I am a corporate law trainee solicitor at Vialex, a boutique corporate law firm in Edinburgh, and was a student at the Institute of Legal and Constitutional Research during the 2022/23 academic year. I worked my time at the Institute of Legal and Constitutional Research into the seven year process to qualify as a solicitor in Scotland. I knew that I wanted to study law at a postgraduate level but was not keen on learning more ‘black letter law’ as part of an LLM degree.
In this respect the MLitt stood out with its focus on law through the lenses of legal history and international relations. I was fortunate to receive a merit-based scholarship from the Clark Foundation for Legal Education, so jumped at the chance to learn from the best at St Andrews.
My career started to develop during my first term at St Andrews. The head of law at Abertay University (my alma mater where I graduated with an LLB (Hons) in May 2022) was in need of a Teaching Fellow and offered me this post on the proviso I would start teaching the first year LLB students within a few days. I had considered a career in academia, though not this soon after graduating, and was interested in the challenge. This first part-time role was renewed several times during my time at the ILCR. The professors and course leaders at Abertay University were impressed with the legal history focus of my research and teaching, an area which does not have a strong footing across Scottish LLB courses. Teaching law was something that I took to and I was certainly inspired by the pedagogy of the ILCR. I was promoted to a tenured lectureship in law in August 2023 just as I was finalising my MLitt dissertation – which focussed on twentieth century Scottish legal nationalism, devolution and the Cooper-Smith ideology.
After St Andrews I moved to the University of Dundee to complete the Diploma in Professional Legal Practice and began my pivot into the legal profession. At this time, I was offered a part-time legal executive role with the Society of Writers to His Majesty’s Signet (the WS Society), where I was to start my traineeship in September 2024. So, shortly after graduating from St Andrews, I was employed full-time as a lecturer, alongside a day a week as a legal executive and a full-time postgraduate course. It was busy but very rewarding time: and a good introduction to the workload of a corporate lawyer! Upon leaving academia in August 2024, I was appointed a Visiting Lecturer in Law at Abertay University.
The first year of my traineeship was spent at The Signet Library in Edinburgh within the WS Society’s in-house Governance and Charities legal team. I supported the work of a centuries-old institution which forms part of Scotland’s College of Justice and gained great legal practice experience.
I found an ILCR connection within the WS Society through the Keeper of the Signet, (the Society’s principal office holder appointed by the King) Lady Elish Angioloni LT who is also an ILCR Advisory Board member. I was fortunate enough to meet and spend time with Lady Elish on a number of occasions, as well as the Lord President, Lord Justice Clerk and many other leading lawyers working in a variety of fields. This echoed my time spent at the ILCR with leading figures from across legal practice and academia. I received my commission as an Affiliate Writer to the Signet from Lady Elish in November 2024.
I am now approaching qualification as a solicitor. I have spent the second year of my traineeship on secondment to Vialex. I have trained exclusively in the corporate and M&A team, as well supporting banking and commercial property matters. I have enjoyed corporate law and will qualify into this area of legal practice in September 2026.
When I think of the way in which my career has developed I credit much of it to my decision to spend a year out of the ‘traditional’ route to qualification by completing the MLitt at the ILCR. Doing so opened up an opportunity to spend two years working as a legal academic, teaching and publishing early career research, and has enhanced, I think, my abilities to do well in a busy corporate law practice. These roles require an ability to be critical, understand the context within which the law operates and present the law in a clear, understandable manner. The MLitt allowed me to develop these skills and I am pleased to continue my association with the ILCR as a corresponding member.