First Year Insight Week Review

The week was brilliant! Every workshop had the right balance of listening and interactive activities coupled with very interesting people who led the sessions. The insight gave a real flavour of what it would be like to be a trainee at Hogan Lovells as there was the opportunity to get involved in trainee tasks during the work shadowing sessions.

I felt very welcomed throughout the week from all levels of employees who were all genuinely interested in my background and the reasons why I wanted to be a lawyer and why Hogan Lovells specifically. I was given a trainee mentor who had previously attended my university which was a lovely touch - she was brilliant. During the work shadowing I was able to complete trainee tasks and this highlighted that I was valued as a potential future trainee rather than just an undergraduate student.

Through a series of workshops, like a negotiation workshop and a presentation, I developed valuable teamwork, time management and presenting skills that are necessary for university, being a lawyer and life in general! I did not feel like I was being assessed at every moment therefore it was a very safe environment in which I was able to try different techniques in order to develop me own skills.

At the beginning of the week we were given a schedule for the whole week broken down into the different days. The week structure exactly to schedule which was very impressive and showed that a great deal of planning and thought had been given to each activity. The mornings were skills workshops or talks and then afternoons was work shadowing which meant every day was different.

The atmosphere was not overly competitive or like it was an assessment, something which I thought was very impressive. The general atmosphere was on of real people who work very hard but who are also very approachable. This is something I really liked about Hogan Lovells. The supportive, yet incredibly high performing atmosphere came across in all the trainees to whom I spoke.

There were a lot of workshops which were dedicated to developing certain skills and the people leading them were very engaging and pushed us to improve. This really helped at the beginning as some people were quite shy however they were not forgotten and the leaders got everyone involved in order for us all to improve our skills and understanding of Hogan Lovells.

The afternoon of work shadowing in a different practice area every day was very insightful, it enabled me to ask questions to trainees and often Partners about their practice area and the type of work they do. In addition, I was able to attempt some trainee tasks like drafting and proof reading and reflect on may work with the trainee, this really helped me gain and understanding of a full time role at Hogan Lovells.

Throughout the week there an incredible amount of opportunities to meet different people who work at Hogan Lovells. There was a good mixture of relationships that were arranged for us, for example the trainee mentor and the trainees who we shadowed in the afternoon, and networking opportunities where we were on our own to establish the culture, for example the Partner hosted dinner.

Everything was focused around what it is like to be a lawyer in an international firm in the City, what lawyers actually do and how they fit within the bigger picture of business. I really valued how some parts of the week were focused on being a lawyer and then others were focused on being a lawyer at Hogan Lovells - there was no 'hard-sell' for Hogan Lovells, they just let the experience speak for itself!

The trainees were very keen to tell us about the activities they do through the firm like football tournaments and also activities they do away from the office. I got a real sense that there a strong emphasis on work at Hogan Lovells but that a work-life balance is also valued and supervisors understand the benefits of that.

The week was brilliant - I cannot fault a thing. Spending a week in firm enables you to get answers that cannot be found by generic research online which makes you shine out in future interviews with the firm. It also has the potential to motivate you through your degree.