Trailblazer Review

I really enjoyed the day and felt that I got a good sense of the firm's values and what they would expect from their trainees.

The firm went out of their way to introduce me to the graduate recruitment manager and later on having a mentor for the challenge was an appreciated personal element.

All the questions were answered in depth and again, our mentor (Salome) gave us great guidance but also let us come to our own conclusions.

I will be putting the business on my CV and the fact that our team one will hopefully help with my application to the firm. Having had not much commercial law experience these opportunities are of great use to me.

I would have made the first talk slightly longer, hearing about the firm's interesting clients and future strategy provided a lot of food for thought for the application. The second two talks specifically focusing on the application could have been morphed into one. The business challenge was timed perfectly and the reception was an appropriate way to round things off.

I think the attendees were quite nervous at first but as there was a range of second year to graduates that would make sense and everyone was soon asking very insightful questions. At lunch the trainees were really communicative and seemed genuinely interested in what we were doing. It was a bit more tense during the business game but this was good preparation for the assessments. Finally, the reception went really well, everyone was discussing their background and why they wanted to join the firm.

As it was only a day long, there wasn't much opportunity to help us develop but I felt the firm laid out its expectations of trainees well and how we could demonstrate those skills in our assessment.

Again, we only had a day, maybe a tour of an office would have been interesting but we got to speak to the trainees at lunch and our personal mentor. Plus the two application presentations demonstrated the trainees roles well.

Speaking to the trainees at lunch was really interesting, they all gave us positive but honest reviews on all aspects of the firm.

The day cemented my desire to work at the firm, primarily because I felt I got a really honest idea of the core values that drove it, the mutual respect for all the lawyers and the direction the firm was going to pursue for the future.

We had the option to be reimbursed for travel.

Yes, lunch and the networking after provided ample opportunity where I got to speak to a wide range of employees (partners/recruitment/trainees).

I thought the canapes for the lunch were a good idea to get people to talk to the employees. If anything, probably more poseur tables and an employee stationed at each one with a different background - not to sound mechanical but it useful to get as wide an experience as possible.

Not particularly, our questions were mainly centred around the firm and not what they were doing at the weekend but given that it was an insight day the discussion seemed appropriate. I would have liked to have heard more about the pro-bono opportunities.

Yes, having a full-time job I cannot attend a vacation scheme so insight days like this are invaluable.