Digby Brown

Overview

Digby Brown is Scotland’s largest specialist personal injury firm, operating from seven offices across Scotland and focused on litigating for injured individuals. The firm is consistently top-ranked in the leading legal directories for personal injury and has a long heritage ('over 110 years') of specialising in serious injury, brain and spinal injury, asbestos/industrial disease and clinical negligence work. Distinctive features include specialist departments for specific injury types, an in-house no win, no fee funding vehicle (Compensate) that supports full litigation, a firm-wide training academy (Digby Brown Academy) and a strong record of regional community engagement and matched local fundraising.

• Headquarters: Glasgow, 2 West Regent Street
• Lawyers: 300+ (more than 300 members of staff across seven offices)
• Offices: 7
• Languages spoken: English, Română, Polski

Values & Culture

Practice Areas

• Personal Injury & Clinical Negligence
• Dispute Resolution & Litigation
• Insurance & Reinsurance
• Healthcare & Life Sciences
• Transport & Logistics
• Public Law

Geographic Focus: A Scotland-focused personal injury specialist with seven local offices (Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Kirkcaldy, Inverness, Aberdeen and Ayr) delivering local access to solicitors while litigating nationally. The firm positions itself as the market leader for personal injury in Scotland, combining local office presence with central specialist teams and a national litigation capability supported by its funding vehicle and digital case management platform.

Training Contract

Two-year Graduate Law Traineeship. Trainees are based in one office and work within a single personal injury department for the duration of the traineeship rather than rotating through multiple different seats. Trainees receive early client contact and hold their own caseloads. Training includes an in-house accredited PEAT 2 programme, Legal Education Programme (LEP) monthly sessions, an Advocacy Skills programme (a week-long course for trainees plus a one-day refresher), TCPD and mandatory ethics training. Supervisors (Partners or Associates) provide one-to-one support.

• Qualification Rate: 86% (retention rate in 2025)

Seat Options

• Personal Injury & Clinical Negligence
• Serious & Fatal Claims
• Road Traffic Accidents
• Work Related Accidents
• Accidents Abroad
• Asbestos & Industrial disease
• Clinical Negligence
• Cycling & Motorcycle injury teams

Mentorship

Each trainee is allocated a named supervisor (usually a Partner or Associate) who provides one-to-one guidance. The firm also uses open-plan, team-based offices where trainees sit alongside senior colleagues and benefit from day-to-day informal mentoring and frequent LEP and Digby Brown Academy events.

Apply on the Digby Brown website →

Programmes & Schemes

Notable Matters

What Digby Brown Looks For

Key Competencies

• Passion for personal injury law
• Client care and empathy
• Commercial awareness
• Attention to detail
• Teamwork and collaboration
• Resilience and tenacity (litigation focus)
• Strong communication skills
• Motivation to litigate and see cases through to settlement or court

Evidence Signals

• Relevant personal injury work experience (work experience, summer placements)
• Experience or interest in litigation/advocacy
• Volunteer/charity involvement or community engagement
• Demonstrable client-facing experience
• Contextualised achievements (RARE) showing outperformance in difficult circumstances
• Language skills (Română/Polski) or evidence of client-support skills

Benefits & Wellbeing

• Competitive salary
• 25 days annual leave (increasing with service) plus 7 public holidays
• Working hours Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm with 1 hour for lunch
• Hybrid working - locally agreed with teams doing either 2 or 3 days in the office (after probationary period)
• Contributory pension scheme (employee 3.5% / employer 5.5%)
• Life insurance – 4x basic salary
• Healthcare cash plan (cash back on physio, dental and optical)
• Free flu vouchers
• Season ticket loans and Bike2Work scheme
• Discretionary firm bonus scheme
• Values recognition awards
• Training and development via Digby Brown Academy (in-house PEAT 2, LEP sessions, advocacy training)
• Two firm-funded large social events each year (summer at Crieff Hydro and Christmas event in Glasgow or Edinburgh)
• Paid summer internship scheme (Summer Placements)

Wellbeing

Firm 'Supporting Your Well-being' initiative (launched May 2021) with Mental Health Awareness training rolled out firm-wide in partnership with SAMH; annual well-being calendar, webinars on mental health, autism and menopause awareness and financial wellbeing webinars; employee assistance/wellbeing resources.

Awards & Recognition

• Top-ranked for Personal Injury in Chambers & Partners (consistently for many years)
• Top-ranked in The Legal 500 (consistently for many years)
• Scottish Legal Awards - Firm of the Year (2022)
• Scottish Legal Awards - Litigation Team of the Year (2021, 2023, 2024)
• Scottish Legal Awards - Community Contribution Award (multiple years, including 2023)
• Personal Injury Awards - Catastrophic Injury Team of the Year (2020)
• Law Awards - Law Firm of the Year (2016)
• Investors in People – Platinum accreditation (first achieved 2016 and maintained; awarded fourth consecutive Platinum accreditation in 2025)
• Sunday Times Best Places to Work 2025 (Big category)
• Business Insider – named Scotland’s Number One SME (2015)

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Contextual recruitment via RARE to support social mobility (from January 2025); Living Wage accreditation; Investors in People Platinum accreditation maintained; firm matches local office charity fundraising totals.

• Contextualised Recruitment with RARE (introduced January 2025)
• Supporting Your Well-being initiative (launched May 2021) in partnership with SAMH
• Living Wage employer accreditation (Living Wage Foundation)
• Investors in People Platinum accreditation and continuing people-focused development
• Payroll Giving (Gold Award) and dress-down fundraising activities
• Local office 'Charity of the Year' partnerships (each office selects and champions a local charity annually, firm matches funds raised)

Pro Bono

Active staff volunteering and community engagement programmes; firm organises and supports a range of community events (Head Injury Information Days, Spinal Injuries Scotland activities day, Cerebral Palsy Scotland conference) and enables volunteering visits by Digby Brown volunteers. Payroll Giving and matched local fundraising are significant features of the CSR approach.

Innovation

The firm invests in a central digital case management platform and encourages solicitors and technology teams to co-design innovations. Training in case software is mandatory from day one and the Digby Brown Academy provides structured learning for legal tech and practical systems. The firm promotes in-house delivery of much training to tailor tools and processes to personal injury litigation workflows.

• Proprietary/firm digital case management platform (in use for over 18 months at time of pages)
• Digby Brown Academy (includes case software training)
• Co-design of technology between solicitors and technology staff
• Guidance on the Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) in applications/assessments

Quick Application Angles

• Emphasise commitment to personal injury litigation: reference the firm’s specialist departments, PEAT 2 in‑house training and the Digby Brown Academy to show you understand their focus on litigation and specialist technical training.
• Demonstrate commercial sense and client care: use examples of managing sensitive client relationships and describe how you would support clients through difficult processes (the firm stresses early client contact and client-centred service).
• If applicable, highlight contextual strengths and resilience: the firm uses RARE for contextual recruitment so briefly explain any contextual factors or evidence of academic outperformance under adversity.
• Mention community and CSR engagement: reference local charity partnerships or volunteering (e.g., Head Injury Information Days, local office charity work) to show cultural alignment with the firm’s community focus.
• If you have language skills (Romanian or Polish) or experience with welfare/benefits advice, call these out — the firm operates multilingual pages and a welfare rights team supporting serious injury clients.