Life as a GLD legal trainee
Adam Paine is a GLD legal trainee; he is coming to the end of his first year of his 2 year traineeship
Adam Paine
Adam worked as a civil servant for 10 years before deciding to retrain as a government lawyer while he was on secondment to the Department for Transport shipping policy division:
I worked on the controversial Boatmaster’s Licence regime, which replaced a centuries-old system on the Thames… Shortly after that I started working closely with the legal team and became fascinated with the work of government lawyers. After speaking with lawyers about their day to day job I felt inspired to change the direction of my career, and I enrolled in a part-time law degree.
Adam is currently in his second seat working in GLD’s immigration team which is part of the Litigation Group:
It’s a huge responsibility, you’re representing the state so professional standards are absolutely vital. There is a huge work load, so being autonomous and able to manage your own workload is very important, especially as quality must be maintained. For me, it’s shown me what I can achieve under pressure.
Before this, he was working in the Employment Group in an advisory role:
I’ve found it quite incredible working in the Employment Group as a lot of the cases revolve around the Equality Act. It’s fantastic that equality is so deeply embedded into our society.
Speaking about the legal profession as a whole and its varying standards, Adam said:
I’m really impressed with the high standards of legal work we provide within the immigration team. The communication and organisation from senior management are great – GLD is one of the most focused and engaged organisations I’ve worked for in my career in the civil service.
During the 2 years, trainees go through 4 rotations each lasting 6 months, for trainee barristers one of these will be in Chambers. Two of the 4 seats will be contentious seats (usually litigation) and 2 of the seats will be advisory (usually client-based.) After he completes his training, Adam will complete 2 years in litigation followed by 2 years in advisory. This varies from the private sector where a trainee would specialise in one area of law from an early stage in their career. Adam commented:
At GLD expertise in different areas of law is valued…In private practice it’s about applying the law, in the public sector it’s about making it, I mean how incredible is that?
GLD is currently recruiting for trainee solicitors and barristers, you can find out more about the scheme and submit your application online.