Vacation Placement Student Review

I had a really good time on the scheme. The people were great: very welcoming, supportive and keen to get me involved. Further to this, I got the chance to do a variety of high quality work both from people within my team and others approaching me with tasks, but also being given the freedom to approach other departments to ask for work in different departments. Social-wise, there were a few lovely events, and the trainees made us feel very involved and welcome by inviting us to their Friday drinks etc.

I actually did real trainee work and the work that I did was then used to send to clients (albeit amended, of course). I was also given the chance to follow a piece of work through and update it as per client requests, which was great to do work not as a discrete task but to see how this fitted into a much broader context of a deal, and how interactions with the client on a matter progressed around amending documents many times. This made me feel like my work was genuinely being of use and it was not just a case of doing prescribed or old tasks, but I was working on real, live cases. The fact that I got to sit in on a client meeting on day 2 of the scheme was fantastic.

It was very much what I made of it, in that Pinsent Masons stressed to us that everyone was approachable and if we have issues we can approach anyone or ask any question, so I took that literally and asked tonnes of questions. I was never once turned away for asking a "stupid" question even though I know that many I asked were not high level at all. People were always willing to explain or provide further guidance if I got confused, which was great.

I've yet to complete the GDL and LPC so at the moment of writing this review I have yet to put my knowledge and skills gained into practice beyond the placement. However, I am sure this experience will be of great use in the future, enabling me to base legal knowledge on a greater understanding of the processes law firms go through with clients in respect to different matters and deals.

Two weeks in one department with some socials and events planned along the way and an Assessment Centre in the middle of the second week of the scheme. Structure-wise, having the full two weeks based in one department meant that I got a more comprehensive grounding in this area of the law and the tasks that a trainee would do. I think that having the Assessment Day and all of the assessments at once worked very well as it meant that preparation was limited to a few nights after work in the build up rather than constantly being distracted from doing work as I feel internship attenders may be if the assessments were to be spread out.

Worked hard and did real trainee tasks but never felt like I couldn't chat to anyone, even partners, and didn't feel guilty for having a chat with people about totally non-law related topics. Compared to other schemes there were fewer centrally organised socials, but the office invited us along to plenty other events so in actual fact we went to a lot of events out of work hours.

I would say it is more a case of arranging your own personal development and training. You get out of it what you put in - so if you ask questions, you learn, but otherwise supervisors will not necessarily describe everything if you have not made them aware that you do not understand. In the booklet we had the chance to set targets for the scheme, but this was not compulsory. We had to do a presentation but were not really given any guidance as to good presentation skills etc.

The whole two weeks was wholly realistic, both in terms of the work and the way that you are treated. I was doing trainee tasks for a supervisor, as I would be if I were a trainee and was not in any way treated differently.

Fully. I spoke to a huge variety of people across different departments and everyone echoed that the values are adhered to by everyone and that it was truly a friendly and flexible place to work.

Confirmed my interest in law as the tasks were interesting and real life tasks.

Pay was nice, but obviously not large enough to cover all expenses as I had to rent accommodation in Leeds and use public transport to get to the office each day.

Lots, especially in the first week of the scheme. Also, it was very easy to arrange separate meetings with people via email if you wanted to hear more about them - I was never turned down so this was great.

Centrally organised socials tended to be packed at the start and end of the scheme, but when they were on they were great. Good venues, quirky ideas and fun "get to know you" kind of tasks (eg escape rooms).

Yes, I played in a hockey match for the firm during my time on the placement. I also arranged to speak to an Associate who is really involved in CSR and chatted about the opportunities for those kind of roles and activities on a weekly/monthly/annual/one off basis.

Whole heartedly, it is a friendly firm who will give you real work and who genuinely want to give you the best experience that they can.