I’m not sure what led me to remember this year, when I haven’t in previous years, but 3rd August marks the thirty-seventh (the “alabaster”) anniversary of me starting my Traineeship; in 1987, for the mathematically challenged! Not a “round number” anniversary, but one that I felt like commenting upon.
I joined the then-venerable firm of Kidstons & Co, which was well over 100 years old at the time (and had a client list that a seven-partner firm, today, would die for!) but has, as is the way of the world, long-since disappeared as an independent firm. My formative years were spent learning from two people who would shape my future in the law.
During my first twelve months, Colin Guthrie (definitely “Mr Guthrie” or, as a short-hand within the firm, “CMG”) took me from a naive and “wet-behind-the-ears” post-graduate to someone who understood the privilege of being a lawyer; of being able to help people resolve problems. He was someone who clearly conveyed his innate sense of honour, integrity and service. He was the quintessential lawyer of his time and a role model who has influenced my entire career.
The second twelve months were under the tutelage of Iain Attack (again, “Mr Attack” but within the firm, definitely not to his face, affectionately known as “Fred”!) who gave me a commercial perspective – not just in advising clients but in running a law firm. He was very much ahead of his time – he realised that lawyers weren’t owed a living, they had to earn it like everyone else and that meant understanding the changing world around us and not sitting behind a desk in an ivory tower.
As I walked through the portals of 16 Gordon Street, all those years ago, I had no idea of what to expect other than, having admitted at my interview to being interested in curling (you’ll agree to anything in an interview for your first “real” job), that I would be learning how to slide heavy stones on ice!
Looking back, now, on those years hasn’t imparted any great realisation of what it was that led me to where I am today. I can’t point to any nexus where a choice determined my future. All I can say is that I have had a fantastic time in the law and loved most of it. I firmly believe that this is, in large part, down to the personalities who helped shape and influence my approach to the law.
There have been so very many other influences on my career: colleagues in the firms where I have spent time; clients who I have come across (particularly those who have “followed” me); lawyers in other firms. However, Colin and Iain were the most influential and formative – I literally spent a year in the company of each of them and tried to soak up as much experience of the practical implications of the legal education that I had spent five years gaining at University.
It was a great honour to be assumed into the partnership in 1992, whilst my two mentors were also still partners. The first partners’ meeting was a nightmare, trying to avoid calling each of them “Mr” but being psychologically unable to use their first names!
I have spent many years, off and on, over the past 25 years tutoring on the post-graduate Diploma. I have always approached that role with the desire, in some small way, to prepare the students to understand what “non-technical” expertise they need to take from the traineeship that will follow. Those fresh out of University will inevitably have a greater knowledge of the technical law on the day that they enter a traineeship than most of the colleagues with whom they will work. What they will lack (as I did, in spades) is an understanding of the practical implications of all that knowledge.
How to think laterally, to assess a set of facts in light of an holistic approach to the law is essential. Often there is only one way to progress a client matter, whatever that may be. What a good lawyer recognises, however, (and can only learn from practical experience) are those client matters that can be looked at and, therefore, resolved, in a way that may not be “usual” or obvious. The law isn’t always about “complex” and “simple” problems, it can be about “difficult” and “easy” ways to deal with an issue.
The need for a practical application of four years of under-graduate and one year of post-graduate education to real-life client issues was the lesson that I learned from my mentors from August 1987 until July 1989 (and, to be fair, beyond). I hope that all those who enter into a career, today, from an academic background have the same calibre of mentors that I did, all those years ago. Learning that this is the approach that is needed is, of course, entirely different from learning where to apply that approach. That is a learning experience that never ends and is what makes, for me, the law such a fulfilling career, even after 37 years.
Finally, however, I do have to say (as is standard practice in books when thanks is given for those who have assisted in its production), that any faults in my career are mine alone and Colin and Iain (and all my other influences) share no responsibility!
