The Digby Brown Graduate Trainee Programme
We undertake 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 the type of work. 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. We operate a successful business and our trainees have a valuable contribution to make towards that success.
Also, regular in-house training courses are held on a wide range of legal subjects, as well as topics such as finance and personal development.
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 and supported through these by 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 work, 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 bi-annual appraisal and the development of an action plan which you can work through with the support of your colleagues.
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
You will see Digby Brown at the university recruitment fairs so take the opportunity if you are there to discuss any questions you may have with the people on the stand. You may want to hand in an application form at that time.
The closing date for applications will normally be the 20th of October.
After the cut off date the applications are examined and a number of candidates will be invited to take part in the selection process.
This involves two psychometric tests and a very short presentation. The tests are used to help us differentiate between the candidates.
Two 30 minute tests are used, one is concerned with Verbal Reasoning, and the other is Numerical Reasoning. In addition to this candidates will be asked to prepare and deliver a short presentation of no more than ten minutes, for which a standard scoring system is used.
The results are a combined into a total score and those with the best results will be invited back for interview with a partner.
We do recruit 2 years in advance – so the applications received by the 20th of October 2006 will be for places starting in September 2008.
If you would like more info contact: Neil MacInnes, HR Director, Digby Brown
Tel 0131 319 8121
E-Mail: neil.macinnes@digbybrown.co.uk
We undertake 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 the type of work. 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. We operate a successful business and our trainees have a valuable contribution to make towards that success.
Also, regular in-house training courses are held on a wide range of legal subjects, as well as topics such as finance and personal development.
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 and supported through these by 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 work, 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 bi-annual appraisal and the development of an action plan which you can work through with the support of your colleagues.
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
You will see Digby Brown at the university recruitment fairs so take the opportunity if you are there to discuss any questions you may have with the people on the stand. You may want to hand in an application form at that time.
The closing date for applications will normally be the 20th of October.
After the cut off date the applications are examined and a number of candidates will be invited to take part in the selection process.
This involves two psychometric tests and a very short presentation. The tests are used to help us differentiate between the candidates.
Two 30 minute tests are used, one is concerned with Verbal Reasoning, and the other is Numerical Reasoning. In addition to this candidates will be asked to prepare and deliver a short presentation of no more than ten minutes, for which a standard scoring system is used.
The results are a combined into a total score and those with the best results will be invited back for interview with a partner.
We do recruit 2 years in advance – so the applications received by the 20th of October 2006 will be for places starting in September 2008.
If you would like more info contact: Neil MacInnes, HR Director, Digby Brown
Tel 0131 319 8121
E-Mail: neil.macinnes@digbybrown.co.uk
