Spotlight on Jan Howells

Jan Howells, a Legal Assistant in Geldards’ Employment department, accidentally ‘fell’ into a career in the law and has stayed there for nearly 50 years! From her early days using a typewriter and sewing documents with ribbon, she’s seen the profession change and has learned to adapt and move with the times.

We talk to Jan about her lifelong passion for archery, which started with a chance sighting of archers in her local woodland and led to her representing Wales at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi. 

You’ve worked in the law for over fifty years, but how did you get into the profession?

I fell into it really. Back in the day when I left school they found you six months’ work experience, so I started working life as a junior clerk at Rhondda Cynon Taff Council (it was then Taff Ely Council). As my work experience was nearing an end, I kept my eye on the job market and a conveyancing job in a local solicitor’s office came up. One of my brothers had recently sold his house through the firm and heard they were looking for a Legal Secretary. So I applied for the job. My work experience finished on the Friday and I started my new job on the Monday, and I have been in the legal sector ever since!

How did your journey with Geldards start?

Geldards is only the third law firm I have worked for in my long career. I don’t move about a lot. I tend to stay in places for a long time unless there’s a reason for me to go. I had worked in my previous job for almost thirty-five years but was suddenly served a notice of potential redundancy. At the time it was a huge shock after working there for so long. So I started job hunting. I learned about the redundancy risk on a Monday and the same day I noticed Geldards were advertising for a Legal Secretary. By the Friday they had offered me the job. So again, I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

“I was facing redundancy after thirty-five years… it was a huge shock.”

Did you feel nervous leaving a position after over three decades?

When you have worked somewhere for a long time, you don’t know whether you are any good compared to other people, or what is expected of you. It was quite daunting. But it wasn’t as different as I thought it was going to be. Although I had been a legal secretary for 37 years when I joined Geldards, I had never worked in an Employment department before. I had no idea what to expect.

What struck me initially about Geldards was how friendly everyone was. I remember coming home and saying to my sister, “A Partner saw me in the lift and said ‘Morning Jan’ and I thought ‘How do you know who I am?!’” It’s a really friendly culture and perfectly normal to have a chat to a Partner, something I wasn’t used to.

Often you have a fear of trying something new, but when you’re forced into it you just get on with it and you can surprise yourself.

“I had never worked in an Employment department before. I had no idea what to expect.”

What is a typical day like for you?

My morning alarm call sounds at 5am to sort out Thor and Loki, my two Goldendoodle dogs, before work. I am a fee-earning Legal Assistant and my day involves all types of administrative and secretarial work: opening and closing files, updating databases, transcribing interviews, and making appointments. Often I am preparing bundles for tribunals and court hearings, and I am the go-to person in the team for things like that. The work is very varied and I can turn my hand to anything that’s asked of me.

The Employment team is very social and we often go out for team lunches or take part in quiz nights, which really helps to cultivate team spirit. I was off work recently for an operation and everyone told me they missed me and couldn’t wait to have me back, which really made me feel like a valued member of the team.

“The work is very varied and I can turn my hand to anything that’s asked of me.”

What are the biggest changes you’ve seen over your career?

I have worked in the legal profession spanning over five decades and the biggest change I have seen has been the introduction of computers and advancing technology. When I started work in 1979 there weren’t computers about then. Photocopiers were like something out of the Ark!

There’s not much call for things like dictation now, which is a shame as I used to find completing dictations very satisfying. In my first job, I used a typewriter as computers hadn’t been invented. If I typed up a Will and made a mistake at the very end, I would have to start from scratch and type the whole thing out again. I even remember sewing bundle documents together with ribbon. Yes, I am that old!

“Photocopiers were like something out of the Ark!”

I hear archery has played a big role in your life. Tell me more…

My archery career started after a chance conversation with one of my three brothers when I mentioned I fancied having a go. I had seen people shooting bows and arrows near my local woodlands, so I got out the phone book (there was no Google back then!) and rang the archery club.

On our first visit I organised a minibus loaded up with my three brothers, two nephews, twin sister and me. We just turned up en masse; they didn’t know what had hit them! We all loved it and decided to return. We started going once a week, then twice, then three times. Most days we were either shooting or visualising a shot.

I remember on the journey home after that first visit saying to my brother “Wouldn’t it be good if one of us won a medal?” and we have all won a couple since then.

“We just turned up en masse — they didn’t know what had hit them!”

How did you come to represent Wales at archery in the Commonwealth Games?

I was 26 when I took up archery and started competing in local Field archery competitions. Field archery is different to Target archery; you shoot at targets set at different distances and walk from target to target – a bit like golf. It usually takes place in woodlands, so it’s more interesting than just standing and shooting your bow and arrow.

In 2010 the Commonwealth Games included archery as an event; it hadn’t been in the games for over thirty years. So I spent two years qualifying for the Welsh team. It was very intense. I trained throughout the year, practising every evening after work. In the run-up to the games I competed in 26 weekend competitions – constant repetition is important to get you focused in a competition-mindset.

At the age of 48, the hard work paid off and my twin sister and I both qualified for the Welsh team. We were in with a shot of competing in the Commonwealth Games in Delhi. Training was going well but then disaster struck. Right before the games I suffered an injury. I remember thinking “Please don’t let it stop me from going.” I had spent years training for this moment and wouldn’t get another opportunity. Team Wales were brilliant and organised intensive treatment with the Sport Wales physiotherapist every couple of days, and thankfully they fixed me up and I was sorted in time to compete.

“Disaster struck… right before the games I suffered an injury.”

What was it like competing in the Commonwealth Games?

We travelled out to Delhi the week before the Games to get acclimatised. It was just after monsoon season and very hot. I shoot a compound bow and as this style of bow is not included in the Olympics, the Commonwealth Games is the highest level I could ever take part in. So being a member of the six-strong squad, along with my sister at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, was a dream come true. I was very happy to achieve 8th place in the individual competition and 5th place in the Ladies’ team – we were beaten by the reigning World Champions by just one point; it came down to the final arrow.

As we competed soon after the opening ceremony we were able to enjoy the second week watching all sorts of events from the athletes’ area, which was brilliant. We made good friends with the ladies’ bowls team and watched diving, sprinting and all sorts. I had competed in lots of international competitions before, but usually just for archery, so it was fantastic to be able to be spectating lots of different sports.

Did you train yourself mentally as well as physically to compete?

There’s a saying in archery that shooting a good arrow is 10% physical, 90% mental. Everyone can shoot a bow, but when you start competing it’s in your mind who shoots the best. You have got to be disciplined, but it’s more how well you can focus, because you shoot arrow after arrow after arrow. I spent time studying mental mastery and learning tricks of the trade how to train your brain. Practising mentally is just as important as practising physically.

My sister and I have both qualified for the British team a couple of times and archery has taken us all over the world. We have competed in lots of different places across Europe and travelled to Las Vegas and India.

One of the highlights of my archery career came in 2014 when the Commonwealth Games came to Glasgow. Athletes from Rhondda Cynon Taff Council who had competed in previous Commonwealth Games were invited to carry the flame. So myself and my sister went to Aberdare to do our stint to carry the flame and it was a very proud moment for me.

“Practising mentally is just as important as practising physically.”

What skills from archery have you brought back to your working life?

I have learned to be very focused on what I am doing at work and can easily switch off background noise, useful as I work in an open-plan office! When you are shooting arrows, and the crowd is being noisy or booing, you have to train yourself to cut everything out. Someone will tell me something that happened at work and I didn’t even notice!

Also I used to be a very shy person and quite introverted; the biggest thing archery has done for me is give me a lot of confidence. I sat on the Board of Directors for Archery GB for over a decade and am Vice Chairman of my local club. That experience of chairing high-powered meetings has emboldened me to contribute. I don’t normally say much in meetings, but now if I have a question, I have the confidence to speak up.

I recently invited the whole Employment team to come to my archery club and have a go at archery. I am not sure if we have got any more potential Commonwealth archers at Geldards, but they certainly all had fun giving it a go!

“Often you have a fear of trying something new, but when you’re forced into it you just get on with it and you can surprise yourself.”