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Our alumnus of the quarter Mark Evans reflects on his journey from student in Leicester to his current role as President of the Law Society.

The son of a steel worker in rural North Wales, Mark Evans was the first in his family to go to university when he arrived at ÐßÐßÊÓƵ (then Leicester Polytechnic) to study law in 1989. After 28 years as a solicitor in property law, an online Q&A session with university students during Covid inspired a career change as he moved into higher education, a focus which now underpins his leadership as Law Society President.

Having recently returned to ÐßÐßÊÓƵ for a reunion with course mates, Mark shares how his experiences in Leicester shaped his life and career, and his vision for the next generation of the 210,000 solicitors he represents in his role.

Let’s start with your youth – how did you come to study Law in Leicester and how did you find your time here?

For me, growing up in North Wales, I never really thought I was going to be a solicitor. In my teens I wanted to join the police, but was worried I wasn’t going to be tall enough. I got work experience in a law office, arranged by my sixth form history teacher, and I loved it. So, I decided to study law at university and Leicester Polytechnic fitted my A Level results.

I was really fortunate – I was state educated with limited financial resources – my dad was a steel worker but had had a stroke, so I ended up being supported with a full grant.

I'm so pleased that I came to Leicester. Growing up in a Welsh village, my understanding of diversity to that point had been being Welsh rather than English. But to move to Scraptoft in Leicester at age 18, it changed my life and opened up a new world for me of diversity and inclusion.

I remember one experience of seeing someone discriminated against, after a football match I’d played in, in the queue to get in a pub. It was the first time I’d seen anything like that and it stayed with me - I realised that the world wasn’t as I thought it was and I wanted no part of it. He and I stayed friends after that, and years later I went to his wedding.

How did your time at ÐßÐßÊÓƵ (Leicester Polytechnic) change you as a person?

It gave me confidence, an assurance that a career in law could be for me. My tutors and lecturers were very supportive and encouraging, enthusiastic and approachable too - many of them were writing academic books and were experts in their field. 

As students we were quite a diverse group, but we all clicked, we had something in common. It was a lovely experience to be on a campus and with a group of people that you genuinely sort of had affection for, and who helped bring the topics we were studying to life. I’m still in touch with many of them today.

I was on campus the first year, then I moved onto Brazil Street in my second year, and Fosse Road South in my final year. I was in a house with another law student and four studying other subjects. There was a great community spirit, and we had some great neighbours. I just sort of really felt at home at university from day one, and I look back with fond memories of my whole experience.

We had a reunion a couple of years ago, organised by the ÐßÐßÊÓƵ Alumni Team. We went back to the Law School, we met some of the students and tutors, and some of our old tutors – it was wonderful! For some of us it had been over 30 years since we’d been in Leicester – I was struck by just how historic parts of the city, and the campus, are – things I didn’t notice when I was a student.

You’ve had a successful career in property law, but your career has taken a different trajectory in recent years, hasn’t it?

Yes, it all started in 2020, when I’d decided to do some fundraising for the Alzheimer's Society, as my dad had had dementia. I signed up to do the Chester Triple – couch to marathon in ten months, which was a bit crazy! I lost two and a half stone that year and, due to Covid, a lot of my running was in isolation, so I had a lot of space to reflect on where I was heading with my life.

I was the Chair of the Law Society in Wales at the time and had this opportunity to speak to some university students in Pontypridd on a Zoom call. I’d prepared some reflections, but it was the Q&A session afterwards which really changed things – listening to the questions from the undergraduates and postgraduates.

I went back home that night and said to my wife “You know what, I think I need to be in education.” And that was it. I handed in my notice, left my partnership and being a director and in 2021 I joined the University of Law. I haven’t looked back since.

Obviously there’s a financial sacrifice, but I just couldn’t ignore that thing that was ignited in me – to share that 30 odd years of experience. And now I teach the same topics that I used to practice – in real estate and private client and professional skills, on the undergraduate and the postgraduate courses.

I wouldn’t be in my current role without the change. Being President of the Law Society is full-time, and the university have given me a sabbatical to do it. I don’t go back until November this year.

And all from starting to run, and that session with students!

How did you become the President of the Law Society and what are you hoping to achieve in your role?

I’ve been a member since I started to practice in 1993, and involved with my local Law Society since around 2010. From there I became a national council member, and then in 2023 I had the opportunity to stand for President. It’s a three-year term – you have a year as Deputy Vice President, then a year as Vice President, then finally a year President, which started in October.

One of my roles is to work with the government with their policies and announcements – issues like changes to jury trials, which have been in the news recently, or funding for legal aid. We don’t get to control when and what the announcements are, but we do get to discuss with them what might or might not work, how issues can be overcome, and even come up with alternatives.

I have three themes for my presidency – ‘A profession fit for the future’, ‘Championing our members’ and ‘Supporting solicitor wellbeing’, which have all to some extent been framed by my work with students.

I’ve had three or four years speaking to my students, asking “What's your aspiration, what's your future? What do you want the profession to look like?” And that's fed into my ethos. I want to make sure the next generation are in a better place, especially with issues around wellbeing and mental health.

The first theme relates to recruitment and diversity. I believe law is for everyone, irrespective of background. In fact, my background is my strength. I used to have this conception that to be a lawyer I had to go to private school, or to be the President of the Law Society I had to have gone to a certain university or have worked in a big city law firm. None of that is true. We need to recruit people from all backgrounds, role models who people can see are from their own community. As a solicitor your background, your upbringing, and your diversity are your biggest strengths.