Becomes trainee solicitor

After completing her diploma, Sturgeon gets a job as a trainee solicitor at the firm McClure Naismith, dealing with litigation, property law and commercial work. She works there for two years and leaves by mutual consent. A partner at McClure Naismith described the circumstances around her departure from the firm:

There was no question of Nicola staying on and I don’t think she was surprised by that decision. She just wasn’t a star, she didn’t show any great ambition to do what we did. Sturgeon was not an unusually energetic or conscientious trainee. It was quite clear even then that her interests didn’t lie in becoming a solicitor or lawyer.