Life before D&W:

After schooldays spent in Edinburgh, I graduated from Oxford in 1999 with a degree in Classics and French. I had four fantastic years there, including some time spent sampling the café lifestyle in France. I quickly came to the conclusion however that knowledge of Medieval French and the works of the poet Catullus are not as sought after as you might first imagine. Indeed they can quickly lose you a lot of friends if mentioned in a public place. Realising that I was too short-sighted and unfit to be Tom Cruise in Top Gun, I decided to be Tom Cruise in The Firm instead, and arrived at D&W after graduating from Edinburgh University in 2002.

First Impressions of D&W:

My first taste of D&W came with 3 months spent as a summer student in the Banking group in the summer of 2000. The professionalism and wish to go “the extra mile” were immediately apparent. That was no real surprise as I already knew about D&W’s reputation. However, I was impressed with how relaxed and friendly a place it was to work. Despite having knowledge of banking that extended only to the horrific state of my overdraft, everyone was willing to take time out to explain things I didn’t understand. After 18 months of my traineeship, I am happy to say that this is the norm rather than the exception.

Favourite thing(s) about working at D&W:

Professionally, it is the high quality of clients you are working for and the level of expertise you can call on at every turn. There are some great people to learn from and there is some really interesting (and high profile) work.

There is also a great mix of personalities at D&W – there is no stereotypical D&W person – and, believe it or not, some people that you might even want to spend some time with outside of the office. Of course, this particularly applies to those willing to lose money to trainees on the golf course.

Challenges faced at D&W:

Thankfully not,

• Dealing with a stress fracture of the thumb from over-use on the photocopier button
  
• Learning the menu at Starbucks off by heart
  
• Coping with Partners whose rants would put Sir Alex Ferguson to shame

Instead, the challenges lie in being pushed to the limit of your abilities. My particular area of interest is litigation and the fast-paced nature of the work definitely keeps you on your toes. In one week prior to Christmas we had to deal with three actions for interdict in the Court of Session in the space of a matter of days – an intense amount of work in a short space of time. However, all three came out with positive results, which was very satisfying.

Pearls of wisdom for anyone joining/already a member of the legal profession:

To those about to join: think very carefully about what type of law you want to practise and what type of firm you want to work for. You meet far too many people in the law who seem to have fallen into jobs without really wanting to do them. If you want to work in a one partner firm, don’t just apply to work at big firms because they are the safe option. When it comes to the crunch you will be shown up if you don’t actually enjoy your job. Put a little bit of thought into it now and you will reap the rewards.