Vacation Scheme Review

I really enjoyed pretty much the whole scheme. I felt really welcomed and comfortable throughout my time there, so much so that I felt able to introduce myself to anyone in the firm. People from every step of the ladder from secretaries to partners made me feel welcome and often went out of their way to explain how things worked to me, and give me interesting things to do. It was clear that a lot of thought had been put into the scheme.

I felt valued by everyone I met in the firm. All of the partners and associates who came to give talks on their departments were very encouraging with questions, explaining things clearly and trying to be honest about what working in the firm is like. No one tried to sugarcoat it which made the overall positive impression I got even more full of worth. At business group meetings or client meetings I was introduced and not made to blend into the background which was really uplifting and made me feel a part of the firm already.

I received a fair amount of guidance and support from both my supervisors. Everyone was obviously very busy but always had time to find me more work or explain something to me. In my second week in the Tax department my supervisor often came into my office and took half an hour or more out of his day to explain a business concept to me. My other supervisor in Real Estate sat down with me on many occasions to discuss the way certain aspects of the Real Estate world works. I found these explanations really useful and they gave me an insight both into the commercial world and the work done at Taylor Wessing.

The world of commercial law is very different to studying it at degree level, mostly because it is much more practical and less centred around theory/traditional book learning. For that reason, I don't think the skills I have picked up will be that useful in my degree. However, the vacation scheme will be extremely useful when I start work (hopefully at Taylor Wessing) as it's given me an insight into the networking skills needed to work in an office, also how diverse the work of solicitor is and, most importantly, how you need to be a good fit for the firm to produce the right work.

I thought the idea of giving us 'seats' worked really well as it gave us a different focus for each week. I also thought the hour long talks on each department each morning added a diversity to every day and also enabled all the vacation schemers to get together before each day, making the experience really cohesive. The after work activities organised by the other trainees made sure we had plenty of opportunities to get to know people in a relaxed environment and made it less of a 'do the work and go home' experience. All in all I thought the insight was very structured.

The atmosphere was brilliant. My vacation scheme group was incredibly friendly, meaning we all got on and this, combined with the general feel of the firm which was open and enthusiastic, meant the whole experience was a really positive one. Even when people had lots of work to do, or the Brexit result had just come through, everyone was smiley and positive, without this feeling fake. I really got the impression that Taylor Wessing handpicks their employees to fit in with the firm's happy, jokey and hard working feel.

Having an appraisal at the end of each week allowed me to see what to improve on and how the firm saw me as a fit, it also showed that the firm was interested in my development. I think there could have been more up front advice, however, as my supervisors were too nice/positive to tell me the small areas that I could improve on or really nit pick me. This wasn't necessarily because they weren't investing in me/other vacation schemers, but rather because they didn't want to be too harsh.

The insight gave me a great feel for the firm and what kind of person they are looking to employ: friendly, enigmatic, hard working and innovative. Finding innovative solutions was a key skill I saw as important to Taylor Wessing, something I wouldn't necessarily have seen if I hadn't done the vacation scheme. This is a value that I feel underpins their whole business strategy so the vacation scheme really helped me learn more about how this was put into practice.

Getting to experience doing some actual Taylor Wessing styled work, combined with going to social events and also focus talks into each department allowed me to gain great insight into the company's culture - seeing how it operates on a day to day working basis, a social basis and how it sees itself. This broad insight into every level of practice was brilliant, at no point did I feel TW was holding back, the vacation schemers were very much brought into every level of the company's practice which was great. Everyone I met was very different in their interests but all were the same level of friendly, engaging, helpful and clever.

The two week long scheme gave me great insight into this particular type of firm (large and silver circle) with a big focus on what makes TW different from other firms (it's really friendly culture and high academic focus) which was fantastic as it allowed me to see if this model of firm is for me (it is). The focus, then, wasn't just on what sort of work a lawyer does but what sort of work a TW lawyer does: the conclusion being that it is more specialised and centred around the tech industry/emerging companies/longstanding TW clients. Every talk displayed this which gave them all a common theme and allowed for the vacation schemers to think about TW as a whole concept. I also got to try a department that I wouldn't normally pick, such as Tax, which was really informative and showed me not to be at all close minded. I was also surprisingly intrigued by the talks run by the Corporate and Finance departments, which is not something I thought I'd be interested in.

I was paid adequately.

There were two drinks evenings especially for the vacation schemers at the beginning and then the end, which many partners, associates and trainees attended. I was really pleasantly surprised that partners made a big effort to attend these. There were also two trainee-run social events in the two weeks which allowed us to ask any key questions we had in a relaxed environment with people more akin to our peers. One of the best experiences for me was the values lunch where we discussed with partners what each value meant to them within the firm, this allowed us to really get to know partners and chat to them about their work. I really found this useful as I was working in the Tax and Incentives department at the time and spoke to Rob Young (one of the partners) who explained the more academic theory/rationale underlying Tax law is i.e. not just being about 'getting people off the hook' but also making Tax law intelligible to normal people (e.g. clients) and explaining the best way to approach tax for their company/entity/net worth.

Having an activity to do, such as cocktail making, while socialising made the conversation flow very easily for everyone and added a cohesive element to the experience - we all had a task to get on with and comment on, providing a spark for the conversation. It was the same with the ping pong evening. The only thing I would say was it would be good to have some food/nibbles at the same time as drinks as we ended up drinking for a couple of hours on an empty stomach at the cocktail making class (because we'd just come from work) and by the time we ate we were very hungry! Otherwise, the events were really enjoyable and I appreciated being able to ask the trainees specific questions about their experience away from the office - thank you to everyone who helped to organise them!

I didn't actually find out that much in terms of clubs or activities, apart from seeing that the Real Estate team go away year to a partner's ski chalet, which sounds amazing. I was told in my original interview that there has been some introductory rowing classes. Mostly, though, not finding out about the extra curricular things was my own fault as I didn't really ask, being to occupied learning about everything else. It does seem like a lot of employees have a good work/life balance, however, which is something that really attracts me to the firm.

I would 100% recommend anyone with an interest in TW (or even law) to do the vacation scheme, it was so interesting, fun and completely changed my perception of what life at a corporate law firm is like. Everyone I met at the firm went out of their way to make sure I and all the other vacation schemers were getting the most out of the experience; from the partners making a special effort to attend the drinks events and values lunch, to the trainees spending their free time organising the out-of-work social events, to the members of graduate recruitment who carefully organised the whole scheme so it fitted together seamlessly, to the secretaries who always stopped by my office to check I had everything I needed and helped me solve my computer issue. Everyone was very enigmatic, intelligent and friendly. Thank you all very much!