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Legal Eagle Fiona Neilson took to the stage to collect her law diploma from 亚博体育官网 on Wednesday, July 10, at a ceremony at His Majesty鈥檚 Theatre at 10.30am.

Fiona studied her undergraduate LLB Honours at 亚博体育官网 and decided to return to earn her Diploma in Professional Legal Practice 鈥� and after five years she feels like she has come full circle with the university.

The 21-year-old, from Fraserburgh, always liked school and being in education so university just seems like the natural step and she joined 亚博体育官网 when she was just 17.

She said: 鈥溠遣┨逵�官网 had a 98% employment rate so that was the main factor in my decision to apply, along with how modern the campus was. My decision to do the full law degree was based on the wide variety of modules offered by 亚博体育官网.

鈥淚 am very proud of my achievements at university, I went to university when I was only 17 and moved into halls before I could even drive. I鈥檓 really glad that I stuck with the course as I鈥檝e learned so much and met some of my best friends as a direct result of going to university.

鈥淭he day I received my first class honours classification was by far the one of the proudest and most surreal moments of my life. It was such a relief to find out that my hard work had finally paid off!

鈥淚 then went on to study the diploma and one of my favourite aspects of it was that we were taught by qualified and trainee solicitors which meant that we were able to gain an insight as to how things worked in practice and how best to approach sensitive matters like dealing with a persons estate after a person has died.

 鈥淲e heard a lot about our tutors time in practice and received practical tips and advice from them regarding the do鈥檚 and dont鈥檚 of being a trainee solicitor!

Fiona said the course was very practical which meant she got opportunities to role play and undertake a lot of group work such as conducting interviews, negotiations and mock tribunals.

鈥淚n the first term, we got to attend the Sheriff Court and prepare a court report as part of an assessment and I felt this linked well with the visit I had in first year of my undergraduate LLB, it felt like I had come full circle - from feeling daunted at the prospect of sitting in a court room to understanding exactly what was going on and the actual stages of a trial gave me a real sense of accomplishment.

 鈥淎t 亚博体育官网, I鈥檝e learned how to work as part of a team, with people of different ages and backgrounds and learned my own strengths and limits. I think that tutorials in particular taught me that it鈥檚 better to just have a go at something first than say that you鈥檙e stuck or don鈥檛 understand, instead of just accepting that you can鈥檛 do something and giving up straightaway.鈥�

Fiona has secured a traineeship with Ledingham Chalmers LLP in Aberdeen so will start as a Trainee Solicitor in August.

However, law is not her only talent. Fiona also learned how to drive a bus on the days she wasn鈥檛 at 亚博体育官网.

鈥淢y Mum and Dad run a successful coach business, Kineil Coaches Ltd, where I worked during the summers, once I started my diploma I was only in university three days a week so I started learning to drive a bus instead of just helping out in the office.

鈥淥nce my course ended in May, I started driving a bus full time and will do so until I start my traineeship.鈥�