LPC Student Review

This placement offered me an invaluable opportunity to work alongside professionals that have reputations in their areas of practice that are second to none. In the corporate and restructuring departments where i sat, i was exposed to wide breadth of work each department handles and my opinions on matters that came up was always heard, which made me feel like i was actually making a positive difference. This, for me, is what made the scheme so enjoyable and fulfilling.

From the moment I arrived for the induction in London, all the staff (from the receptionist to the members of Graduate recruitment) were very helpful and open to answer any questions I had. This same attitude was also evident during my time in Corporate and Restructuring, with the department heads and trainees all willing to provide help whenever I needed it. This attitude gave me assurance that DLA Piper not only tried to ensure i was comfortable and happy, but that i was in a position to give my best to everything i would do during my time at the firm. I am happy to say that DLA Piper's efforts to make my feel valued paid off because at this moment, i have accepted a Training contract offer with them for 2019.

The guidance and support I received was more than enough and looking back, I am so happy the DLA Piper lawyers were so eager to help us, as much as possible, to attain success during the scheme. A notable example I wish to raise in this regard is my preparations for the Pro Bono and Client Pitch assessment. While preparing for those assessments, I was humbled by just how helpful everyone was and the extent of the answers they gave to questions i asked them regarding parts of the assessment i did not understand. This is just one prominent example of the guidance and support i received during the scheme.

Having just completed the LPC MSc, I felt that the rigour of the course made the vacation scheme a lot more enjoyable than it would have been because many of the concepts we came across would only have been appreciated by someone who has already gone through the course. For instance, during my time in Corporate, I attended a conference call where a DLA Piper lawyer, acting on behalf of a buyer was discussing the scope of a number of warranties and indemnities with counsel for the seller in an M&A negotiation. Having just done an M&A elective during the LPC, i was able to follow the discussion from the beginning to the end, which was very satisfying. Going forward, I believe the scheme not only reinforced my time management skills, but it also prepared me to be adaptable because as i experienced, work could show up on your desk without warning and you would have to do it.

The Scheme was adequately structured and easy to follow. I was never in the position where i did not now what to do or was in a state of confusion because everything was unequivocal. We had Vacation Scheme guides that laid out exactly what we would be doing every day for the entire scheme and whenever there was a change of sorts, Dominique, Petra or Katie were very quick to let the Schemers know of any changes we needed to take note of.

The Scheme was an awe inspiring place for me to be in. As the only Zambian international student at this year's vacation scheme, it was surreal to be surrounded by some of the best young legal minds in the UK. But despite this, I did not feel intimidated in any way because everyone was very friendly and open. I owe a great debt to the amazing people i met on the Scheme. It was a very high pressure environment for me because so much rode on me getting the training contract. Had it not been for the schemers display of kindness and support for me, i might not have been in the mental state to do my best. Thank you to all the vac schemers of 2017! I could not have made it without you,

During the induction week for example, the firm held a lot of training sessions for us, as well as various interactive activities and the assessments. These activities not only forced us to work with our fellow peers as one cohesive unit, it also allowed us to develop new analytical skills to formulate solutions to the issues that needed addressing in the assessments, which dealt with subject matter few of us had not encountered before.

My time at the firm only gave me a small glimpse of what it would be like to work full time. For instance, the amount of work we were given was limited due to the short space of time we had in each department and we were able to leave the office at consistent times during the scheme, which is unlikely to be the case when I become a trainee. I am yet to experience having to stay at the office until the early hours of the next day finalising an M&A deal or the IPO of a company on the London Stock Exchange.

The scheme's activities, socials and meet ups were all instrumental in getting me to learn more about the culture at DLA Piper. Humility, intelligence, open-mindedness and unity are strands that permeate all levels of the firm, from the trainees to the Partners. The open door policy is also a concrete example of that, and is something I took advantage of when I would want to speak to a trainee or a partner about specific issues. DLA Piper,s notion of "One UK, One DLA" is not just something they practice on the commercial landscape, but also within the confines of their offices as well as this was great to see.

After completing the LPC MSc, I was of the view that corporate law is what i wanted to do as a career. Having had the opportunity to do work a corporate lawyer would handle during my time in Corporate, this was work that i enjoyed doing and I found it exciting to apply all the knowledge from the LPC in a real world context. This is one example I can highlight of how the content of the day helped me make a decision on what path my career prospects would take.

I was paid £825 for the three weeks, which i felt was very generous.

The Scheme was replete with opportunities to meet and network with other DLA Piper lawyers. During the induction week for example, there were partner meet and greets, partner talks and of course, there was one night we all went out to L'Amina for a networking dinner. This was a good night for me that reaped rewards because I got to talk with [This section of the comment has been removed by a member of the RateMyPlacement Team because it did not meet our site terms and conditions] for a good period of time. What was more rewarding was when he messaged me to congratulate me for being awarded the training contract on the day I got the news. I could not have been more proud. When i got to Birmingham for the last two weeks, there was another partner meet and greet, lunch dates with the trainees and on the last day of our scheme, we made pizza together, which was really fun.

The networking and social events were very worthwhile events that I enjoyed. It was very exciting to engage with the partners in a non formal setting an just have conversations about other subject matter that did not revolve around warranties and indemnities, or the ability of a bank to enforce its fixed charge against a borrower. I found that i was able to talk about common interests with the partners like football for example, in vivid detail and actually make jokes together about it. This got me to not only see another side of them, but it also served as an inspiration to me for the kind of person i want to be, when I, one day, will be having such conversations with vacation scheme students as a DLA Piper partner.

Many of the trainees I spoke to talked about DLA Piper having a football team that plays other law firms. There was one trainee in particular who said he was a boxer and another who is into powerlifting. It was interesting to hear the range of sports trainees are engaged in and it was exciting to see how diverse it was. So in this regard, i would say the DLA Piper trainees did a good job in telling us not only of what organised sporting activities are available, but also, their own sporting proclivities as well.

Given how rigorous the process has been for me from the time i submitted my application on the 15th January 2017 to finally being given a training contract offer on the 14th July 2017, I feel like a changed man, with a new lease on life and a vision to give back to DLA Piper a hundred fold return for giving me such an invaluable opportunity, especially as an international student. In light of all this, I would definitely recommend this scheme to a friend, especially if they were open to being challenged in ways they have not been challenged before.