Vacation scheme Review

The Simmons & Simmons vacation scheme was an enjoyable experience and provided an opportunity for me to meet people across the firm, both lawyers and non-lawyers. I was involved with both legal and business development tasks and really enjoyed both seats. The scheme was also jam packed with talks from lawyers across various departments, a negotiation exercise and social events, including a trip to the London Eye!

I sat in two departments during the Simmons & Simmons vacation scheme. My first seat was in corporate and in particular mergers & acquisitions, and my second seat was in capital markets in particular structured products. I was made to feel valued in both seats. I was always given a thank you in person or via email for my work and was made to feel my contribution was valued.

I was given the right amount of guidance and support during the scheme; I was given enough responsibility to make me feel intellectually challenged, but did not feel alone as both my supervisor, trainee buddy and the lawyer who set me the task, if different to my supervisor or trainee buddy, was available. I felt comfortable asking questions and in fact, was encouraged to do so.

I was fortunate enough to have been given some trainee level tasks during the vacation scheme, in particular I was given a due diligence report during my corporate mergers & acquisitions seat, which is a typical trainee task. Being involved with such tasks not only provided an insight into what the training contract would involve, but developed my knowledge of the practice area and skills required.

The vacation scheme was very well structured, with a good balance of legal work, networking events, presentations, socials and other activities, including a negotiation exercise. The only small piece of feedback I was give is that the second week felt more jam packed with activities and socials than the first week, which affected the amount of work I could get involved with in my second seat.

The general atmosphere during the Simmons & Simmons vacation scheme was collaborative and fun. The lawyers at the firm are clearly hard working and I could definitely see the high-performance culture. But at the same time, they know how to play hard too; the lawyers took every opportunity to invite me along to socials outside of the scheme too.

I think it is different to comment on personal training and development for only a two week scheme. But I what I can definitely say is that Simmons & Simmons organised a great bunch of talks and presentations from lawyers across the firm which helped my understanding of the different practice areas. They also mentioned a trainee skills academy which is offered to new trainees.

The vacation scheme absolutely helped me understand what it would be like to work at Simmons & Simmons full time as a trainee and beyond. The scheme is a great way to understand and appreciate the type of work on offer and meet the people that work at the firm. Without it, I feel I would have been taking a huge risk.

The Simmons & Simmons vacation scheme really helped me understand the company culture. It quickly became apparent that the people of the firm really do live up to their reputation of a high-performance but friendly culture. The people that work at the firm are very friendly, collaborative and supportive people.

I was involved with both legal and non-legal (Business development) tasks which was great and helped confirm that this practising law in the City is what I want to do. The trainee level tasks I was given in particular helped confirm that this is exactly what I want to do and speaking to senior lawyers further down the line, reminded me to always think about the bigger picture.

The Simmons & Simmons vacation scheme provided ample opportunity to network and meet other employees across the firm, both during formal social events and ad-hoc events outside of the scheme. I also organised a number of coffees with lawyers across the firm who I had met outside of the scheme / before the scheme and they were all very accommodating even though it was an incredibly busy time during the scheme, particularly in the run-up to the EU referendum.

There were a number of talks and networking events where trainees and lawyers shared what activities and sports teams the firm is involved with. I was also involved in a softball match which was really fun and I got to meet lawyers from a completely different practice area. The team play regularly in the summer and it is a great way to get out of the office and network with lawyers at the firm and at other firms.