Trust Administrator Nikolas Barnes starts at our Exeter office

Nikolas Barnes is a Trust Administrator who has recently started within our Private Client Department based at our Exeter office.

Nik graduated from the University of Bradford in 1999 with a degree in Technology and Management.  He went on to work on the Pensions and FSAVC review for pensions miss-sold sold between 1988 and 1999.  Prior to joining us in April 2021 he worked in an Investment Department at a law firm and qualified as an IFA, Mortgage Adviser, Pension Transfer Specialist, and Investment Manager.

We asked Nik a few questions to get to know more about his day-to-day work and what brought him to a career in law:

Why did you choose to work at Gilbert Stephens Solicitors? Having spent two decades working in financial services, the opportunity to change my career came out of the blue. Although I had been looking to move on from financial services, I had not considered legal work. However, the trust administer role has enough overlapping skills with my previous role for me to be effective while providing the excitement of requiring me to learn and develop. It also presented the opportunity of taking professional qualifications.

 Are there aspects of your work that are particularly satisfying or challenging? I enjoy learning new skills and understanding how systems work. My previous employment used to allow me to interact with clients, but due to changes in how we worked that had slowly dwindled.  With the new position there will be more client contact that will hopefully develop further over time.

Do you have any ambitions, professional or personal, that you would like to pursue in the future? I would like to continue with evening classes. Having completed the more practical courses on offer I am looking into pottery or possibly a cooking class. I would like to travel and there are several places in southern Europe I wish to visit, so when I have the time and money I will look into a pan European railway ticket.

What advice would you give to someone considering a career in law? The best piece of advice I was ever given, that would apply to both a legal and financial services career was “if it is not written down, it doesn’t exist. Document. Document. Document”.

What are you passionate about outside of work? Outside of work, I enjoy learning new skills and have been taking evening classes in practical subjects such as DIY and carpentry. I am also a film buff, especially classical and foreign language films. I tend to watch films by director or actor rather than genre, with Akira Kurosawa and Gregory Peck being the main examples. Having said this, I do love a good zombie movie.

Tel:  01392 424242