Vacation Scheme Review

Really well organised scheme in which we got an amazing insight into the company.

The firm made it very clear that not only were they interviewing us but we were also seeing whether we liked them as a firm. They made us feel like they wanted to invest in us and that we could work in the firm in the future.

Not only did we have a trainee buddee and a supervisor, but everyone from trainees up to partners made us feel welcome and offered support and advice when we needed. The recruitment team in particular were great at keeping in contact and offering support.

great, useful skills workshops.

Very well organised with events throughout the week.

Amazing, everyone working at the firm was so friendly, the other vac schemers were lovely and the atmosphere was very welcoming

The firm offered excellent sessions on training and development. I particularly enjoyed the workshop on creating your own brand but we were also given an insight into how to sue the library and online facilities. Although that wasn't so useful at the time, if felt like we were being trained towards a long term goal which made us feel more valuable.

Enable us to talk with partners, associates and trainees who all gave up their time to answer any question we had about working with the company. We were not given fake work but asked to do actual useful tasks that trainees would otherwise do, this provided a great insight into the type of work that would be expected of us.

Really well, two weeks was enough time to understand how the company worked. The friendly atmosphere was apparent from the start and the fact that partners gave up their time to answer questions and attend workshop epitomised the approachable culture and got rid of those ideas of strict heirachy without loosing admiration and respect for the partners.

We were given a good insight into most of the departments. I thought the live case study was a really good idea as i would otherwise not have seen Simmons' litigation department. During my days I worked alongside lots of different people reading lots of different agreements which gave me a great understanding of the variety of work one department can do.

The pay for the two weeks was really helpful in that it covered my travel expenses and food but also gave me some extra pocket money. All the social events were free to attend, including the London eye and a delicious meal. I felt that it was adequate pay.

There were many opportunities. We had a few formal question sessions, some with trainees and others with partners from a variety of departments. Partners, associates and trainees also attended the social events which enabled us to network and meet other employees out of the more formal work environment.

The networking and social event opportunities were lots of fun and really helpful in enabling us to meet Simmons' employees outside of the more formal work environment. All expenses were covered at these events, including pizza and nibbles at Pong and the darts bar. My favourite was the champagne reception on the London eye followed by a delicious meal out.

Yes, we were given a lot of information about opportunities and activities outside of work. I attended the Battersea legal aid centre which was a great experience and I was informed about lots of sports opportunities. Whilst we were at the firm, there were many lunch time talks, such as a ted talk, which seemed like another good way to get the most out of the experience.

Yes I would definitely recommend the vacation scheme to anyone else looking to experience the working culture and life at a successful commercial law firm. It gave me an amazing insight into what law firms do on a day to day basis and provided me with a much better practical perspective. I am lucky to have received a training contract out of it but even if I hadn't I would have really appreciated the experience.