Self-confessed Disney addict spices up a life of personal injury files with a spot of make-believe for children’s parties
A trainee solicitor at a Manchester personal injury law firm is leading a double life as a character from Disney blockbuster film “Frozen”.
Lucy Broughton — who is about to start her second year as a trainee at Graham Coffey & Co — spends weekends performing before hordes of screaming rug-rats as Elsa the ice princess.
The former Leeds University graduate — who did the Legal Practice Course at the now defunct York branch of the University of Law — told the Daily Mirror that she was “living the dream” in her moonlighting role, as she is a self-confessed Disney addict.
“A friend commented I look a bit like Elsa,” she explained to the newspaper, “and I wondered if there was something I could do with it. I realised I wanted to carry on being a lawyer. I had trained for years and spent a lot of money. But I also wanted to be Elsa.”
Broughton signed on with children’s party organisers Tinkerbella, where she was “given training to become a princess”. The agency gives law firms a run for their money in the billing department, charging £100 for half an hour of mock-Disney entertainment.
On the Tinkerbella website, Broughton — who in 2011 did a one-month summer placement at City firm Herbert Smith Freehills — says that while she is a “a trainee solicitor during the week, I adore being able to do something completely different at the weekends, putting on sparkly dresses and surprising little princesses and princes on their birthday!”
She relates that she is “a trained ballet dancer, aerial hoop artist and gymnast — a performer from being very small! (or show off as my mum would say)”. She also claims to be a three-time European cheerleading champion.
According to Broughton, “Disneyland is my favourite place on earth,” which must come as a something of a shock to Graham Coffey managing partner Stuart Snape, who had undoubtedly assumed that her favourite place would be tied to a desk at the law firm.
Broughton continues:
“Frozen is currently my favourite film! I am very proud of my unrivalled Disney general knowledge, which I sometimes get to showcase at pub quizzes.”
Her training supervisor will be interested in another line from Broughton’s Tinkerbella profile, in which she confesses:
“At university I would sneak out of my law lectures to star in all of my film maker friend’s projects!”
Partners at her law firm will also note that if Broughton isn’t careful she could easily shift from trainee to client status. Earlier this year, she posted a YouTube video of her routine on an aerial hoop.
Will Broughton’s extra-curricular activities stand her in good stead when it comes to qualification time and possible retention at the firm? She’ll be hoping the managing partner Snape has a soft spot for ice princesses.
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