SCOTTISH law firm Thorntons has recruited its biggest ever intake of trainees.

The firm, which was established more than 160 years ago, has hired 17 graduates who will be based across its offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow, St Andrews, Perth, Angus, and its home city of Dundee.

The graduates, who start this month, are Beth Simpson, Donald Thomson, Frankie Cusack, Gary McPhail, Georgia McNaughton, Ian Sargison, Jennifer Harris, Kirsty Barron, Lauren Pirouet, Lauren White, Lucy Hennessy, Maria Akunna, Megan Watt, Naomi Henderson, Paige McGee, Ross Faulds and Wiktoria Wisniewska.

Thorntons said the first of the graduates’ four rotations in their two-year traineeship begin on Monday. Ultimately, the trainees will receive training across all areas of the full-service firm, from employment, corporate, family, and intellectual property law to immigration, personal injury, private client, and civil and commercial litigation. The two-year traineeship will also seek to boost the individuals’ general business, commercial, and client care skills.

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Thorntons’ chairman Colin Graham said: “We continually strive for strategic growth at Thorntons for our people, our clients, and the firm as a whole. It’s been a particularly exciting period as we’ve announced two new offices this year alone; our new Glasgow premises and most recently, we revealed plans for Inverness.

“Our investment in our people and our pipeline supports our aspirations and continued success, so it is encouraging to welcome our largest intake of trainees as 17 individuals continue their legal career with us.”

New trainee Wiktoria Wisniewska originally joined the firm in the document management services team in December 2019, before transferring to Thorntons’ property team as a conveyancing paralegal two years later. She will take the next step in her legal career when she begins her traineeship.

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Ms Wisniewska said: “I’ve had the privilege of experiencing various roles at Thorntons and I’m excited to learn more from my colleagues as a trainee. It’s such a diverse and inspiring firm, and a traineeship is a brilliant way to work with different departments and better understand your desired specialism.”

Thorntons has 71 partners and employs more than 550 people across 14 Scottish offices.