Life
before D&W:
After graduating from University of Dundee (LLB (Honours)),
I completed my Diploma in Legal Practice and commenced my
traineeship with Scottish Hydro-Electric plc. I stayed on
at Scottish Hydro-Electric after my traineeship, and enjoyed
a broad range of work, dealing with everything from large
scale energy contracts and projects, to potential liability
issues arising from electricity meter readers spraying pepper
spray at dogs which threatened to bite them when they went
to read meters!
After five years at Scottish Hydro-Electric, I decided to
expand my experience in the energy industry, and joined Conoco
(UK) Limited in Aberdeen. At Conoco I was involved in drafting
and negotiating contracts for upstream oil and gas fields
in the North Sea and further afield.
I joined D&W's Infrastructure group in 1999, where I'm
involved in large scale projects and energy deals.
First Impressions of D&W:
My first impressions of D&W were formed in my days at
Scottish Hydro-Electric, who used D&W as external legal
advisers, so I suppose my first introduction to D&W was
as a client.
The lawyers I met from D&W were approachable and very
human, professional and efficient, so when I finally decided
to make the move to private practice, D&W was an obvious
choice.
As an employee, my first impressions were not that different
from my first impressions as a client. Everyone was (and
is) friendly and approachable.
Favourite thing(s) about working at
D&W:
The people are great. When you spend 8 hours a day at work,
it's really important that you get on with the people around
you.
Flexible working - its useful to be able to have the option
to work from home, and often the best way of getting a good
clear run at reviewing a difficult or complex document.
Our department has a great tradition of having cake whenever
it's someone's birthday, but the downside is that as our
department grows, so does the number of birthdays, and the
waistline!
Pearls of wisdom for anyone joining/already a member of
the legal profession:
Don't forget that the clients are the most important people
in a lawyer's job - without them, you wouldn't have a job!
Most memorable occasion at D&W:
We decided that our department should do something for Halloween,
so some of us brought in pumpkin lanterns to decorate our
desks, and one male lawyer, (who will remain nameless), wore
fake witches fingernails!
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