Our culture is your story - Dalip Singh

I have found it so easy to work with people at AG in general, but the support and encouragement I have had helping to set up our network has been particularly incredible.

My older brother was the first person to introduce me to AG. I was at university during the time he was initially researching law firms for placements, and he helped me understand the variety of firms in the market. He eventually joined a different firm, and I secured my training contract at AG, but fortunately having dinner at our granny’s house is not a conflict of interest for either of us (we checked).

I am now over a year into my traineeship and I have enjoyed every moment so far. Each seat has been vastly different and has helped me develop in a variety of ways. One of my biggest takeaways so far has been gaining valuable insight into the real-life business scenarios involved in day-to-day legal work. Aspects of this work feel natural to me as I grew up in a family of business owners. On my mum’s side, our family members owned and operated a chain of newsagents, and my father started his own catering business when I was young, building a business up in front of my eyes.

These entrepreneurial family members were an incredible example to my brother and I. Growing up we were surrounded by people who showed us what hard work looked like through their actions, they set a great standard that we wanted to follow.

In my family we try to take the initiative whenever we can, so when I joined AG and saw that there was not a faith network for the prominent religions found in South Asia, I immediately asked to create one. 

Despite being a brand-new trainee, AG were extremely receptive to the idea and within weeks we had launched our network. Soon after we then hosted an event at our Edinburgh office for the festival of Vaisakhi, which is a very important time for Sikhs.

The event had a great turnout and of course I asked my dad to do the catering. The office had different Indian style teas, sweets, samosas and haggis pakoras (yes, you read that correctly), it was a brilliant day.

The support I received to host the event and the eventual great turnout is testament to the supportive environment AG fosters, and it was special to experience this first hand.

To celebrate Diwali this year, members of our network placed sweets in the UK offices, marking the occasion for colleagues across the business. I spent the day at work before heading off to be with my family at our place of worship for food, fireworks and everything we love about Diwali.

I have found it so easy to work with people at AG in general, but the support and encouragement I have had helping to set up our network has been particularly incredible. I am new to the business and yet I have been made to feel like it belongs to me as much as it does to anyone else. It is a huge testament to the firm’s culture, or should I say, to our culture.