Spring Vacation Scheme Review

I thoroughly enjoyed the two weeks that I spent at Stephenson Harwood. I was able to get involved with a wide variety of work and the lawyers that I met were very welcoming. I would recommend this placement to any law student that is looking for quality work in an international commercial law firm.

Stephenson Harwood are very good at involving the vacation scheme students in real work and this does make you feel like you are part of the firm. The lawyers at Stephenson Harwood show an interest in you as an individual and always ask questions about your education and previous work experience.

Graduate Recruitment gave a very helpful talk at the beginning of the two weeks, which included lots of useful information about what to expect and how to make the most of the vacation scheme. In terms of the work, my experience was that the lawyers were always willing to talk through more complex parts of different tasks.

It was an invaluable experience, which gave me a great insight into the role of a trainee at a successful international commercial law firm. I gained a greater understanding of what tasks trainees would regularly do in both corporate and litigation departments. Furthermore, the feedback from supervisors on different pieces of work was always thorough and helpful.

The vacation scheme, on the whole, was structured very well. Graduate Recruitment included practice area talks throughout the two weeks, which gave me a great insight into particularly niche areas of law that I had not considered. I also enjoyed the socials with current trainees. The initial training session for becoming familiar with the IT System was also very helpful.

The atmosphere was positive. As previously mentioned, the lawyers were all willing to talk and approachable, no matter how busy they were. I did not feel uncomfortable at any point during the week. The friendly nature of the lawyers at Stephenson Harwood meant that the whole experience was positive.

The firm placed a heavy emphasis on departmental and practice area talks. It was clear that they wanted to provide insight into every area of the law firm. Furthermore, the skills session run by the Graduate Recruitment team was very useful when it came to preparing for the assessment day.

The vacation scheme gave a deep insight into the role of a trainee. I was working on tasks alongside trainees and there was no attempt made by the firm to 'pull wool over my eyes'. All trainees were willing to talk about their journey to gaining the training contract and what they liked and disliked about the firm.

The culture of Stephenson Harwood is something that I had read a lot about before applying. The firm seems to be known as a friendly and welcoming firm, although most firms sell themselves in this way nowadays. By completing the vacation scheme I was able to witness this positive, welcoming working environment and completely agree with what I had initially read. The vacation scheme allowed me to understand the company culture through a variety of different ways, such as by talking to current lawyers at the firm and also when attending talks about the firm.

It was an invaluable experience. It confirmed my desire to work at Stephenson Harwood and, more generally, as an international commercial lawyer.

The pay is competitive.

As previously mentioned, the talks allowed vacation scheme students to meet lawyers from across all the different practice areas at Stephenson Harwood.

The social events were good and enjoyable, however I do think that the trainee socials were not well attended by trainees. I would also suggest that the firm perhaps focusses on including one more social event during the first week of the scheme. I know that other firms do have around three social/networking events each week on similar schemes.

There was an initial talk on the first day, in which Graduate Recruitment spoke about the opportunities for Stephenson Harwood lawyers to take part in activities outside of work. Perhaps there could have been a separate pro-bono talk or an activities talk instead of including this information in one big talk at the beginning of the week.

As previously stated, this vacation scheme was an invaluable experience into the life of a trainee at a successful international commercial law firm. I would recommend this experience to any law student that has a desire to work on varied, complex work of an international work. It not only allows you to meet interesting lawyers and learn more about the firm, but it gives you good experience of the type of work that you would likely be doing if you were a trainee at the firm.