A MAN from Berkeley has defied the odds to qualify as a solicitor eight years after he was paralysed from the neck down in a car accident.

Rob Camm, 28 has qualified as a solicitor with prestigious legal practise Osbourne Clarke after the law firm sponsored his education and offered him a training contract in 2017.

It took Rob two and a half years to complete the two-year training working four days a week, needing Friday to attend specialist rehabilitation following the crash that happened just before he started at the University of Bristol in September 2014.

Rob was left paralysed after he fractured his neck in a crash when a drunk-driver , who was 19 at the time, hit a stone wall and two lampposts on Dursley Road after driving five passengers home from a nightclub in Dursley.

Rob is now only able to shrug his shoulders and turn his head, uses a ventilator to breathe and needs round-the-clock care, but despite this he stayed true to his plan to study politics and philosophy at the University of Bristol and applied for the vacation scheme at Osborne Clarke.

He did so well there, the law firm sponsored his legal education and offered him a training contract when he graduated in 2017.

Rob has specialist rehabilitation at Neurokinex in Almondsbury and says thanks to their work he has strengthened his core which in turn allows him to stand longer for work.

He also said his employer made a number of modifications to allow him to do his job.

“I did all my work experience with Osborne Clarke so they knew what I could do,” he said.“When they offered me the training contract, they asked what I needed to do my work and then provided it including assistive technology including voice recognition software and a height adjustable desk.

“I’m really pleased to have got this far and have a great sense of achievement.

"To anyone else who is facing similar challenges, I’d advise them to accept things are going to be harder but they’re not impossible. It takes a lot of organising to keep on top of things but with the right level of support you can make it all work.”