Chris Dibb: Technical Lead at Carpenters Group
14 July 2025
Name:
Chris Dibb
Role:
Technical Lead – Credit Hire
Why a career in law?
I am someone who came to the law in a less traditional route. My initial degree was in journalism and I worked as a freelance journalist across the North of England. Part of that role involved some court reporting both in the Magistrates and in the Crown Courts.
I found more and more that I enjoyed watching leading counsel ply their trade in the big criminal cases and become more and more interested in the legal arguments they would deploy. At the other end of the scale I would see some less than enthralling advocacy from some solicitors in the Magistrates Court and increasingly thought to myself that I could do better than that. Eventually, I decided to put my money where my mouth is so to speak and started my own journey into law.
What's the best thing about working at Carpenters Group?
We have a really solid team at Carpenters, particularly in the credit hire department (although I would say that!). I enjoy our collaborative approach, and the way the team works together in terms of formulating and implementing our approach to defending what can be at times complex cases.
The amount of social and charitable initiatives the business supports are also a great credit to the firm and Carpenters is a business which not only gets involved with the community but makes a real difference to it too.
What is the most rewarding element of your role?
My role is quite diverse which I enjoy, and is a nice blend of being both the client-facing and hands on from the technical perspective. It ranges from delivering entry level credit hire training to dealing with high value multi track actions. It’s also nice to get out of the office and meet clients as much as possible.
I also particularly enjoy mentoring the next generation of credit hire handlers and litigators. Helping team members grow in confidence and technical ability is rewarding and of course all that helps to deliver continued savings and success for our clients.
What is your career highlight?
Although it may sound a little cringe worthy, qualifying as a solicitor was a real highlight. I had a young family when I made the decision to return to studying and pursue a career in the law which made things a little difficult at times. So to finally qualify and know that the hard work had paid off was particularly satisfying (although it seems a long time ago now!)
If you hadn't pursed a career in law, what career would you have chosen?
I would have likely carried on with my journalism. The goal had been to forge a career as a freelance sports journalist and on a weekend I would cover football, rugby league and cricket for both the local and national press. Whilst I very much enjoyed getting in to the games for free, the hospitality that came with it, and conducting post-match interviews with the mangers, it is an extremely competitive world and often meant that I was working a seven-day week which did not always go down too well at home.
Outside interests:
I am now at the very much back end of a distinctly average cricket career, but still enjoy turning out as an when required. I am also involved in running the club and in particular the junior section which keeps me very busy through the summer.
My kids and I are season ticket holders at the mighty Bradford City, who are more often than not the reason behind another ruined weekend.
Fun fact:
As a freelance journalist I had stories on the front page of two national newspapers, the Daily Mail and, for those old enough to remember, The Daily Sport. As you can imagine they were two very different stories!
