Having started with the firm as a summer intern back in 2018, followed by the two-year legal traineeship, I was delighted to qualify as a corporate solicitor at Gillespie Macandrew in September 2022. Below I have shared some thoughts of my journey into law so far and how Gillespie Macandrew has supported me on the way.
During my summer internship, I was based in the Energy team. Spending my placement working in one team gave me a great insight into the support they provide and offered me the opportunity to get involved in live client work. I was impressed by the level of responsibility I was given to contact clients and attend meetings. I was very much made to feel a useful member of the team (I promise you will not just be making cups of tea and doing people’s printing!).
Throughout the placement, you are allocated a mentor who is a qualified solicitor in that department and who will supervise your work. You also have a buddy, who is often a trainee, and will be on hand to answer any questions you have so you are always supported.
Alongside client work, I had the opportunity to attend training seminars from other teams. This was a great chance to learn about the work that was going on in other areas of the firm and to hear from professionals in the field in such a focussed environment. It was also a good opportunity to learn about the different teams you could hold seats in, if you were to progress to the legal traineeship.
Completing the internship can also support your eligibility for our two-year legal traineeship programme. When I returned to Gillespie Macandrew to start my traineeship, two years had passed, and the working environment had completely changed due to what was going on in the world in 2020. We were in lockdown at the time and adapted to working from home. Despite all of this, I was quickly put at ease as one of the first emails I received was a ‘welcome back’ from my mentor! This to me is reflective of the working environment here at Gillespie Macandrew, everyone is welcoming and approachable.
During my traineeship, I completed seats in Dispute Resolution, Private Client, Commercial Property and Corporate before qualifying as a corporate solicitor in September 2022. I undertook a huge variety of tasks during the 2 years in all seats I experienced, offering me the chance to build on legal knowledge and client skills.
These are skills I continue to build on as a newly qualified solicitor. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at Gillespie Macandrew at every stage of my journey so far and the summer internship was great preparation for starting out in law.
To find out more about our internship programme please follow this link or email our HR team at summerinternship@gillespiemacandrew.co.uk
