An inspirational lady has told of her remarkable journey from a teenage bride and mother to a high flying London lawyer.

Harbens Kaur, 36, was married at aged seventeen and had her first son, Anil, when she was just nineteen years old.

After leaving education at just sixteen, she maintained a job in a local supermarket in order to raise money for college, stacking shelves and cleaning fridges until she was eight and a half months pregnant with her second son, Rajan.

She said: “I had to save up for college before I started because the law books were very expensive.”

Harbens switched jobs and attained a position in the HR department of a local hospital.

Juggling her full-time position with part-time studying and motherhood, Harbens would rush home from work each evening to be in when her children returned from school, before heading out to evening classes.

It was whilst dealing with staff discipline and regulation cases at the hospital that she realised she wanted to be a lawyer.

“I would see these people on the news all the time struggling and think ‘you poor thing. It would be ten times easier for you if you had a good lawyer fighting your corner’.”

Harbens took up a course with the ILEX, an institution which represents training and practising legal representatives and offers diplomas, certificates and bursaries to those who show proficiency in the law, and with it took on added pressure. She graduated in 2006, and has spent the last three years studying to attain her solicitor’s certificate, which she will receive in February, as well as beginning her masters in law.

“The day I graduated was one of the best days of my life. I am not going to say that it was a breeze, it was very difficult. I was always running here and there, but I always work harder when I am challenged like that.”

Harbens was short listed for the Law Society’s Legal Executive of the Year, and was presented with the prestigious ‘Against all Odds’ Award at the Minority Lawyers Conference in 2009.

In February she will be shedding her suit in favour of scrubs when she volunteers as a healthcare assistant on the wards of the hospital in which she is the sole in-house legal team.

“I want to demonstrate the human side of law. I want to get more involved and help people. I will just be doing little things like helping with feeding and generally observing.”

As the first person in her family to attend university, Harbens wants to encourage other members of the Asian community to take hold of their dreams and make them happen, no matter what their background.

“I have been at conferences and looked around and realised that no one else there is from a similar background to myself. It doesn’t matter.

Where there is a will there is a way. If you think you can do something then you have to try and try. Get advice, speak to people, and put yourself out there.”

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