Vacation Scheme Student Review

I really enjoyed the scheme. I met with many people from different departments in Nabarro and I talked with them about their experience and career in the firm which I found very useful. They were all very outgoing and willing to grab a coffee with me. Additionally, I got my hands on some very interesting tax-related research and because of it I learned a lot about new unfamiliar areas of law such as: the tax consequences of a takeover of a REIT by a non-REIT and many more. The only drawback is that throughout my three weeks in the firm I did not always have work to do and I feel like I could have got even more out of this scheme if I was occupied all of the time.

I felt very valued at Nabarro. People in my department were all very friendly and respected me as if I was a permanent part of their team and not simply a three-week summer scheme student. Furthermore, they all cherished the work I did for them and were pretty satisfied with its quality, sharing it with the rest of the team because it fitted into the work they were doing. So all in all, I felt that even by small bits and pieces I made some contributions to the working process.

We received some of the most extensive training and support that I have ever received compared to my experience in other law firms. In the first few days of the scheme we underwent a very complete training on legal research using databases such as Lexis Nexis, PLC, Westlaw etc. We also had IT training on the firm's IT systems so that we work with ease. Finally, on my first day in the tax department I received a full training by my supervisor (associate) on the main tax laws that the department was working on a daily basis. I felt this was very useful as after it I could most of the times understand what people were talking about and I did not feel lost when I was assigned a task because I already had a solid background on the subject.

I believe that the research, organizational, team working and attention to detail skills will be vastly of great use not only for my studies but also for my future career. Although as a law student I had to work a lot with Westlaw and Lexis Nexis I think that in an environment like that in Nabarro where you have to work with those systems all of the time it is inevitable that you excel and learn how to use them better. Now at the end of my scheme it is easier for me to spot the legal issues and I can definitely make a greater use out of all the unlimited legal resources at hand.

The insight was very well structured. It was a good mix of training, work and social events. The only drawback in my opinion was (as already mentioned above) the fact that I did not always have a lot of work to do. I think that in such circumstances it will be useful if our supervisors give us some of their old pieces of work which we can have a look at and later discuss with them. In this way our time will be spend working on something useful rather than completely wasting it.

The general atmosphere was very nice as most of the people were really friendly and outgoing. The only bad experience that I had was that few people in the firm reacted very inappropriate when they understood that some of us have already signed training contract offers with other City law firms. This made us feel slightly unwelcomed. I believe this could have been handled better because where you decide to start your career is a personal choice which you cannot influence. Additionally, the fact that we have nevertheless come to the scheme and we were equally passionate about the work in the firm means that we should be no less respected than the others. But apart from this slight incident I did not have any issues with the atmosphere, in fact I really enjoyed it and I am of the opinion that people are one of Nabarro's biggest assets.

The company invested a lot of time and resources in my training and development. The first three days of my scheme were entirely devoted on both legal research and IT training in the firm. Nabarro has engaged people from Thomson Reuters and Lexis to come and give us some legal research training during which we had one-hour sessions and then completed various assessments to test our understanding. Furthermore, on my first day in my department my supervisor who is an associate in the firm devoted an hour of her time going through with me over taxes that the department works on such as: SDLT, Corporation Tax, VAT etc.

The insight pretty much helped me understand what will be my full-time role as a trainee solicitor in Nabarro. Because tax is a very technical subject you cannot do the work to its full extent when you are a junior. Therefore, my tasks were small research tasks that fitted within the bigger picture. For example, I once had to research what is the capital allowance position of Property Authorized Investment Funds. The outcome of my research helped the senior associate for whom I did the work to draft a clause for their precedent contract. So my lesson from this work experience was that your work as a trainee although not as significant always feeds in to the end product that is serviced to the clients.

The insight helped me understand a lot about the company's culture because I spent significantly more time in Nabarro than on a simple open day or event at the firm. I could literally observe how people were interacting both on work and non-work related matters which kind of gave me a sense as to what my relationships with my prospective future colleagues will be like.

It was very valuable to spend three weeks in Nabarro because if you do not have such a close contact with the people and the firm it is extremely difficult to make decisions about your future career. All City law firms almost look the same based on their websites and brochures. Thus, it is priceless to go and just check for yourself if the firm is the right fit for you and vice versa.

There were many opportunities for networking such as a scavenger hunt, a karaoke evening, a pub quiz, a partner dinner, a networking event in itself and many more. The good thing was that people from all levels of the firm attended the events such as: trainees, associates, people from graduate recruitment and even partners. What I liked the most was the fact that my whole team invited me out for a lunch on my first week so that we can all get to know each other. It was a very kind gesture and I really appreciated it.

The networking events were very nice, we had quite a lot of fun. It was good that they were all very different so there was no chance you could get bored.

Yes. We had various presentations about Nabarro's CSR and the events that the charities' committee organize such as: Battle of the Bands, bake sales, their support to the charity "Place 2BE" etc. We also had some talks from trainees about the project "Contact Nabarro" and the various sport teams that one could get involved in.

Of course.