know how it feels to be different and to not feel welcomed or included,

• High emotional intelligence, so I can empathise with others who might be struggling because they are different or dealing with their own struggles or difficulties (having been there myself

• High work ethic, because of having to work harder than any colleague or peer to earn every achievement and qualification and to be where I am today,

• I am highly resilient as I've had to overcome a number of challenges on my journey, such as situations that are not geared towards people like me,

• I am highly creative and resourceful when it comes to solving problems due to my different view, interpretation and perspective of the world,

• I am generous with my time, energy, spirit, and desire to help other people succeed and see their own blessings; and

• I am ironclad in my determination to achieve my goals and to continue to excel.

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I am proud to have achieved everything that I have so far, I am proud to keep moving forward in the face of the difficulties that arise from a world that is not truly geared towards those of us who see the world differently, and I am proud to be able to inspire, encourage and add value to anyone with invisible learning difficulties wherever I can.

 

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I am also proud to be working towards increasing diversity in the workplace and in the legal profession one person at a time, and I hope that those of us with our own neurological differences can be offered the opportunity to shine like a diamond.

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I AM THE NEURODIVERGENT LAWYER

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