Choosing my Destination

I was working at the time looking after elderly people and a client of mine, his granddaughter was a lawyer I was always interested in the field and she allowed me to come and work with her. I then went on to do my degree in law that year and finished it this year. Without her giving me that opportunity to see the law in action and see that it doesn’t matter where you come from or what you’ve done before society needs different types of people to be their representation. 

Extra Curricular & Work Experience

In 3rd year at Stirling high I was involved in drama I worked on some of the school shows. This helped me because being in court is all about telling the story of your client and being able to be confident in speaking to people you don’t know. Being involved in the drama department helped me a lot with that. I was also a Young Carer when I was in school and did a lot of work to make sure carers got the support they needed. Even in high school settings this gave me my foundations in being an advocate for others.

Skills I've developed

I have developed lots of skills since completing my law degree and even more so now being on the board of a national company with over 200 volunteers working for it up and down the UK. I have to communicate effectively with my staff and my fellow board members to ensure we do everything that needs done, I also need to communicate with my clients that law is very difficult to understand so being able to relay the legal jargon in lay terms is something I’ve become very good at. 

Also my thinking skills sometimes when representing someone the other parties may do something that causes you to have to think on your feet in the moment to make sure your client gets the best outcome for their case. Also thinking about ways to improve the Community Interest Company I work for to make sure we are helping as many people as we possibly can.

Another skill I have developed is my ability to collaborate with others especially in my work within the National Community Law Project CIC. I have to make sure that all the different departments are working together to get that end result for the client sometimes that means doing extra work for your colleagues if they are unwell or have too much to do. Collaborative working has become one of the skills I’m most proud of in my work. 

My Advice

My advice to my younger self would be no matter what happens, the struggles we are going through, the obstacles that are thrown at us just to remember we are all destined to do great things and you don’t have to have it all figured out being in S1-3. There are going to be so many moments of uncertainty of which path to take but you just need to keep going that’s the best way to keep those moments of uncertainty only moments, to be kind to yourself and find something you love to do and go do that.