Insight Programme Review

It was a really rewarding and enriching experience. Heading in I was not sure what to expect, but everyone there was extremely friendly and welcoming. The insight programme was a really memorable experience as we had the chance to listen, network and meet a variety of individuals across the firm from senior members to trainees.

I felt like valued during the duration of the insight programme. Each member of the graduate recruitment team was very welcoming and helpful in helping you settle in - especially when they were inside the hotel helping us check-in and the first day as we arrived at the firm in directing us and letting us know where everything was.

Where there was an interactive element in a presentation provided, the speaker would provide prompts and come around tables to talk to us which was helpful. But in fact a lot of the support was within the tables that we were allocated to by fellow students who understood and could help you out.

A really useful workshop was the CV workshop which was presented by the Graduate Recruitment Manager. She gave us some really useful tips. There was also an interactive session organised around 10 trainees which required us to go around different tables to complete the task - I was in the negotiation team which was really fun and rewarding to compete against fellow students.

Extremely, a booklet listing out each event and duration was provided to us first thing at the beginning. It was also for the entire programme which meant there would not be any surprises and you would know exactly when things finished - helpful for planning in advance. Generally timings were followed quite well and no delays.

I think the biggest surprise to me was how interested and invested every student there was. There were breaks in between activities to relax and eat - which created a really warm and relaxed atmosphere; where there were talks - students were all eager to ask questions which were actually quite interesting to listen to the answers to.

We had a variety of speakers come in to talk to us, across different positions in the firm and told us about their normal day-to-day experience. Even with the trainees there were a variety of seats and practice areas which they sat in and they told us about really different experiences which was helpful.

Company culture is an incredibly part of deciding which law firm to apply to, and open days - while useful are not long enough to really understand this. Over the duration of the insight programme you really get to talk to the people working there and when they tell you their individual stories it speaks volumes about the company culture at DLA Piper.

Yes we were provided with accommodation for anyone that was a certain distance away from London which was extremely useful as this is quite expensive and may be difficult to find. We were also reimbursed in terms of travel costs as well as dinner costs which was an unexpected bonus.

Yes we had the opportunity to meet a lot of trainees and in particular future trainees which was really interesting - these were people currently taking the LPC but having secured training contracts with DLA Piper. They gave us some really helpful advice in our applications and were willing to help as they themselves went through something similar.

We had talks about pro bono activities at the firm which is really impressive as DLA Pipers offers a full 6 month seat in pro bono as a trainee. International secondments were also talked about, we had a trainee from Hong Kong and Australia talk to us about their experiences of working abroad in another country which was really helpful.

Absolutely. You really do get a lot of opportunity to talk to the people working there and they were really honest with us. The talks given by speakers were really engaging in particular there was a case where 2 partners from Hong Kong gave a presentation which was really funny and really lifted the atmosphere. As well as many connections made, it really is a worthwhile and memorable experience, I would definitely recommend this programme.