A capable helping hand

Published on Tuesday 17 October 2006 00:36

AFTER graduating from Glasgow University and securing a coveted traineeship with Dundas & Wilson, 25-year-old Collette Paterson now looks every inch the polished and professional young solicitor.

Yet barely a year after qualifying, Paterson has turned her back on private practice, preferring to help other young lawyers make their way in the world as solicitors. She has just joined the Law Society of Scotland's education and training department as its first new lawyers' co-ordinator. The job has a wide-ranging remit which involves engaging with students, trainees and newly qualified lawyers and forging links with law schools, diploma providers and firms who take on trainees.

Aspiring lawyers have many hurdles to overcome - from admission to law school to successful completion of a traineeship - before they can achieve their goal of qualifying. Many are now studying part-time while holding down jobs or on "fast-track" courses.

Paterson believes her own recent experiences as an undergraduate, diploma student and trainee will inform her role, and help her understand the issues facing young solicitors - and the not-so-young, in the case of mature entrants to the profession. After her own hard slog, why did she decide not to continue her career as a practising solicitor?

"I set out to qualify - that was always my goal - and I did that," she says. "But seven years is quite a length of time, and during that time I started to think about other interests that I had. For example, my degree was in law and Spanish language, and I have always been interested in English and Spanish and communicating. So when I qualified, I decided to pursue other interests. But I think a lot of the skills I learned have prepared me for this sort of job as well.

"It was when I left private practice that I really had time to think about the right move for me. This job was advertised two weeks after I left Dundas & Wilson, and it made sense for me in terms of the way I like to communicate with people and the fact I enjoy helping people and imparting knowledge."

Despite her youth, Paterson has considerable experience of helping to advise law students. "During my degree I was a student helper with the first-year students, showing them round the university, and during my traineeship I was often asked by D&W to represent the firm at the university law fairs, so I went to lots of those, and also to the internal assessment centres where trainees are invited to talk about life as a trainee."

Having qualified so recently, Paterson says she has a good grasp of the issues facing students and trainees. "That's one of the other reasons why I was interested in this job. It appealed to me in terms of what I felt I could bring - communication skills and being able to interact with people, and really enjoying the sense of satisfaction when you help people.

"Quite often at law fairs, people would go away with a better understanding of the profession. Also, I have crossed every hurdle these people who are studying to qualify as solicitors have to. I think I can really draw on those experiences and when I think back to what I felt it would have been good to have known at that time, I can put that into practice."

Paterson says that communicating with undergraduate students is a particular priority because they are not linked into the profession in the same way as diploma students or trainees.

"They are not very sure, a lot of them, whether they want to enter the profession," she says. "I think it is important to develop a relationship of trust between the Law Society and students. They may only think the society is the regulator, and not think about its other functions. It is important to engage in discussion about that."

Yet Paterson is also keen that the society should improve its relationship with law students who do not intend to become solicitors, not least because her own decision to study for the LLB was influenced by its flexibility. "There is a responsibility to promote the law degree as something which can lead to qualification but also to promote it as something which can prepare you for various careers in the future. That's what made me study law in the first instance. One of the things I feel the society must do is promote both routes - the route that can lead to being a solicitor and the route that can lead elsewhere."

As the debate on the future of the bachelor of laws degree (LLB) and whether it serves the needs of the modern profession is a live issue, Paterson says law students should take part in the society's forthcoming consultation on the future of legal education.

"That really delves quite deeply into what the subjects are that are part of the LLB. It invites responses from a really, really wide range of people and it's really appropriate for law students to take part in that consultation and contribute If they do have feelings about what the LLB entails and what could be changed, then this is their chance to voice that."

In the shorter term, Paterson is keen prospective and new students recognise the importance of hitting the ground running.

"We know it is your performance in the professional subjects that determine whether you will get a place on the diploma in legal practice. That is a message we have to push at an early stage."

And, at an even earlier stage, Paterson wants to build on the society's links with schools around Scotland. She also wants the society to develop its website to give prospective law students more information, perhaps including case studies of LLB graduates and the career paths they have taken. She is also keen to promote the society's annual schools' debating tournament more widely.

And, at the risk of being bombarded with e-mails, Paterson says she is "very willing" to speak to students and help them with any queries they might have: "That's what I'm here for."

• Collette Paterson's e-mail address is [e-mail]