A law student who suffered complete amnesia and lived with a 20-second memory after a serious motorcycle accident 12 years ago qualified as a solicitor last month.

Mark-Anthony Conti suffered five brain haemorrhages and drifted in and out of a coma for two weeks following the accident, which was caused by oil on the road.


Mr Conti was a second-year law student at Cardiff University when the accident occurred. Doctors feared he would never be able to work, but this week praised the 'extraordinary determination' that led him to regain his memory.


Following years of rigorous mental exercises after the accident, Mr Conti completed a masters qualification in medical history in the US, achieving a first. He then returned to the UK to study the common professional examination and legal practice course at Guildford College of Law. Mr Conti completed his training contract at a firm in the south-west, but has not been taken on by the firm.


Mr Conti told the Gazette: 'I woke up from a coma and knew I wanted to be a solicitor - even though I didn't know what a solicitor was. I sat down with my psychologist in my first meeting with him and he asked me if I had any ambitions, and I said I wanted to be a solicitor. He thought I was mad, as at that point no-one thought I would be able to work again.'


He added that his memory is still not entirely recovered: 'I have come up with a system of lists. I make lists about everything, and then if I forget, I just consult my list. If a client calls and I can't remember who they are, I can ask my secretary to put them on hold for 30 seconds while I consult my list. I am always working on my memory and improving it.'


Mr Conti added: 'I had complete clinical amnesia, and could not even remember who my mother was. But as I could not remember anything, for me it seemed quite normal. You are sitting there with no recollection of who anyone is, but it does not seem important, because it does not seem that you have ever known.


'But it becomes really frightening when you recover enough to know that you are disabled. My mother would explain who she was, and then 20 seconds later I would say, "who are you?" in a continual cycle.'