Vacation Scheme Review

I enjoyed the insight, the people were friendly and the people were happy to get vacation schemers involved. The second week I was there was the week of Brexit so work slowed considerably but people were consistently nice.

As a vacation schemer I couldn't contribute too much but they repeatedly praised us for getting so far. The absence of a final stage interview made us feel more valued as well.

I was paired with really nice trainee buddies who made themselves available and were happy to go through their work and answer questions and help during the two weeks. My supervisors were also friendly and helpful.

It didn't help with my degree studies but it was useful in terms of developing my understanding of the law and my interest in pursuing a career in the industry.

It was very well organised and structured, with a good balance of talks, work, and social events.

It was largely positive. The second week, being that of Brexit, was considerably slower and the atmosphere was down, but that's more subject to timing rather than anything else.

I felt that on this scheme, more than others, they made an effort to give us training sessions to develop our long term skills, as well as talks on the company and its future. We had a interactive session on branding which I found to be helpful to my personal development. Other than that there wasn't much else.

I gained a true and realistic insight into what working as a solicitor at Simmons and Simmons would be like. I got a good insight into the culture, met many people, and worked on trainee tasks. Spending time with trainees gave a good insight into what a full time role with the firm would be like.

Without spending time at a firm it's hard to know the company culture well. I found Simmons and Simmons to be really friendly and hard working and enjoyed the experience. Being there for two weeks was important because I got to meet many people from different levels of the firm, and see two departments which had different cultures as well.

I had already decided on my future career path in commercial law, but the scheme gave me another positive experience to add to my decision on my future career path. The scheme was a good insight into the career and the day to day life of the work of a lawyer.

They paid £300 a week for two weeks. I live in London and only have travel expenses and was happy with the amount I was paid for the time I was there. People who live outside of London may have found that they were less satisfied but overall no-one had complaints.

There were evening events to network and meet employees at the firm, including going to bounce and a darts bar. There was also a speed dating networking event to meet people from different departments, as well as a lunch and dinners. Overall there were a lot of opportunities to meet people at the firm across different levels.

The networking and social event opportunities were very good. We had various different evening events, went for drinks and dinners on multiple occasions. We also went to the London eye one evening, which was also enjoyable. At most social event there was an opportunity to network in a relaxed and fun atmosphere.

I did not find out too much about activities that employees can get involved in outside of work. They had optional events including softball and hockey matches and various sports activities and clubs were mentioned but nobody was that enthusiastic. I did not come across many people who were overly active in outside work activities but the options are there.

I would recommend the insight to a friend. Overall people were friendly and there were many opportunities to learn. Employees were open to going for coffee or lunch to discuss their work and answer questions. Reimbursement for the scheme was good and evening events were good opportunities to have fun and network.