Insight Scheme Review

I enjoyed the insight a lot. The company were very generous and we had lots of great speakers from the firm - including managing partners and trainees. In terms of insights into firm culture, I found this a bit harder to glean, but we had 2 panel talks from trainees on the final day which was probably the most useful in getting an insight into the atmosphere.

We didn't do anything in terms of work so I didn't feel like I was doing anything which would be valued. However, they kept stressing how well we had done to get onto the scheme and how they wanted us to apply, which did make me feel valued. Furthermore, all of the speakers thanked us for our questions and said they were insightful.

There was a lot of guidance and support. First, in terms of supporting us in our legal journeys, the scheme was amazing at improving commercial awareness, negotiating skills and understanding of law firms. Secondly, the firm was very financially supportive in terms of providing expenses for travel and food and putting many of us up in a hotel.

I feel like my negotiation and teamwork skills improved a lot as a result of the group tasks - the groups were quite big (21 people) which I had no experience of and found testing in a positive way. I also feel like I learnt a lot about different sectors of a law firm.

It was quite well structures - I felt the team had thought a lot about placement of talks (putting more exciting ones after lunch when there is normally a lull in concentration). I understand why they saved the talks featuring insights into the firm culture until the last day, but I would have appreciated a bit more of it on the first day as I spent the start of the scheme with no deep understanding of the firm.

The atmosphere was great, everyone was buzzing and got along really well, I felt I was surrounded by like minded people. There was also a good amount of breaks to allow us to get to know one another and a fun ice breaker at the start. [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] also did a great job of hyping everyone up at the start and end of the days which really contributed to the fun atmosphere.

They gave us a lot of talks and interactive workshops. The latter were excellent in making sure we learnt and developed in the scheme and I preferred it to other insight events where you are just talked at all day. It was really nice to interact and implement what we were being taught.

We had a lot of talks from trainees so I understand what it would be like to train at the firm, but we had fewer insights from those higher up and mid-rank in the firm, and no networking opportunities to speak to them, which somewhat hindered my insight into working at DLA.

Being in the office for three days as well as having so much contact with trainees gave me a good insight into the kinds of people they hire, which could be extrapolated to their overall culture. We were also told a lot that it was a friendly place. I didn't hear much about other facets of the culture.

It was really quite good - the different sector insights covered what lots of areas would be like, this was really helpful. I would, however, have liked to hear more about the cases that people were working on, how long they were taking, how many hours were spent on them, etc.

They invested a lot. Although it was unpaid, they provided every meal for us (either literally, or by covering expenses) and put those of us who lived out of London up in a hotel. They also reimbursed travel expenses. I cannot stress enough how generous the firm was in ensuring that everyone could attend the scheme and that finances were not a barrier.

There were several networking opportunities with the others on the scheme, HR and trainees, none with associates or partners.

They were good for hearing about what other students were doing to further their legal careers and getting contacts for later life, as well as just making friends and having friendly faces to see around. It was also good to talk to trainees and hear about the GDL/LPC as well as their journeys to getting DLA TC offers.

A bit, there were mentions of firm parties and sports teams as well as the Sandhurst training week at the start of the training contract.

Yes I would, especially a first year or someone who hasn't done any other schemes