A YOUNG lawyer isn't letting her full-time career stop her giving her sister the selfless care that won her a Child of the Year Community Pride Award.

Pupil barrister Chloe Branton spends her days working in courts around North-East England and her evenings at her Huntington home helping Lucy, who has cerebral palsy.

"It's quite a lot of hard work on not a lot of sleep," she said. "I cannot imagine life without my sister.

"At the same time being a barrister has been my dream since I was really small."

She has been "a second mother" to her younger sibling since she was a child and in 2007, when she was nine, both siblings shared the Child of the Year Award in the annual awards to honour York's community heroes run by York Press and City of York Council.

Because her birthday is in August, Chloe is also among the youngest people starting their pupillage this year, the final stage in becoming a fully fledged barrister.

“It’s a strange feeling!" she said. "It’s exciting because I realise I hopefully have a long and interesting career ahead of me. Yet it is also frightening and a bit nerve-wracking, as I know the majority of my clients and colleagues will be older and more experienced than me.

"However, that also motivates me to work harder and smarter, and to be the best advocate I can for my clients. I know I want to do it, and I feel I can do it. So, whilst it is a little daunting, I see it as another challenge for me to face."

She gained first-class honours in her law degree before taking the year-long bar professional training course at the University of Law's Leeds campus.

She has now been taken on as a pupil barrister at Zenith Chambers in Leeds.

"In some ways I feel that I’ve already achieved my goal of making it to the bar in the first place!" she said. "I hope to enjoy my career as a barrister and hopefully one day as a member of the judiciary.

"Ultimately, I want to continue to practice family law for as long as I am able, and to do my best for each and every client that comes my way.”