Lynn Livesey takes part in a Q&A, sharing her own traineeship experience and how it helped contribute to her progression to legal director in litigation.

I think watching Ally McBeal was what kick started my interest in a legal career! While studying law at the University of Glasgow, I joined Brodies as a summer student in the employment team. After graduation, I started with my traineeship with Brodies and spent time working in seats in employment, litigation and real estate.

  • How did you end up becoming a litigation lawyer?

I was always interested in contentious rather than transactional work. My initial career aspiration was to be an employment lawyer, but my time spent in litigation, focussing on defending a variety of civil claims, changed that. I thoroughly enjoyed the court work and so when the opportunity to qualify into litigation came up, I went for it!

  • How did the traineeship experience help you to become the lawyer you are now?

Training at a full-service firm, where you are exposed to a variety of subject matters, helps to round out your experience and you begin to see how the academic teaching at university fits in to professional practice.

For me, this broad experience changed the direction of my career to litigation. The diverse client base at Brodies has helped set me up with a skillset that still assists me today, whether that be juggling the variety of client and firm tasks or adapting my advice to best suit my client. I learnt different skills in each seat and for instance, I still draw upon my drafting skills that were honed during my transactional seat in real estate. I also made connections across the firm, that has resulted in a broad professional network which assists with business development activity.

  • What helped you to progress from trainee to legal director?

The firm is very supportive of career development. There are regular opportunities to speak to supervisors about your professional development. You are also exposed to business development activity from the outset, this enables you to start building your practice from day one!

  • What one piece of advice would you give to trainees?

People at Brodies actively take time to assist trainees to learn and develop so grab every opportunity you are presented with to learn from lawyers at the forefront of their profession. You can learn and develop from every situation.

Apply today for a 2024 traineeship! Fill in our online application form by Monday 8 August 2022.

Contributor

Lynn Livesey

Legal Director