Being a Dundee girl who had stayed within the city for both the LLB and Diploma in Legal Practice, I was excited at the prospect of relocating for my traineeship. Brodies had three offices for me to choose from: Aberdeen, Edinburgh, andGlasgow. We also have an office in Brussels and opened up an office in Dingwall earlier this year.

I'm now just over a year into my traineeship in Aberdeen and I'm thoroughly enjoying it. In terms of size, Aberdeen currently has around 70 members of staff. This makes it much easier to get to know everyone in the office, rather than just your team and surrounding colleagues on your floor. This was particularly beneficial when I moved seat as I didn't have that daunting feeling of starting a new job all over again because everybody already knew me (or at least knew my face)!

"Split seats" are common in an Aberdeen traineeship due to smaller team sizes. This gives trainees the opportunity to sample more than the usual three areas as you are "split" between two departments rather than just working in one. For example, my first seat was split between Corporate and Employment; and my second seat is currently split between Corporate and our Commercial Services Division. This means that I am exposed to a range of different types of work and it can be quite varied - keeping me on my toes! One day I can be involved in drafting a website privacy statement to ensure compliance with GDPR and the next I can be assisting with the completion of a large corporate transaction.

There are usually only two or three trainees in the Aberdeen office at one time, compared to roughly twelve in Glasgow and twenty in Edinburgh. I am the only second year trainee in Aberdeen and, as you would expect, the only trainee in my department(s)! This means that sometimes the workload can be quite intense as there are no other trainees to assist, but by being pushed out of my comfort zone, I am learning incredibly quickly and being given a lot of responsibility.

Not all departments have a trainee in their team and this has given me further opportunities to be involved in different types of work. For example, I have attended court for a proof hearing with a partner in the litigation team and I have also assisted the banking team with various trainee-type tasks (even though I have not "officially" completed a seat in either of these departments).

I have also been given the opportunity to attend many events. For example, I recently attended a Ladies Afternoon Tea and the cHeRries Awards with colleagues and clients of the firm. These opportunities are great for broadening my external network and I feel lucky to be encouraged and invited to attend.

Lastly, it should be mentioned that trainees also get to attend the Aberdeen Christmas Party! Edinburgh and Glasgow, being much bigger offices, tend to celebrate Christmas within their teams and departments. However, Aberdeen throws an office-wide Christmas bash which is always well attended, great fun and a good chance to mix with all colleagues!

I have really enjoyed the first year of my traineeship in the Aberdeen office and I have learned a lot through the wide variety of work I have been exposed to. I would encourage any current or future trainee to consider completing at least one seat in Aberdeen.

The closing date for traineeship applications is 30 September 2018. For more informationandto apply for a traineeship, please visit the Traineeship section of our website.