Vacation Scheme Candidate Review

I absolutely loved my time at RPC. It was an extremely positive experience, a fantastic and authentic insight into the legal profession.

I felt valued by the lawyers and HR team who thought a lot about how we could make the most of our experience. Everyone I met was very kind, interesting and clearly wanted me to learn more about the law and enjoy my time at the firm. It was great to get involved with some really important pieces of work and not menial tasks. My supervisor was really keen to get me involved with projects where I could use my commercial and industry knowledge from my previous work, which made me feel like I could really add value to projects while I was there. It was also nice to be thanked for my work!

The amount of feedback that we got was excellent. We all got one on one meetings with our supervisors twice during our time working at RPC. This is essential on a vacation scheme because it helps you see areas where you can improve not only after the scheme but during your time working within the team too. We also learned about the extensive support and feedback that trainees get on the scheme. RPC is clearly an excellent place to train.

I am currently doing the LPC and a lot of the skills I learned at RPC have been put in place in my studies, especially in litigation, as RPC is a very strong firm for litigation. The people in my teams were always very keen to get me involved in their tasks so I was always busy, which really improved my knowledge overall. I was also taken to a key meeting at Chambers, which was an incredible opportunity. In general, everyone I met tried to get me as much exposure as possible.

The structure of the scheme was really well thought out by the Graduate Recruitment team. We had a great balance of working in our departments, having workshops to learn more about the law and different practices at RPC and great socials! We also had time to interact with all levels of lawyers at the firm, which is very rare in a two week scheme. I was also pleased that we were able to work in two different departments, both in key practices in the firm, which gave us a well rounded view of the firm.

Everyone really enjoyed themselves throughout the scheme and we all felt like we were learning a lot while having fun getting to know everyone at the firm. The other people on the vacation scheme were also really nice, which speaks volumes about the firm because they clearly look for interesting and kind individuals and not just people who are only there to get ahead. We also had some team assessments which were a great idea as we were able to get to know each other better in a professional context.

We had brilliant presentations from partners and associates at the firm where we had opportunities to ask questions about the main practice areas and strengths of RPC. We also had speed-networking with members of the firm which allowed us to ask all of our questions. Most importantly we were doing proper work within our teams while juggling our assessment work and socials, which gave us a true sense of what it is like to be a lawyer and a trainee.

The company culture is one of the best in the city, everyone really enjoys their work and spending time with their team. It is a great place to work. We were invited to the house events at RPC (Reynolds, Porter and Chamberlain), which were a great example of how RPC values their people. There is definitely a good focus on the well-being of employees and a work-hard, play-hard culture.

Yes, we had many networking events. I got a chance to speak to many different levels of lawyers and support staff. I even chatted to the managing partner! It was really nice that the lawyers at the networking events clearly wanted to be there and learn more about us, which made us all feel valued. Our first event at the firm was a treasure hunt round the building where we met a lot of support staff and allowed us to find our way around the firm, which was a brilliant idea!

We had lots of opportunities to join the sport teams and heard how popular the RPC olympics are! We definitely got the sense that the trainees and lawyers did a lot of fun events outside of work and enjoyed socialising within their teams. I felt that this distinguished RPC from a lot of other law firms where there are very few social events and not many friendships continued outside of work.

I would absolutely recommend applying to work or for the vacation scheme at RPC. RPC is a brilliant firm, which really feels like it's going places. It is very forward thinking and genuinely innovative. The work is super interesting, especially for aspiring litigators! I cannot fault the organisation of the scheme. It was a really fun two weeks.