Work Experience Student Review

The Taylor Wessing formal work shadowing experience week was thoroughly enjoyable. It presented an excellent opportunity to gain an insight into a London city law firm. The week was supplemented with useful talks, including a CV workshop, and an informational vac scheme and training contract talk. The week finished with presentations on the Taylor Wessing commercial challenge. This added an aspect to the work experience week that I had not expected, but that provided a great opportunity to increase my commercial awareness.

I was made to feel particularly valued by the HR team at Taylor Wessing. The well-structured week made it clear that the work experience students had been anticipated and planned for. While carrying out legal work with supervisors I found that people were keen to find interesting things for me to do, often checking in on me to see that I had work to do, or to offer further work.

During the insight I felt well supported. HR provided each work experience student with an induction booklet filled with information to make sure we knew what we were doing. Guidance from lawyers at Taylor Wessing was excellent, everyone was keen to give me interesting work; however busy they may have been.

As a result of the work I was given by lawyers at Taylor Wessing, I learnt much about takeovers and the associated legal work that goes along with one. I also learnt a lot about the life of a lawyer and the way a law firm works; all excellent information for a prospective lawyer. The CV workshop was particularly helpful, as a result I have dramatically changed my CV.

The insight was particularly well-structured. It was apparent that the HR team had put a lot of effort into formulating a work experience week that would be of the most use to us as future lawyers. We were each provided with a goody bag at the start that contained a timetable and other important information. The inclusion of a networking lunch, a CV workshop and a training contract/vac scheme talk, showed the organisational effort that had been put in.

The general atmosphere was good. I was aware that the lawyers in the department in which I was sat were working long hours due to related deals coming to a close, but despite this, they were still approachable and generally happy individuals. This contributed to an amicable, comfortable environment at Taylor Wessing.

The firm was invested in ensuring that each individual work experience student was able to get the utmost from the experience. This manifested itself, for example, when we were each invited to show our CVs to a recruiter at Taylor Wessing. I took advantage of this opportunity and was able to organise a time to show my CV and to receive some helpful criticisms.

By being sat with a supervisor for the duration of the week, I was able to observe a full time lawyer at work. This obviously helped me to understand to a great extent what a full time role within the firm would consist of. Additionally I was able to meet trainee solicitors who were able to give a more specific account of working at the firm as a trainee.

Although the insight was only a week, I was still able to get a reasonable sense of the company culture. I was able to integrate into the team relatively well and this meant I was able to gain a natural understanding of the company culture. This meant that I did not simply see a rose-tinted view through a training contract brochure, I was able to get a genuine feel for the culture.

As an individual with relatively little legal experience, this insight was invaluable. I was in a position were I was relatively certain that I wanted to be a lawyer, I had paid the deposit for the GDL and I was preparing to enter the world of legal study. However, I lacked real work experience, so this week confirmed that being a lawyer really was what I wanted to do. It also helped me to gauge particular areas of interest within the practice of law.

We were not paid or reimbursed for expenses. This was not a surprise as it was a work experience scheme that we were fortunate enough to experience through personal networks. Taylor Wessing do have; however, an excellent and very cheap canteen that was easy to make use of. This made food expenses negligible for the week.

This opportunity was what one made of it. There was a timetabled networking lunch in which we were able to talk to partners and trainees, but much of the networking occurred while working in a specific department. As the lawyers were welcoming and approachable, it was not difficult to talk to them.

As the insight week was only a week, there were not many opportunities for networking events. There was one networking lunch that was definitely useful. The work experience students themselves were able to organise a Friday evening drinks. Much of the networking opportunities occurred while at work in the specific departments.

I learned that there are an array of outside work activities that Taylor Wessing employees get involved in. This was not just something listed on a brochure with dubious truthfulness. In fact, I was able to talk to lawyers who were actually leaving work slightly early that particular evening in order to play football as part of a law firm football league.

I would thoroughly recommend this insight to a friend. It is an invaluable opportunity to meet real lawyers and to immerse yourself in the day to day workings of a city law firm. Everyone at Taylor Wessing made me feel comfortable and welcomed, whether they were a trainee just a couple of years older that me, or a partner with decades of industry experience.