First year trainee, Sarah McAllan, reflects on her legal traineeship so far……..

I started my legal career at James & George Collie in 2011 working as a legal secretary for the commercial department, after having graduated with an LLB. This allowed me to get my foot in the door at a law firm and begin working towards achieving a traineeship. Working as a legal secretary allowed me the opportunity to gain a vast amount of knowledge from the Solicitors with whom I worked.  As a result, when the time came to start my traineeship, I was significantly better prepared and was able to hit the ground running. I have now been a trainee solicitor at James & George Collie LLP for six months and what a six months it has been!

I wanted to carry out my training with a firm that would provide the opportunity to obtain a strong grounding in different legal areas. Due to the breadth of seats offered, James & George is a perfect match for an aspiring Solicitor. As a Trainee Solicitor you are required to spend time in a number of different departments.  My current role is in the residential and commercial departments. This allows me to work with a varied client base and understand the different requirements between these two departments. My time in these departments will last 12 months at which point I will move to the Executry department before completing my Traineeship in the Court Department. Working in a variety of seats will allow me to gain invaluable experience before I decide in which area of the law to specialise.

As a trainee in the residential department I deal with property sales and purchases. This involves progressing the conveyancing and preparing and finalising all the different documents and paperwork that are required for a sale or purchaseto be completed. Recently, I have been involved with help to buy schemes and new build purchases. These types of transaction are very different to a traditional purchase. However, part of the role of a Trainee is to learn and adapt in order to deliver the right level of service to your client. My role has dual responsibility and also includes the sale and purchase of commercial properties. The process of selling or buying a property, whether residential or commercial is quite similar.  There are a number of small differences but these may be as simple as the intended use by the client. As a Trainee Solicitor it is your responsibility to ensure that each transaction is completed in a professional and timely manner. After just six months of my training contract, I am overwhelmed by the amount of knowledge I have gained during such a short period of time, almost exclusively down to the training and support that I have received from my colleagues and from the firm’s Partners.

As part of the Traineeship programme I am also required to attend Citizens Advice Bureau where I provide pro bono legal advice to members of the public. This is an integral part of the training of any young Solicitor, as the variety of legal issues that you have to consider are vast and go far to test your knowledge and build your confidence as a Solicitor.  Some issues require legal research to be able to give the best advice.  Legal research plays an important part of any traineeship and ensures that lawyers keep abreast of all current issues and recent developments in the law.

Trainee Solicitors are required to carry out a minimum of 60 hours of continuing professional development during the course of the traineeship. James & George Collie readily supports this progressive training and development requirement and ensures that all team members continue to develop their knowledge and experience by attending various courses and seminars.

Starting a career in law is a daunting prospect for anyone.  The job we do, and the decisions we make, are important to our clients and to the integrity of the profession.  As a student of law you learn a lot from your lecturers.  This gives you the foundation on which to start building your career.  Traineeship opportunities are limited.  As a graduating law student you are among a large number of people searching for that first chance, the one opportunity you need to start your career.  You work extremely hard at University to achieve the grades to graduate and all you need is one firm to say ‘yes’.  James and George Collie gave me the opportunity I needed to ‘launch’ my career and I ensure that the work I do for the firm and our clients is of the highest possible standard.

James & George Collie aim to deliver the highest levels of service to each and every one of our clients and I am very proud to be part of the team.