A FORMER Bury Grammar student's career is off to a winning start after she secured a training contract at a top Manchester solicitors firm.

Grace Marshall, from Tottington, graduated this summer with a first class honours degree in law from the University of Liverpool.

She excelled throughout her course, even being awarded with the Samuel Prize for coming first in the year in the family law module. Grace also came second in the commercial law module, missing out on the top spot by only one per cent.

According to her dad, Tony Marshall, Grace, who is now 21, has always known what she wanted to do.

He said: "One year we found an old drawing from when she was about seven or eight saying that she wanted to be a barrister - I don't know where she got it from!

"Even now I say to her younger sister, there's no way an 18 year old can know what they want to do but Grace says 'well I always knew!'

"She has worked her socks off but she has done really well."

Grace added: "I don't know why I knew what I wanted to do, maybe I saw it on a TV programme or something.

"I originally wanted to be a barrister, but I know now that I want to be a solicitor. I feel like I would work better as part of a team than completely by myself."

Despite gaining top grades, Grace admits the process of getting a training contract was more competitve than she anticipated.

She said: "It was really really competitive. I don't think I quite understood just how hard it was because the standard is so high.

It is a massive relief to now have a job. I am doing my LPC in Manchester - it is very different to my degree as it is applying the law rather than learning it but I am really enjoying it."