Student Review

I thoroughly enjoyed the scheme and feel like I learned so much. It was well structured and everyone made a real effort to make us feel welcome and at ease. The only reason I wouldn't give the scheme a higher rating was purely due to the nature of the scheme feeling like a two-week interview which felt like a lot of pressure and meant that the environment didn't feel completely organic. However, that comes with the nature of the scheme so it is hard to prevent that happening.

I felt very valued at the firm, and to a much greater extent that I expected given my limited legal knowledge. As a result I was given a lot of responsibility which I really enjoyed and that meant that I was able to learn a lot in a short space of time.

Having both a supervisor each week of the scheme as well as a trainee buddy meant that I received a large amount of support and guidance on the scheme. I felt comfortable to go to them during my time at the firm to ask questions, either about the work I had been set, or about the firm in general.

The skills I have developed, from how to approach tasks that I feel less comfortable with, to networking in general will help me in my future career, given that I have recently completed my degree. These are valuable skills which I am so grateful I have had the opportunity to learn and develop them.

As mentioned before, I believe one of the greatest qualities of the vacation scheme was how well structured it was. There were many pre-organised events, such as presentations about the firm and its departments, welcome drinks and the opportunity to visit the pro bono clinic that the trainees are involved with. Because there were so many of these sessions and events, it did mean less time was actually spent at my desk experiencing the actual life of a lawyer. Additionally, I feel some of the talks could have been spread out better as on one day we had 4, taking up a large proportion of the day, whereas on other days there were no talks.

The general atmosphere stood out as being one that was very warm and welcoming. All the employees, from the trainees to the associates and partners, were chatty and friendly which contributed to the overall enjoyment of the scheme. It still felt like a very professional atmosphere though, which is a very good thing as the firm, and its employees, obviously take great pride in the quality of their work.

Personal training and development was not completely apparent during the vacation scheme, and I felt this was more left to individuals to work on themselves than getting help from the firm. Regardless of this, I do feel my supervisors and trainee buddies were there to help support this, and encouraged me to get involved which aided my learning and personal development.

The vacation scheme gave me a very good understanding of what it would be like to be a trainee at the firm as I was able to experience, first-hand, the tasks trainees do and was able to ask them questions about their experiences and get their honest opinions. As mentioned, due to the nature of the scheme and the assessment, it felt slightly less natural than it would be actually working for the firm, but that was to be expected.

I was able to gain a very good understanding of the company culture both through experiencing it and through researching about diversity and inclusion as part of the presentation assignment. This meant I was able to speak to large amount of the employees and gain insight into how they view the culture of the firm to gain a wider understanding about it.

Before starting the scheme I already knew that I wanted to become a solicitor due to previous work experience. However, the scheme itself was undoubtedly extremely helpful in consolidating my desire to pursue a career in law, and particularly useful at teaching me that Taylor Wessing is certainly the firm I would love to work at in the future.

The payment for this scheme was definitely adequate for the length of scheme and for the work that we did. I, however, was commuting from outside of London and therefore my travel was very expensive and took up a considerable amount of what I earned. This, I'm sure, is not the norm though so overall I would say the payment for this scheme was the correct amount and a nice incentive for those looking to apply to it!

Yes there were plenty of opportunities for networking. Be that through events organised specifically for the scheme, such as events with the trainees, or welcome drinks, or be that through inviting the vacation schemers to firm-wide social events such as the pride drinks. At these events, everyone was very willing to talk to you making it a lot easier to get to know other members of the firm.

There were two social event opportunities organised for the students of the scheme, one each week. This meant that we were able to socialise with other students of the scheme, and as the events were organised by trainees, we were able to get to know them as well. Both these events were thoroughly enjoyable and they were very different from one another (one was an activity, the other was a sit-down dinner) and was a nice chance to meet everyone outside the working environment. It would have been nice at the dinner to have had one big table, instead of many smaller ones, so we would have been able to talk with more people.

During the induction on the first day we were taught about some of the activities, such as sports teams and choirs, that employees have set up and involved in. However, after this, unless you actively sought out answers to what they get up to outside the firm, these extra-curricular committees weren't openly advertised to us. Perhaps in our vacation scheme booklet there could have been a dedicated page to the out-of-work opportunities that employees could get involved in.

Certainly. I have learnt so much more about what it is like to work in a city firm. When comparing this scheme to others I have completed, it felt much more structured and the culture was one of great friendliness which made it feel much more comfortable. I didn't feel out of place or like I was a convenience to the employees in my department, in fact quite the opposite, and for that I am very grateful and would therefore definitely recommend this vacation scheme to a friend that is interested in pursuing a career in law.