The Digby Brown Graduate Trainee Programme 
The firm undertakes a wide range of personal injury, employment and other work in both the Court of Session and the Sheriff Courts. Our teams are organised in departments based on work type. This offers the client a more tailored service from expert lawyers with in-depth knowledge of their field. It also enables the qualified fee earner to develop specialist strength. 

The training
At Digby Brown you will find much of your training comes from hands on experience. From early on you will have a high degree of direct contact with clients. All trainees share rooms with fully qualified assistants or associates. This facilitates easy communication and guidance as well as a good welcome. Our partners provide close supervision so you are not left on your own. With an organised administration team, trainees are not used to run errands and do the photocopying - they have a responsible position within the team, within the firm. We operate a successful business and our trainees have a valuable contribution to make towards that success.

Regular in house training courses are held on a wide range of legal subjects, as well as topics such as finance and personal development.  Trainees are encouraged to take part in these.

As part of the training you will be guided through cases and the court processes. As your skills develop you will be given responsibility for a number of cases with support from a partner or associate. The training focuses not only on legal knowledge but very much on developing business and commercial aptitude, such as time keeping, prioritising workload, negotiation skills and people skills.

In addition to the Law Society of Scotland quarterly reviews, you will take part in the firm’s staff development review process involving annual appraisals and action planning for your personal development.  

The people we want
We want individuals who feel that they can commit to our values. This is increasingly relevant for us as we are determined to operate in a positive culture. The desire to be a litigator is essential – it’s what we do and we do it well. Impressive academic results are important, however, we also need people who have common sense, initiative, an ability to deal well with people and a positive determination to succeed. When we take a trainee on, our mind is very much on them being a newly qualified lawyer for us two years down the line. We like to develop our own talent. 

The recruitment process
For 2010, we have decided to operate a pilot summer placement programme; it is expected the vast majority of our 2011 trainees will come from this. However, you will see Digby Brown at the university recruitment fairs so please take the opportunity if you are there to discuss any questions you may have with the people on the stand. At this stage we will know whether we shall continue with our placement programme from 2011 onwards. 

The closing date for 2010 placement applications was 18th December 2009. 
 
The closing date for 2011 placements will be October 31 2010 and the application form will be available from late summer 2010 for download.

Applications are assessed on the basis of accuracy and completeness using standard scoring,  and successful candidates are invited to an interview with one of our partners.
 
Our three week placement programs run twice over summer, once in June and once in July.

We do recruit two years in advance so the applications received by the 18th December 2009 will be for 2010 summer placements; and ultimately for traineeships starting in September 2011.

If you would like more information on the careers with Digby Brown please get in touch.   Email: recruit@digbybrown.co.uk