Vacation Scheme Student Review

I had a great two weeks on the Vacation Scheme at Taylor Wessing. There was a good balance of scheduled talks from each practice area, meaning you gained an insight into a broad variety of practices, but there was still enough time left to complete meaningful work in your department. Everybody, from trainees to partners, were really friendly and welcoming.

You were made to feel really welcome by everybody at the firm. You were assigned a trainee buddy in each department you sat in who introduced you to everybody else in the team. When you met people they always took the time to talk to you about what stage in your legal career you were at, your areas of interest and other hobbies you might have.

The first morning consisted of an introductory talk from the HR team and various other speakers, including the Graduate Recruitment partners and IT teams. This helped set you up for the two weeks as you felt you had all the information you needed. Furthermore, having a trainee buddy and supervisor in each seat meant you were guided throughout the vacation scheme.

I found it really useful and interesting applying the academic knowledge I gained studying law at University to real life scenarios. Furthermore, people always took the time to explain the work they were asking you to complete, so you learnt about a wide range of practice areas and the work they're involved in.

The two week vacation scheme was really well structured. You were given a timetable at the beginning of the two weeks setting out all of the activities for the two weeks. There was a good balance of social events, insight talks and also time to work in your department or on the group presentation.

The atmosphere among the other candidates on the vacation scheme was really good. They are people who I genuinely feel I will stay friends with and it was nice to have people you could chat to about your experiences at the firm. Employees from across the firm were also really friendly and welcoming.

Over the two weeks it would have been difficult for them to invest vast resources in our training and development. Representatives from each practice area came and gave 45 minute long talks. These were really useful as it meant you could gain an insight into areas other than the departments you were sitting in over the two weeks.

I feel I have a really clear idea of what it would be like to work at Taylor Wessing. Employees, in particular the trainees, were always very honest about their experiences at Taylor Wessing. This helped make it clear that people weren't just saying it was a good firm, but honestly felt it was a good place to work.

Being able to see the firm from the inside for two weeks definitely helped me understand the company culture. Sitting in each department meant that you had an insight into the day-to-day runnings of the firm and what went on. This meant that you could observe the company culture playing out in real life.

It has definitely proved to me that I want to work as a corporate lawyer. It gave a good representation of the kind of work you would be involved with, the clients you would be engaged with and the reality of working in a law firm in London. This has really helped me in deciding my future career path.

You are paid £375 a week for the vacation scheme, plus your expenses for the interview were paid for. The social events in the evenings were paid for by the firm and lunch was provided on three or four occasions when there were talks going on over lunchtime. You had to pay for the onsite cafe, but this was heavily subsidised.

There were a range of social events throughout the two weeks. Some of these were off-site just with the trainees. However, others were held in the office, including welcome drinks on the first evening, a lunch on the final day and then end of scheme drinks on the final evening. These were well attended by associates and partners.

There was a good range of social events organised by the trainees. These helped you to socialise in a more informal environment. They were all quite based around going somewhere for a drink, so if you did not drink this might have been problematic. There were enough social events throughout the two weeks without it feeling too intense.

There were only 3 spaces to go to the pro bono legal clinic that the firm partners with. There also wasn't a formal talk on any pro bono work, it was unofficially given by some of the trainees. It would have been good if there had been a talk dedicated to activities outside of work.