Inspirational Stories
Motivation from our trainees!
Mairead Smith
I grew up and went to school on the Isle of Skye. I was lucky to have a Gaelic-Medium education, which means pretty much all of my subjects (up to about third year) was taught in Gaelic. I feel very lucky to have grown up surrounded by culture and community, but I would say it definitely had its limits when it came to education and further career options. With going to a rural school, there were less subject options and the advanced higher courses were mostly self-taught. There wasn’t a huge amount of career advice or formal work experience options available, and with being rurally located, most of the uni open days or outreach programmes (like REACH) weren’t available.
Most of my cohort at school had part-time jobs from around 13/14 years old, mostly in hospitality. I got extremely lucky at 14 years old when a family friend offered me some part-time simple admin work in an estate agency, which led to some work in their small law firm office, doing filing and similar work. I think this is what got me interested in law, as previously I had never even considered it as a career or even knew what it was. The firm I worked in did conveyancing, family law, private client, and crofting law (which is quite specific to the highlands).
However, I felt that I had to do a lot of my own research in terms of what I needed grade/subject-wise, for personal statements, and choosing courses. I had to find out myself that the LNAT exam was needed for some LLB courses, and my parents had to drive me over 3 hours each way to my nearest test centre to sit it. I was the only person in my year applying for law and didn’t know anyone who had sat the LNAT so definitely was not prepared, and I had no idea if I would get accepted to any university.
I went straight from school to uni at 17 years old. I was surprised to have received an offer from my first choice University (Edinburgh), which I believe was down to their ‘contextual offers’ scheme, which effectively lowers the entry requirements for those who meet certain criteria (as I did not have the same grades as many of my peers). Though coming from certain backgrounds does still impact the playing field and your confidence at uni and beyond, one good thing about studying law was that not many people on the course had studied the subjects before.
It was at uni I realised that law was truly everywhere. On campus, there were lots of events, such as the law fair, and it is there that I learnt about the open days for the bigger commercial firms, like Burness Paull. I was worried that I would struggle to get a job, especially as I didn’t know what was involved in being a commercial lawyer, so I signed up to most of the events to make sure I had the best chance and to get an idea of what a commercial lawyer does.
In my second year of uni, I attended an open day at Burness Paull and then got offered a place on the summer placement scheme in my third year. This was set to be a 6-week work experience programme based in the office but due to the lockdown at the time (in 2020), this was moved online and reduced to one week. Many firms had cancelled their equivalent schemes that year so we were so grateful our scheme still went ahead. I learnt so much in the space of a week, but felt so much more at ease about having a career in commercial law because everyone was genuinely down to earth, approachable and interested to get to know you as a person. I got offered a traineeship off the back of this, and once I graduated, I moved onto the diploma course (also at Edinburgh). This time last year, I finished my diploma studies and I started my traineeship at Burness Paull in September.
Sohaib Hussain
I grew up in a family that had no “network” of professionals that I could rely on for advice or guidance. We relied exclusively on benefits: my dad was disabled and my mum, who had grown up in rural Pakistan, was his full-time carer. My route into law was actually the result of one life-changing conversation with a teacher way back when: it instilled a confidence and self-belief in me that because of, not despite, my family circumstances and working-class background, I could go on to do things that I never considered possible for people from working-class backgrounds.
One conversation with one person gave me the inspiration to reach the position I’m in today and I hope that hearing that story can resonate with somebody else – that it can give somebody else the belief that there are organisations out there in industries like this that are looking for people like us.
Throughout school and University, I was required to balance working part-time with studying to ensure that I could support my family and my own ambitions and I think it’s important to share the biggest lesson I took from that: the skills and the resilience that you learn from your personal circumstances and struggles are just as, if not more, valuable than those that you will gain from education and the extra-curricular activities that everyone else has the time to do whilst you work 20+ hours a week. The right employer, and thankfully Burness Paull is one of them, is able to recognise that challenging backgrounds tend to produce high-performing individuals. I’m grateful to be working alongside so many inspiring individuals and being given a platform to (hopefully) spark inspiration in others.
Chloe Caldwell
Hi everyone, my name is Chloe, and I am a second-year trainee solicitor, currently working for Scottish Power, in their commercial contracts department. I completed my previous seats in immigration and commercial real estate, so as you can imagine, there are stark differences between them all. Burness Paull will let you complete 4 seats in different departments, with the chance to also go to external companies to get experience working as an in-house solicitor, which I am currently doing. I felt strongly about training with a firm with these opportunities as I did not feel I was able to decide what sector of law I wanted to work in when I finished university.
My journey to becoming a trainee solicitor started what feels like a lifetime ago and, as I can imagine with many working-class students, you spend the last few years at school debating not only the career you want to do but what is accessible to you.
At school I always enjoyed English, history and modern studies, and I knew I wanted to progress with a career which built on those foundations. Despite this, the idea of a career in law was never properly considered, as when I initially started looking, I never saw that career within my reach.
My idea of lawyers were people from completely different societies to me, people that I had seen strictly on the tv.
In my later years of high school, my interests in politics and the world around us became more prominent and I knew I wanted to continue to progress my career in an area that made a real impact to the world. My passion for social change was derived from my background and my father always taught me to be consciously aware of the political sphere and my role to play in it.
I grew up in Glasgow in a council house, single parent, working-class household, growing up on free school meals. Growing up, my lifestyle never felt ‘disadvantaged’ to me, but as I left school and found my feet in the world, I quickly began to realise that not everyone seemed to experience the same struggles that I did.
In high school, I took up part-time work, working on Saturdays and Sundays, before also taking on a second job. From being young I have helped to financially support my mum, resulting in financial pressures throughout university. Sometimes I believe it was these types of pressures which have secured my determination to try to study and push myself to get to a position to be able to comfortably help my family, which I still do today.
Despite coming from a working-class household, where there is a stereotypical view that we don’t consider education as great importance, my mum and dad always drilled into me the importance of working hard and using the tools at my disposal to my advantage to progress my career and to work my way out of the economic struggles. We live in a country which offers free high school and further education, and it is privileges like these which make me reflect not on my disadvantages but on the advantages I do have.
Imposter syndrome has been prevalent in my mind since before university. When I secured my grades in 5th year, I can remember the surreal moment when I realised that I could meet the entry requirements to study law at university. The moment was surreal because I began to envision a different life that I could make for myself, and it felt like I was undeserving.
Given my circumstances, I was invited to apply for a scholarship from a high court judge. Amazingly, I was the winner, which resonated with me that I possibly was in a position that wasn’t the stereotypical law student. This gave me the motivation to try my very best over the next 5 years.
At university, I continued working 2 jobs whilst studying and volunteering in a law firm to get as much exposure as I could. Growing up, I never knew any solicitors to help me find my feet in this industry. Securing legal work experience was difficult. When I say I called and pestered law firms repeatedly to try and get my foot in the door for experience, I really mean it. It is undeniably a difficult and competitive industry, and I knew I was already at a disadvantage. I also continued working as a volunteer at the citizens' advice bureau and took part in extra-curricular events like mooting. I took up mooting to try and make sure I had something a little extra, as I knew I didn’t have those stereotypical hobbies which they regularly look for. Looking back, I honestly don’t know how I had the time.
I have so many wonderful experiences from university, but growing up working class, in a single-parent household, living in a council estate and on free school meals, you do feel different at university when your cohort around you seem to have grown up with completely different lifestyles.
I won’t lie to you all today. I really struggled with my first two years at university. The subjects and courses were alien to me and I struggled to keep up with the reading. I did not think it was the right course for me and that I had bitten off more than I could chew. There are many days I still feel like that.
Despite feeling this way, I continued working throughout university and it was some of the best years of my life. Don’t get me wrong, I was not getting 100% across the board as I had other responsibilities that I had to balance. It took me 4 years to finally begin to achieve the grades I wanted to, and through real dedication, I walked away with a first-class law degree. I was extremely proud of myself. I really couldn’t have got there without the emotional support of my family.
Throughout my degree, I volunteered in a criminal law firm every week whilst also working. This experience helped me to gain an understanding of what I wanted to do and gave me the skills which I could discuss at future interviews. Around the 3rd year mark of university, larger law firms begin to offer vacation schemes which allow you to work in the firm with the route to a traineeship. Luckily, I was successful with Burness Paull and secured a summer placement. After completing this vacation scheme, I secured my traineeship, which was one of the happiest days of my life.
Afterwards, I moved onto the diploma in professional legal practice and here I am at my traineeship today.
As I have previously mentioned, I worked in the immigration department for my first seat. I was very eager to progress in this seat as I have always had an interest in the wider political sphere and immigration plays a large role in that. The immigration department combines both family migration and business migration, giving me an insight into the different elements of that legal field.
Afterwards, I moved into commercial real estate before now being on secondment at Scottish Power. I never picked commercial real estate, which can happen during your traineeship, due to the need to accommodate the full trainee cohort. I was nervous about taking this seat, as my interests and what I am used to lie with areas such as employment and immigration and I was scared I wouldn’t enjoy it. Most of all, I was scared to step out of my comfort zone in an industry where I already feel out of place sometimes.
However, I must say I was pleasantly surprised. Despite still having a strong interest in other sectors, I really enjoyed the experience and my ability, skills, knowledge, and network improved significantly. It really has shown me to make the most of the opportunities that scare you as they will repay, and you only learn when you challenge yourself.
Throughout my whole experience in law, I have always felt different, especially at university. But I can hand on heart say that my experience at Burness Paull has been transformative. The entire trainee experience has been catered to be as inclusive as possible, as Burness Paull has made a real commitment to social mobility and widening access, something which is so important in this industry.
I won’t deny that these difficulties can transfer into your career. An example of this is my experience at networking events which have sometimes left me feeling like an outsider. However, it is important to remember that this is imposter syndrome, and it can be damaging to your mental health. Luckily for us who are only just entering our legal careers, our predecessors have worked tirelessly to change the narrative of the industry, which I am very grateful for.
My advice to you all is that it is going to be hard, stressful and at times it will feel unachievable. When you come from a different background, which is considered ‘disadvantaged’, it is hard and there are barriers, but through hard work and dedication, you can do whatever you set your mind to, and we can change these disadvantages into advantages.
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