Summer Vacation Scheme Student Review

Really enjoyed it. A lot of time was spent in departments which meant that I received great exposure to the kind of work that I would be doing if I was to work here. There were also a good number of socials to enable students to interact with employees to get a better feel for the firm in a relaxed environment. Furthermore, the regular feedback and reflection sessions helped me develop over my two weeks.

Very much so. One of the main reasons for this is because I completed a task for a trainee and not only was I given the context, my trainee buddy showed me the work that I completed in a document being sent to the client before it was sent, so that was incredibly rewarding.

When I had any questions, I was never afraid to ask simply because of the way that my supervisors carried themselves. My supervisors were always willing to help and happy to answer questions. Furthermore, I was never given a task without any explanation or the details of what is actually required of me.

I can't say that the skills I have developed would have helped in my degree. However, what I can say is that the skills I have developed will definitely be helpful when I do start work. Skills such as becoming more emotionally savvy, learning of when is a good time to ask questions, what questions to ask when you receive work. The information I have received was definitely very helpful in that I understand to a greater extent what RPC does as a firm and why I would like to work at the firm.

The insight was incredibly structured. I received relevant documents many weeks before the scheme started and was promptly reminded of any information that I was required to bring along. The socials were well planned generally and the schedule was always clear. I also feel that RPC knows what the vacation scheme is for. This has also been reflected throughout the firm in that the employees understand that we are here to gather experience and to do work that we may be faced with in the future, so the employees were always willing to enhance our exposure to their work.

The atmosphere was great. The open plan office is really such a great idea. Instead of having independent rooms, I was able to walk past people and judge whether they were occupied or not without first disturbing them with a knock. I was also able to just turn around and have a friendly conversation if I wanted a break from the work. The people are extremely friendly and welcoming of questions and will always do their best to find something for me to do if I was for some reason not busy.

One could tell that a lot of investments were made for us. The amount of time we could spend with partners, legal directors, associates, senior associates and trainees was fantastic. Understandably, the more senior one becomes, the busier they become, but notwithstanding this partners would be willing to make space to talk to vac schemers like myself.

This was very clear. I knew what the trainees were doing and sometimes wherever possible I was doing work that trainees would be doing, this is part of the reason why the RPC summer scheme was so great.

Immersing oneself in two weeks in a firm's culture is the best way to experience it and to say that one has not would be a lie.

Very helpful since essentially I was given a snapshot of what life would be like at the firm.

I was paid.

There were many. Speed networking sessions, Networking lunches, the list goes on.

Good. The speednetworking sessions were particularly useful. Although, the networking lunch was more difficult because it is difficult to balance the food and walking around talking to different people!

This was less advertised.

Yes I would, but I would also let them know that it's not goign to be easy.