Vacation Scheme Participant Review

Having been one of the select few being offered a vacation scheme with Mayer Brown International LLP, I was very much looking forward to it prior to the scheme. After spending two weeks with the firm, I deeply enjoyed my time there as it provided me with a genuine and insightful exposure into the firm, its work, culture and people.

During my two weeks on the scheme, everyone I spoke with was willing to include me in some of their matters. Not only that, the graduate recruitment team planned various socials that provided my with the opportunity to interact and network with colleagues from different departments, ensuring that I was able to get to know the firm intimately. The amount of effort spent in making us feel part of the firm, albeit for the two short weeks, left a very deep impression of the firm.

I sat across two seats in different departments, construction and finance. In both departments, my supervisors were always approachable whenever I had queries about the work I was doing, or questions about the firm in general. A trainee buddy was also assigned to each vacation scheme participant as a point of contact such that he/she could provide us with a further background into the training contract programme with the firm. Beyond that, all vacation scheme participants were sat in an office with a senior associate or a partner, which made communications very open and casual. This was extremely valuable in providing me the environment where I could talk to senior lawyers directly to provide guidance as to work related matters.

After the vacation scheme, I came to realise that practising law is an entirely different ball game than learning about the law in law school. While our academics were key in providing us with steady fundamentals, the scheme highlighted that beyond intellect, there were various other skills that came into play in practice. The ability to work in teams, and acknowledging that your work product would fit into the bigger picture that involved everyone's efforts was key. Nevertheless, the vacation scheme also provided me with a good idea as to what degree modules might be more relevant for someone wishing to pursue a career in commercial law in the future!

The two week vacation scheme was very well structured as not only did it provide us a glimpse into two departments (we were sat in one department a week), but there were many socials that allowed us the opportunity to interact with other members of the team. To top it all off, we were also brought to the Paris office on our last day to get to know more about how the firm works internationally across offices!

The general atmosphere was very collegiate as we would generally be working within small teams in our practice groups. The professional support lawyers would also invite us to attend training sessions with the trainees or NQs, which highlighted how nurturing the firm was in relation to the training of its junior staff. Overall, I genuinely enjoyed the intimate level of interaction during the vacation scheme.

In Mayer Brown, there is a dedicated team of professional support lawyers that providing training sessions for all levels of staff, especially trainees and NQs. During my time there, the professional support lawyers were always very keen to get us involved in the training sessions, not only to provide us with a glimpse of the amount of personal training and development opportunities available to the firm, but also to provide us with a brief background of the type of work we would be doing as trainees in the future.

Even though it was a short two week vacation scheme, it was a very packed programme which included various activities that provided an insight into how the firm works as a whole. Being stuck in with the work from day one showed the level of expertise Mayer Brown lawyers had, and the amount of responsibility required to ensure the firm was able to provide seamless service to our clients. From being invited to internal meetings, or being sat in on a client conference call, the amount of exposure into a role of a lawyer in Mayer Brown was invaluable.

Before the vacation scheme, I had attended two open days with Mayer Brown. Those open days were effectively one day events with a few presentations by the departments followed by a networking session and a commercial awareness task. While it was a good introduction to the firm, it was too short a time spent to understand the company culture. However, the two weeks vacation scheme definitely showcased the inner workings of the firm. Being able to observe how lawyers interacted with each other, and how partners interacted with their clients, I was able to get an insight into the work culture of the company, something I never would have gotten without participating in the vacation scheme.

Prior to the vacation scheme, I was fairly certain that I wanted to pursue a legal career in the City. The vacation scheme simply entrenched my passion to do so, as it was my first real opportunity to be able to work alongside qualified lawyers on complex commercial deals. It definitely cemented my goal of working as a lawyer in the City.

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There were plenty of opportunities for networking and meeting other employees of Mayer Brown. Apart from the structured socials that were organised for us, we were given the ability to go around the firm during the day and speak to as many lawyers as we wanted. I definitely took advantage of the opportunity to do so as it provided me an incredible amount of insight into the different departments, and even different backgrounds of the lawyers in Mayer Brown.

The networking and social events were fun and exciting, as it provided a platform to interact with lawyers and trainees outside of work.

There were many sporting activities that some of the trainees were involved in, and they had kindly invited us to join them as well. Beyond that, the graduate recruitment team informed us of the various diversity initiatives that the firm invested in that lawyers and trainees could get involved in.

I would absolutely recommend this vacation scheme to a friend. I personally felt that it was one of the best schemes I took part in, and it definitely is a must for anyone looking to apply for a training contract with Mayer Brown!