My final journey through law school

Sarah Beattie is a Diploma student at the University of Dundee, having previously completed her accelerated LLB in Scots law at the University of Dundee. Sarah will be graduating in June 2017.

It wasn’t so long ago that I was writing my last blog for the Law Society of Scotland during my first semester of the DPLP at the University of Dundee. Writing a blog this time around now feels like both a huge relief and a big achievement at the same time. I must confess that I am happy to be finished the last part of my journey through law school and look forward to starting a traineeship.

The second semester was less class time but I would suggest just as much hard work as the first semester. The second semester of the DPLP was very enjoyable as I was able to pick certain subjects that I was very interested in. The choices of advanced advocacy, advanced private client and family law I do not regret. I do feel that I missed out on other subjects that I was also interested in but for logical and timely reasons I had to pick only three. I also undertook a core financial module and finished off conveyancing module for semester one.

The advanced advocacy module was a combination of civil and criminal tutorials, weekly recordings and advocacy exercises in class. I built up a good knowledge of civil and criminal procedure as well as participating in court-based tasks. I really enjoyed this aspect, although at times daunting, it allowed me to develop both theoretical knowledge but also put this knowledge in to practice through recordings each week of the court-based skills we had learned in tutorials.

The advanced private client module was also another positive aspect of the course and built on the core module from semester 1 which enabled me to understand the law in more detail in regards to wills, trust and winding up an estate.

My favourite module, probably due to my background, was family law. Having worked previously with challenging and vulnerable young people and families, I was interested in the law applying to children and families. This module covered topics such as cohabitation, divorce and the procedures and processes that may happen if a family action was to end in court action.

Having completed the Diploma, I am now looking forward to starting my next chapter in the legal sector, securing a traineeship.