legal intern Review

I enjoyed most of the tasks that I was given to do in terms of research, query answering, taking part in phone calls, shadowing opportunities as well going to client meetings and the mini-secondment that was organised for me, but some of the administrative tasks were slightly boring however the experience overall was quite nice

my colleagues are a very nice team, I got to know most of them very well and I believe I have worked with each of them on at least one task which is very impressive. they were very inclusive and made me feel that the work I was doing was valued and important.

unfortunately my manager travels quite a lot and was not very present during my internship and I do not feel that I was given considerable amounts of guidance by him. however individual members of my team and even people from different teams, have taken time to talk through task, give me advice on work but also career paths.

at the start of the internship, the workload was very light and I felt like I was not helping much around my team. but as bonds of trust in my work ethic and my experience grew people felt more comfortable giving me longer pieces of work to do and my workload is now at a good amount so that I am kept busy for most of the day.

due to the nature of our work, my work had to be reviewed by the person who had set me the task which is quite normal. but on several research tasks, I was given carte blanche on where to find answer to queries and on the ways through which I wanted to present my findings.

I have learned so much in terms of researching tools, drafting responses, writing key pieces of documents, how to look at regulations and helpful commentary but also in terms of career paths and the next step which is for me applying to training contracts I have received lots of advice

everyone in the office is lovely but due to being a legal department everyone is quite busy. so the atmosphere can be described as very focused, people will be chatty outside of office hours and during lunch but will prioritise their workload during office hours over socialising, which is understandable.

this is nothing to do with my team, but I felt like information was not very well passed on to scholars. there are contradictions about procedures and this was not communicated to me or my line manager. the emails are frequent but they don't give much day-to-day explanation of how things should run.

I feel that there were opportunities but I was not made aware of a lot of them due to a lack of communication therefore I would like to say that personally I do not feel like the company has invested in me. I enjoyed the introduction at the start of the internship but it ends there.

after my mini-secondment with a private practice firm and also speaking to many of my colleagues it is clear that private practice would be a better environment for me to complete my training due to the strong infrastructure and the range of options which is offered, I do believe that Lloyds is a lovely company to work for, just not for me at this place in my career

I thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere between the scholars and the interns, I think living together meant that we could share our experiences and day to day and not miss home too much as most of us were hours away from our families. I think I have made some strong connections which will help me socially and professionally.

I think Edinburgh being a capital and the fringe being through the month of august, it wasn't very cheap but for the things that there was around to see it was good value for money. I think there was plenty to see and do which is why the prices for food and drink was slightly elevated.

nightlife was good, I would even say there was too much choice which sometimes made it hard to choose and get everyone involved. I think there is such a good variety and combination of pubs, clubs and bars to satisfy everyone's interest but also for people to discover something new.

I started going to the gym with some other scholars which I thought was a great way to get involved, being with Lloyds meant that the membership was cheaper as well. so I would count this as a good opportunity for the scholars to do activities outside of work together, and should be advertised more.