An apprenticeship in office management – opening up opportunity in litigation

I began my apprenticeship after leaving school and joined Brodies as an office management assistant. My role included working on a rota covering reception, hospitality, mail room and reprographics.

My apprenticeship was focused on business skills, and I picked the topics within my apprenticeship that I felt to be most suited to me and the role I was in. I was assigned a mentor who encouraged me, and I had regular meetings with.

I completed modules on different topics that were assessed and contributed towards my final grade. I worked through the modules in my own time and at my own pace, and my mentor and I would review these at our meetings. I found this independent way of working very beneficial alongside my office management assistant role.

I chose an apprenticeship as I was able to learn on the job and put that learning into practice every day; for me this was the most effective way to develop important skills, going into a working environment at a young age. My apprenticeship gave me the right skills and confidence to progress in my career and opened up opportunity to other roles too.

Following completion of my apprenticeship, I was promoted to secretarial support assistant within the firm's litigation practice area and then went on to become an executive assistant (EA) also in litigation. I directly assist a team of three partners, four senior solicitors and two trainees across insurance and risk and the government, regulation and competition teams. I am responsible for diary management, organising and preparing electronic court papers, liaising with clients, preparing, and sending out client bills and travel bookings. My role holds the responsibility to prioritise, and time manage tasks to provide my team with an organised service that they can rely on. I enjoy the organisational aspect of the role and how my tasks differ from day to day. My role has allowed me to reach out to other areas of the firm including buddying other EAs across, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen and being a member of the social committee.

I believe that the skills I developed during my apprenticeship contributed to securing these roles. I'm currently going into my seventh year as an executive assistant at Brodies, throughout this time I have built a career that I am proud of and been a part of a team of very supportive colleagues. I'm grateful for the opportunity that Brodies gave me to complete my apprenticeship and believe that this is a great way to enter into a successful career.