Under Commission by the Lord Advocate, I prosecute in the High Court of Justiciary (Scotland's highest criminal court of first instance) as an Advocate Depute within the Crown Counsel team.

Devil Masters:-Euan Duthie Niall McCluskeyMorag Ross Gavin Anderson

St Helena is a British Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic. The Public Solicitor’s Office was set up by and is funded by DFID and the FCO, as there are no private law firms on Island. The Office deals with all legal matters, both civil and criminal, for individuals and companies on St Helena. I was on a fixed one year contract. My duties as Assistant Public Solicitor included:-Managing the office and all legal matters when the Public Solicitor was off Island.Civil claims against the Government including contract, electricity, accident and medical negligence claims.Out of court dispute resolution.Drafting commercial contracts, lease agreements, land use and maintenance contracts etc. Advising on and preparing planning, licensing and other formal applications to the Government.Advising on family law matters, drafting relevant documents and appearing in Court in relation to such matters.Appearing in the St Helena Supreme Court on behalf of parties and also as amicus curiae in a range of cases. (I was admitted as an Advocate of the St Helena Supreme Court.)Conducting legal research in a variety of areas.Criminal and road traffic defence.

I undertook this role to bridge the time between finishing my traineeship and commencing work in St Helena (which was a five - six month recruitment process).I coordinated and oversaw the delivery of a series of Futures Events in the School of Law. These events were based around different career themes and were delivered by alumni of the School of Law. The events were open to all law students – undergraduate and post-graduate. My duties included:-Consulting PGT student representatives in order to plan and deliver enhanced employability support for the law PGT community.Ensuring that the employability presence of the Law School was as effective and userfriendly as possible.Developing Law School Employability webpages and Employability Social Media.Delivering employability enhancing sessions in conjuncture with College of Social Sciences Employability Officer.Conducting research on recruiters

Peden and Patrick was a small but busy, general practice, city centre law firm.During my traineeship I had a great deal of client contact and contact with other law firms.My traineeship did not have fixed seats and so each day I carried out work across a range of legal areas, which allowed me to learn to quickly shift focus from one area of the law and topic to another. The areas I practiced were:-Commercial Conveyancing Dispute Resolution FamilyLegal research Litigation Remortgaging Wills and Executries

Using Trial Director suite of programs to display electronic evidence on screens (EPE) to all parties (chairman, witnesses and counsel) during the inquiry.Using Trial Director to manipulate electronic evidence at the behest of counsel. Typically this involved moving documents around on screen; placing markers on images; enlarging & highlighting certain passages within a document and placing documents within virtual folders.Liaising with counsel and staff to ensure the smooth running of proceedings.Updating the database with additional documents as provided by the team.'Screen Capturing' marked up documents at the request of counsel and chairman then converting them to PDF with suitable filenames for the team.Maintaining the database and document log (backing up the case information to an external hard drive at the end of each day).

Advertising properties and preparing leasing agreements, ensuring timely payment of rent and negotiating lease renewals.Keeping up to date with changes in tenancy regulations and licensing.Arranging for gas, fire safety and electrical checks.Arranging and supervising contractors for maintenance and improvements.Obtaining Local Authority Planning Permission and Building Warrants.Coordinating and overseeing all aspects of internal building renovations.

Chairing Management Committee meetings in the Chairman's abscence and in the Chairman's presence assisting to conduct Management Committee meetings.Ensuring parties remained respectfull at all times when discussing issues so that all parties would feel valued and confident to offer ideas.Asking appropriate questions to clarify points and promote dialogue when issues where raised.Working closely with others to ensure acheivement of the organisation's goals and adherance to its values.Carrying out legal, social and cultural research for the organisation.Developing clear goals for the organisation and prioritising activites.Planning functions and fundraising events.Drafting applications for governmental and non-governmental grants.Heading various sub-committees.

Asking appropriate questions to clarify points and promote dialogue when issues where raised so as ensure the organisation's purposes were advanced.Working closely with others to ensure acheivement of the organisation's goals and adherance to its values. Carrying out legal, social and cultural research for the organisation.Assisting to develop clear goals for the organisation.Planning functions and fundraising events.Drafting applications for governmental and non-governmental grants.

This role was initially a one month summer placement after my third year of university. Due to my good performance, the duration was extended. The firm then agreed to continue my employment giving me the required time off to attend fourth year classes and exams.My main duties consisted of:-Performing legal research and preparing reports.Summarizing legal documents.Checking legal forms for accuracy.Drafting correspondence to other law firms and to clients.Drafting contracts, standard securities, trust instruments, separation agreements, legal pleadings and motions.Organising and tracking files.Managing marketing of residential properties.General typing work.Answering telephone calls and emails.

Receiving calls, emails and letters from members of the public regarding various problems they were experiencing.Identifing the issues at the heart of the problems, then researching the human rights issued involved. Writing to the person concerned, explaining clearly and concisely their legal standing and the remedies available to them.Keeping up to date with developments in human rights cases and legislation at all times.