Vacation Scheme Student Review
by Herbert Smith Freehills
This review was submitted over 4 years ago, so some of the information it contains may no longer be relevant.
Rating
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About You
4.4
-
The Company
4.6
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Everything Else
3.8
- 1. To what extent did you enjoy the insight?
- 2. To what extent did you feel valued during your time at the company or firm?
- 3. How much guidance/support did you receive during the insight?
- 4. To what extent did/will the skills you developed, and information you received, assist you in your degree studies and beyond?
- 5. How well structured was the insight?
- 6. How was the general atmosphere during your insight?
- 7. In terms of personal training and development, to what extent did the company or firm invest in you?
- 8. To what extent did the insight help you to understand what it would be like to have a full time role with the company or firm?
- 9. How much did the insight help you in understanding the company culture?
- 10. How valuable was the content in helping you to decide on your future career path?
- 11. Were you paid or reimbursed adequately for this experience?
- 12. Were there opportunities for networking and meeting other employees of the company or firm?
- 13. How were the networking/ social event opportunities?
- 14. Did you find out about activities that employees can get involved in outside of work?
- 15. Would you recommend this insight to a friend?
About You
Absolutely fantastic experience. So many positives and very few negatives. A lot of time and effort has clearly gone into making the vacation scheme a great experience.
Although I think this depends very much on your supervisor, I was lucky enough to be given two supervisors who treated me as if I was already a trainee. Also my trainee buddies were excellent too, making sure all my questions were answered. Throughout all of the events put on by the firm, I always felt as if I was part of the team.
A huge amount of guidance given by supervisors, explaining each task thoroughly and its context. Additionally in one department I was provided with a huge ring binder that had everything you needed to know regarding the practice area, very useful to refer to.
Lots of presentations on the different subject areas which will definitely help in my future career. Also the tasks I was given were definitely tasks that a trainee is likely to have to do so very helpful in this respect.
The Company
Extremely well structured as there was almost one formal talk/presentation (with breakfast or lunch) per day which broke the days up and also a good amount of socials. At some firms they try and take you out almost every day which is too much. HSF really got the right balance.
Despite any preconceptions you may have about a firm of this calibre, HSF honestly has a very open and friendly culture. Almost everyone I met was happy to chat and go for coffee (including the partners!). Partners also made an effort to actually speak to me and introduce themselves, which is more than I can say for other firms. I know that law firms plug their "open and friendly" cultures and often this isn't true, but I can honestly say that HSF has exactly this.
Excellent training with regards to presentations and also a brilliant negotiation workshop (un-assessed) which included a free book.
As said previously, I honestly felt as if I was treated as a trainee, with the same benefits given to vac scheme students, including the opportunity to apply for an international vacation scheme to experience one of the HSF offices abroad.
See other comments.
Everything Else
£350 a week, tax deductible.
So many opportunities - there were always fee earners at all of the socials.
See above.
Pro Bono activity and plenty of information available re other activities
YES!
Details
Insight / Vacation Scheme (< 4 Weeks)
Legal/Law
London
July 2016
