Vacation Scheme Review

I really liked the people that worked in Simmons & Simmons. Although they try to avoid the word 'nice' they are genuinely easy to get along with and positive people. The type of work was also interesting, particularly in the banking seat where the department was particularly busy. On the whole it has been a very positive experience and I would definitely recommend it to my friends.

To a fair extent. What I really liked is that when I didn't perform a task so well, one of the partners invited me to his room and talked 15 minutes about the piece of work I did, giving some really valuable and constructive feedback. That made me feel like my presence really mattered and that people wanted me to develop professionally. I really appreciated this.

Support was never turned down when I asked for it, and I got support from a whole range of people from secretarial staff to partners. My trainee buddy in my first seat was extremely supportive and would offer me hints and tips before I even asked. My supervisor was relatively busier but when she asked me to do a piece of work, she would really take the time to explain the commercial background, which enabled me to appreciate why I was doing a particular task.

I was familiar with the general nature of many of the tasks I was asked to do during my vacation scheme since I have completed the LPC, but something that I would definitely take with me is the importance of producing a well-written and well-researched memo, as well as referencing your work carefully and double-checking so that there isn't any wrong or misleading information. The feedback I got pushed me to be more careful and thoughtful about the content of my work.

Generally well-structured, since social events tended to take place after work while firm-oriented panels took place during the day. We were advised to prioritise work our supervisors which gave me the necessary flexibility to skip one or two events when I was too busy. I also liked the fact that there wasn't a final assessment exercise at the end of the vacation scheme- I felt like this enabled me to act more like myself during the two weeks and get to know other people more.

There was, as always, a perceivable sense of competition between different vacation scheme students, but I must admit it was not as fierce as I experienced in my other vacation schemes. Apart from that, the social events really worked to help us mingle and I have one or two friends from the scheme which I know I will keep in touch, which is very nice.

As much as they could in a matter of two weeks. In particular, I liked the personal branding event by Marisa who enabled me to reflect on certain aspects of my performance which I wanted to improve during my vacation scheme. We were made aware of the fact that our attitude was the most important factor, and I found the idea of providing more visibility to your best attributes while still being yourself a very useful advice.

We were always encouraged to leave after 5:30, which was often necessitated by the fact that we had to attend social gatherings after work, but admittedly is not a very accurate representation of what the firm life would be like as a trainee. But it was made clear to us that leaving at 5:30 was not the norm. I guess if there was one thing I could improve about the scheme, it would be to advise students to stay overtime for one night (only) during their vacation scheme in the firm so that they could assess their stamina.

Very much so, and having also had another vacation scheme experience before, I could definitely say I now understand what 'culture' means. For me, it means whether you are comfortable being yourself in the business environment, and this was definitely the case at Simmons & Simmons. It all comes down to how people are nice and approachable.

I thought the pay was quite competitive compared to other vacation scheme salaries in the market.

Yes, and many of them were nice enough to give me their business cards before I left my seat.

Before coming to the firm, I read about the various communities (LGBT, Women's etc) within the firm and it would have been interesting to see what kind of involvement people across the firm have in these communities. Perhaps a little bit more could be done to introduce these communities to the vacation scheme students during the events.

Yes, I think Simmons & Simmons is a really good firm to get to know what culture means and how it impacts the work people are doing. I have already shared with my friends how positive my experience was and some of them might apply for the next cycle of vacation scheme programmes. The fact that there is no formal assessment in the end of the vacation scheme is also good and makes it a more comfortable environment- this is another reason why I would recommend it to my friends.