Neil Aitken - my summer student experience

If you enjoy working hard, meeting people, and learning something new, I encourage anyone to apply for a vacation scheme at Burness Paull.

My name is Neil and I have just graduated with the accelerated LLB in Scots & English Law and will be starting the diploma this coming fall in Glasgow. I was fortunate to be a part of the first intake of the summer 2022 vacation scheme at Burness Paull and thoroughly enjoyed the four weeks - which went by far too quickly! I applied to Burness Paull because I was looking for experience within a commercial law firm and the culture at Burness Paull really appealed to me! I learned over the course of the placement, through professional tasks and socials, that human and high performance is not just a slogan but a definition of the firm’s ethos!

My first two weeks were spent with the Public Law & Regulatory team. Tasks here revolved around various research tasks involving the Third Sector as well as analyzing both national and European government funding agreements. A definite highlight was the opportunity to attend SCVO’s The Gathering at the SECC along with a trainee in the team. The following two weeks I spent working within the Construction and Projects team. Here I was exposed to various documents and completed tasks that included collating contracts and researching sector-specific developments. Both teams were incredibly welcoming, each person very approachable and the team members always had the time to answer any questions and help me progress! It was a great opportunity to develop an understanding of the law learned throughout the LLB and discover the practicalities of working in a commercial law firm.

Another particular highlight was when the summer students had the opportunity to spend an afternoon volunteering at Street Soccer Scotland, which was fantastic to learn about the impact the firm has beyond the legal sector, something very important to me.

It would be difficult to measure how much you can learn within these four weeks except that it truly is an eye-opening and exciting experience with each day offering a new challenge. The best way to get the most out of the vacation scheme is definitely to be yourself, keep an open mind, be eager to learn, and not be afraid to ask questions!

The graduate team was always happy to help and organized events throughout the placement allowing us to engage with different people throughout the firm, including a very informative, engaging, and enjoyable induction day! Overall, it was great to meet students who are in a similar position, with similar ambitions but are all very diverse, a characteristic that the firm as whole shares.

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