Summer placement

I am now in my second year of my traineeship at Anderson Strathern after completing a summer placement with the firm after graduating from the LLB in 2019. During my summer placement I spent 3 weeks in the Employment, Immigration and Pensions team in Edinburgh.

One of the first things that stood out to me was how welcoming everybody was from the moment I arrived at the office. Everyone goes out of their way to get to know you and make you feel welcome. Anderson Strathern is a very friendly and sociable firm, and that is something that came across to me very early on.

The structure of the placement is really geared towards immersing you in life at the firm, as a trainee and beyond. I learned about Anderson Strathern and its history, I was trained up on how to use the system and then got involved with client work for live matters.

The highlight for me was being able to contribute to client work and see the outcome of this. Despite only being there for a short time, I was able to attend a client meeting, do research work for ongoing tribunal cases, and even had the chance to write an article which ended up being featured in a sector newsletter.

One of the main benefits of the summer placement is being part of a department and being assigned a mentor and a buddy, which replicates what happens throughout your traineeship. I felt like they really guided me through the process, and it was great to be able to have someone to speak to about what I was working on and how I was doing.

Getting to spend time with the trainees - around the office, at lunch time and at an after-work social event that the firm organised for us - is an invaluable part of the placement. It was really comforting to know that they had gone through the same trainee recruitment process recently and they had lots of advice and tips to share.

I would thoroughly recommend a summer placement to anyone who is considering applying. I think it is a fantastic way to prepare you for being a trainee and to experience the firm’s culture first hand. My top tip for anyone joining the placement is just to chat to everyone you can – not only is it fascinating to learn about the different work people do, but you also get to showcase your own personality and interests, and you may end up having much more in common with people than you think!