Student Review

The majority of candidates and members of the Stephenson Harwood team were friendly and approachable however there were a couple of condescending individuals. The structure of the scheme was generally very good, however a lack of information in areas, such as what the socials would entail and the assessment centre left candidates a little confused.

The majority of candidates and members of the Stephenson Harwood team were friendly and approachable however there were a couple of fee earners encountered who had a condescending demeanour. The work completed on the scheme varied, from conducting research which would be sent to a client to basic filing tasks. Awareness that certain work being completed would have a significant end purpose was rewarding.

The structure of having a trainee buddy and a supervisor worked well, especially sitting with the supervisor enabled any questions to be answered promptly and directly. Having feedback after the end of each seat would have been useful as it would have equipped candidates with the information to continually work on areas that need improvement.

Certain aspects of the work completed on the scheme will assist me in my degree and beyond. For example, research tasks and note taking will be invaluable skills in practice when taking notes at a client meeting or researching an area of law or government policy which may affect a client's business needs.

The scheme was reasonably well structured although there were gaps in information throughout. For example there was no brief of what the assessment day would entail until the morning of the centre. It would have been useful to have received a draft timetable of the scheme before starting in order to better prepare and plan diaries for the two week period.

The majority of candidates and members of the Stephenson Harwood team were approachable and friendly. The atmosphere was, for the majority of the scheme, a comfortable environment to work in, however it would have helped if the social event rather than being on the second last day had been earlier on in the scheme to break the ice between the candidates.

There was very little in the way of formal training. It would have been really useful to instead of the game with tasks on it (although a useful icebreaker), to instead have had a couple of sessions throughout the scheme on developing specific skills such as presentation skills and negotiation skills.

The vacation scheme was useful in gaining an understanding of what future life as a trainee would consist of at the firm through very honest reflections by current and previous trainees. However, it would have been useful to have had a presentation on career progression at the firm and how each level of the fee earner scale differs, and what it entails.

The scheme was very useful in understanding the firm's culture, mainly through meeting colleagues and witnessing how they interact within their respective teams and trainee intakes. However, it would have been useful to have had more of an insight into the corporate social responsibility side of the firm whilst on the scheme.

The content of the scheme was useful as the opportunity to work in two of the firm's practice areas enabled reflection and comparison of different potential seats in which to qualify into in the future. The daily seminars were also very useful in gaining an insight into the practice areas which I was unable to work in during my time on the scheme.

For students the payment for the scheme was to be expected in line with most other vacation schemes. However, expenses, especially in terms of commuting in and paying for lunches was quite expensive, it would have been useful if the firm had contributed to such expenses, as for some candidates their expenses outweighed their earnings, especially if they had to pay for accommodation whilst on the scheme.

The firm included plenty of opportunities to meet with current trainees at the firm. However, it would have been useful to have had different levels of the firm involved to have been able to gain an indication of the culture of the firm as a whole. For example, inviting partners and associates to drinks events.

It would have been beneficial to have had more than one social event each week, especially on the first week to really break the ice as throughout the scheme we only spent an hour a day with the fellow candidates during the daily seminars. The pizza making experience was a great experience.

There was minimal promotion of the firm's co-curricular activities, although there was a brief mention of the sports teams there was no invitation to get involved whilst we were here or any points of contact we could communicate wit for further information of the various sports teams that the firm has.

Yes, I enjoyed the majority of the scheme. If the issues mentioned in this survey were addressed I wouldn't hesitate in recommending it to a friend :)