I Am Gainfully Employed!
Sometimes things happen in my life when I have to sit back and think "why does this happen to me?" Not in a negative way, but a positive way? In the grand scheme of things, I have been so lucky in life. Pretty much everything I have touched has turned to gold. For whatever reason, good things happen to me.
Well I now have a job. Not just any job, but with Scotland's No. 1 law firm, Dundas + Wilson. I met with them at 2.30pm yesterday, and at 9.05am this morning the recruiter called to say that they were offering me a position with them, and for £5,000 more than they initially indicated they would be prepared to offer the role for. I go in and sign a six month fixed term contract (with an option for renewal) at 2pm today.
Dundas & Wilson is a massive firm, and it is in a group called "The Big Four". In Sydney, we have "Top Tier" and in London they have "The Magic Circle". It just means the big firms that deal with all of the big companies. And given that Edinburgh is the UK's financial capital, clients include all of the big investment banks etc. Only this month, Dundas & Wilson was voted as No. 1 firm in the Who's Who Law Firm of the Year Awards 2006!! Anyway, enough of blowing their trumpet (surely there will be enough stuck up lawyers in there to do the job for me)....
So, I've now arrived in Edinburgh, not knowing where life was heading, have been approached by Dundas, and start on 2 May. I was going to come here and see what fate dished me. I didnt even know if I wanted to stay in law...
But here I am, and now I have a week to do nothing... OR a week to do SOMETHING!
Given the salary level which I will be paid, I have decided that I am going to go somewhere in Europe for 5 days. Why not?! I figure I can just whack the holiday and the credit card and pay it off.....
Wow... life is great.
Well I now have a job. Not just any job, but with Scotland's No. 1 law firm, Dundas + Wilson. I met with them at 2.30pm yesterday, and at 9.05am this morning the recruiter called to say that they were offering me a position with them, and for £5,000 more than they initially indicated they would be prepared to offer the role for. I go in and sign a six month fixed term contract (with an option for renewal) at 2pm today.
Dundas & Wilson is a massive firm, and it is in a group called "The Big Four". In Sydney, we have "Top Tier" and in London they have "The Magic Circle". It just means the big firms that deal with all of the big companies. And given that Edinburgh is the UK's financial capital, clients include all of the big investment banks etc. Only this month, Dundas & Wilson was voted as No. 1 firm in the Who's Who Law Firm of the Year Awards 2006!! Anyway, enough of blowing their trumpet (surely there will be enough stuck up lawyers in there to do the job for me)....
So, I've now arrived in Edinburgh, not knowing where life was heading, have been approached by Dundas, and start on 2 May. I was going to come here and see what fate dished me. I didnt even know if I wanted to stay in law...
But here I am, and now I have a week to do nothing... OR a week to do SOMETHING!
Given the salary level which I will be paid, I have decided that I am going to go somewhere in Europe for 5 days. Why not?! I figure I can just whack the holiday and the credit card and pay it off.....
Wow... life is great.
posted by KateOnTheGo at
10:28 PM
9 Comments:
Atta girl Kate! Atta girl!!
Congratulations!!!!!
Wait a minute, you LEFT a job as a lawyer in Sydney, Australia, one of the most beautiful and temperate cities in the world, to go "travelling", only to immediately get ANOTHER job as a lawyer in cold, dark and rainy Edinborough, Scotland? Are you nuts? Wouldn't it have been more interesting to apprentice in a Scotch distillery in the Orkneys, or learn to be a salmon fishing guide in the Shetlands, or something interesting like that? You're just a lawyer again, pushing paper for self-important, egotistical law partners who themselves are merely do the bidding of big corporations and investment banks looking for ways to protect their profits.
A joke:
The pope and a lawyer are on the elevator to heaven. When they arrive at the gates, there's a mad rush of angels, saints, and other holy people on their way to greet them.
When they arrive, they pick the lawyer up on their shoulders and carry him off cheering hysterically. The pope is deeply saddened.
St. Peter sees this and goes over to him and says, "Don't feel bad. We get popes in here all the time, it's not every day we get a lawyer."
Congrats Kate, it's awesome that you've set yourself up with a good job but I'm afraid I (and probably some of your other friends in Sydney) agree with Anon... You've done a 360 and landed in the same predicament as you were in before you left Australia, only this time it's with new friends in a different part of the world.
I thought this overseas adventure was to find yourself without the stress that comes with being in Law.
I thought you were out to challenge yourself in a foreign land and find out how the other half live? What happened to working with the kids in Spain? Meeting your friends at the orphanage?
I hope you haven't lost sight of these things. If they can live on a budget, you shouldn't be afraid to.
I was hoping you'd find something completely different to the thing that made you want to leave us in the first place, maybe something to do with your photography... I guess it's a big Catch 22!!
Good luck either way. Hope the Credit Card doesn't cop too big a beating in Europe!!
Hmm... I desperately want to weigh into this little discussion, but I'm afraid I'm not sure which side I lean towards! There is a very selfish little part of me that agrees with Anon & Shell and wonders why the hell you can't just come back here and practice law with us, where you can watch Bub growing up (so quickly) before your eyes.
But the bigger, less selfish part of me says this is exactly where you want to be. The pressures here were not necessarily work-related and the life experience you are gaining is invaluable and much-needed. I understand completely why you have landed this job and I couldn't be happier for you. I don't know how anyone can budget to live on 5 pound (or $12AUD) an hour for very long!
But money aside, I know you well enough to know that whilst you were running from pressure here, you actually need an element of pressure and structure in your life, you thrive on it. So I understand exactly what you are doing and why you're doing it and I think it's fantastic. You are building on your law career and you will be better for it when you finally come back to us!
In the meantime, take care and enjoy yourself in Sweden!
xxx
Seems the concerns center around whether our Kate is "settling in" too soon, or is she fulfilling her dream of living large, broadening horizons, experiencing experiences never known before? From my perspective seems as tho she is doing exactly both, and to exactly the right degrees? After all, I don't recall ever hearing a deadline attached to the traveling / seeing / experiencing? Me thinks our Kate is young and has all the time in the world IMHO. I, too, think she will end her journeys back in Australia someday - but there's plenty of time for that.
Sorry Kate - didn't mean to speak of you in 3rd person as tho you weren't here, but then again you are off traveling right now, aren't you! (Wink)
i say congrats.
it's defintely what you thought would be good for you then...
i KNOW you'll do great.
btw.. today's my last day at work.. it's only 9:41 am and i've cried... three times.
this is too sad.
CONGRATULATIONS!!!! I am so happy to see everything is working out for you! So you're gonna be a working as a lawyer...guess that's your true calling. Moving to Edinburg is NOT a mistake, in my opinion. This is definitely an experience you will never forget. Neither will you forget all the things you have learned so far nor the ones you have yet to learn.
LIVE, LOVE, LEARN, baby!!!
Congratulations, what a star. It must feel so good to be able to travel half way around the world and just 'pick up' such a good job.
Graham
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