The life and times of a lawyer to be

Published on Wednesday 13 February 2008 09:06

JOHN Geddes, a graduate of the University of Aberdeen, is a trainee at Raeburn Christie Clark and Wallace. This is his blog about life as a trainee solicitor in Scotland...'

Tuesday 12 February, 18.05

I've been rather enjoying the last few weeks in the conveyancing department. For once I actually feel like I can do my job and that I'm of some use to the department. True, I'm not getting a mass of files but I now know, barring any unforeseen glitches or peculiarities, what I'm expected to do from start to finish in most transactions. That's not to say I'm not still pestering the partners, associates, solicitors, trainees and secretaries (in fact anyone who will listen) with a barrage of questions.

I keep on being told "no no no, that's not a silly question", but I can't help thinking that some really are. I do feel though that the best way to learn is not by being told but by actually doing things and making mistakes. Not big serious mistakes (they get you sacked) but the smaller admin ones, the ones that get caught by the person you are working for. Once you make a mistake you generally feel pretty stupid. If you're normal you won't want to feel like that again so chances are you won't make the same mistake twice. Sadly, in some respects, I won't have many more opportunities to hone my conveying skill as in two weeks I'll be moving departments. More on that to follow…

Prior to my traineeship I worked in the cashroom for a year or so and get on well with the staff there. It's just as well because there might have been a bit of a rammy last week when I just could not get my head around what one of the cashiers was telling me - despite her best efforts. Without going into coma-inducing detail about the whole affair, the cashier was trying to explain what she wanted me to do; the words debit and credit were thrown in (I'm not going to hide behind the standard "I'm rubbish at maths" excuse here; I think I'm ok with figures!) but she could just as well have been speaking Vietnamese. Sadly I'm not a scholar of Asian languages.

Resultantly, I had no idea what she was saying and so I tried to explain how I had done things and how I wasn't in fact wrong. Not normally a good move but eventually after much talking and not much listening we found common ground and understood each other - more or less. I realised that I didn't have to do quite as much writing as I thought and the cashier realised I wasn't a total idiot. So all's well that ends well.

On the social side of things the charity committee organised a RCCW pub quiz last Thursday. The trainees boldly entered a team and fought heroically against all odds to finish 4th……. bottom. All things considered (I was the only guy in the team and there weren't enough football questions) it was a respectable result; we're just glad we didn't finish last and expose ourselves to a torrent of abuse for the next year and a half.

Read John's previous blogs:

October 15

October 29

November 23

December 10

January 14