Fee Earner Q&A with Jobeth Copping-Barrett

Jobeth Copping-Barrett

Jobeth Copping-Barrett (pictured), joined Bermans in January 2025 and is a Senior Associate in our Private Client team. We spoke to her to learn more about her and her work. 

1.Can you give us a brief summary of your career so far?  I took rather a long route to finally qualifying as a solicitor in 2020. I completed my undergraduate degree at the City University of London, which has now merged with University of London to become St Georges, London. I then completed my Master’s at the University of Birmingham in 2012. I took a little break at this point to work in marketing. I looked after the DACH and BENELUX region’s marketing needs for a global fall protection company; it was rather good fun but was never intended to last forever. I eventually completed the LPC in 2015. I worked as a legal advisor for Slater & Gordon, and a litigation executive for Gladstones Solicitors before qualifying into private client and litigation in 2020. It quickly became clear to me that litigation was not my ‘home’ and I moved into purely private client work in South Manchester, then Wilmslow before finding my place at Bermans this year. 

2.What area of the law do you specialise in and why? Private client is not the area of law I thought I would end up when I began my legal career journey. But, for me it ticks all the boxes: the highly important client relationships that rely on the personal hands-on touch to be truly effective. I see being a private client solicitor as a hugely privileged role; looking after a client’s Will preparation or planning their LPAs, right through to being the crutch that sees a client through the period of administration following the loss of a loved one.

3. Is there a case or a particular piece of work you were proud to be involved with, if so why? There are a few matters that come to mind to answer this: any matters where the client has come to me and been entirely ‘lost’. The clients that are unsure of what to do or where to turn and had more questions than answers. The clients that really required handholding, are the ones I am most proud to have been able to help. 

Last year I had a different type of probate matter. The client was elderly, his wife had passed away the year before, and he came to me with his daughter, as his son had been found dead in his university provided apartment: he was a lecturer. It seems he had passed away a couple of weeks before. He passed with quite some debt, and the family believed he had not assets with which to pay it. I was able to guide them through the probate process, and even locate a substantial pension pot that would pay the debt and even leave something for the client, the deceased having passed intestate. During the probate process, I also prepared a Will and submitted LPA applications for the client. Before probate could be completed, the client passed away. The client’s daughter became my new client, and I now needed to complete probate for her brother and now her father, leaving her as the sole beneficiary of both estates. The matter wasn’t hugely complex, or of high value: but we knew our role in supporting her was pivotal in completing the necessary administration following the loss of two family members. 

4. Away from the law what are your interests and passions? 

I really enjoy any kind of travel or adventure with my wife and children. If I had a little more time, I would spend more of my weekends and evenings at the theatre or watching live music, or in a gallery – the smallness of the children makes that a little harder at the moment. So, being outside and in the fresh air is entirely rejuvenating.  

If I get any time to myself, I’ll be in a corner nose-deep in a good book or up to my elbows in mud in the garden.  

Bullet Round 

Sports & Teams Supported: I have played netball since school, and still love it. It’s so much more than most people think and a good game can be incredibly fast and involve much more contact than the stereotype would have you believe. I tried football at university. However, all that did was confirm I was no good at it! I do enjoy watching most sports, especially something that allows me to support Germany (with me being German) over England: leads to great rivalry at home! 

Films (Top 3): I can’t even imagine how many times I have seen Pretty Woman – it’s my absolute guilty pleasure and I will always watch it again if it’s on TV. I watch Hocus Pocus every year at Halloween, at least once or twice. And similarly, It’s a Wonderful Life has me in floods of tears every single time, even though we watch it every year on Christmas Eve.  

Music (3 tracks/albums to take on Desert Island): I listen to a lot of music, in a lot of different genres, so picking a single track is nearly impossible. If I took three albums, it would be: 

Rumours by Fleetwood Mac, La Traviata by Puccini and Joanne by Lady GaGa. Rumours because my wife and I walked down the aisle at the registry office to Fleetwood Mac, and they just bring so many wonderful memories to mind. La Traviata was the first opera I went to see, and it blew my mind. It was incredible. (also, it’s the opera they go to see in Pretty Woman!) And Lady GaGa, well what more needs to be said. She is a amazing artist.  

Boxsets: I am not the type of person that will rewatch a series or a boxset over and over. That being said, I This Is Us. I really enjoyed The Killing and recently devoured Slow Horses: I absolutely love crime-drama-thriller programmes.  

Podcasts you listen to/recommend: I don’t really listen to podcasts, I am much more likely to be listening to music. But, if I am in the mood for a podcast it will be something history based like: The rest is history, In our time, or You’re Dead To Me; or a true crime/ journalistic one, like: The missing Cryptoqueen, A Very British Cult and End of Days.  

Meal: I can’t resist a good pad thai. When I go for Thai food, it’s always with the best intentions of trying something new. And more often than not, I choose a pad thai.  

But, when I at home if I can put potatoes with it, I will. And if there is an excuse to just eat cheese and crackers, I will be the first to find it! 

Holiday destination: Tuscany, or anywhere in Italy really. We were in Florence when we found the name we would later choose for our first son, so it holds a really big piece of my heart.  

The other place that will always be really special to me is Epieds, France. It’s a tiny village, in the middle of the Loire. It has nothing but a town hall and a baguette vending machine- so it’s more than a little remote. However, it is where we were married and where we have spent more than half a dozen wonderful family holidays.  

Favourite book: this is tough because I read a lot and I can’t read the same book more than once (there are so many more out there to discover!). I loved Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger and anything by Thomas Hardy and Phillippa Gregory.  

3 people for a dinner party and why?  

Caitlin Moran – I have read all of her books, I really enjoy the way she tells a story, and think she’s absolutely hilarious. 

Stanley Tucci – I think he has led  a really interesting life, and love hearing about his journey through acting and food.  

Angela Merkel – she was such a powerhouse on the European stage for such a long-time, I would really enjoy hearing some of her more personal opinions.  

To get in touch with Jobeth Copping-Barrett 

e: jobeth.copping-barrett@bermans.co.uk 

t: 07570394296 

w: 0161 388 5659