Summer Intern Review

Amazingly well planned vacation scheme with really insightful presentations and events. Everyone in both the London and Birmingham office made an effort to make us all feel welcome and we really got to get a good idea of what each department entailed. It was great to see the social side of being a solicitor as well as the work side.

All departments made me feel welcome and gave great work to get on with as well as being friendly. Despite only being an intern student and obviously not having the capabilities of trainee solicitors it still felt like the work given was of good quality and added value to the work of my supervisors.

The support from each of the departments and the grad Rec team was brilliant particularly Shalia who was so lovely and answered any questions we had! As everything was so well planned and structured I didn’t need much extra support but I’m general everyone was approachable and wished us the best of luck in every activity.

I think I got to develop skills that will stay with me throughout my degree and future studies on the practicalities of a law firm and its running as a business. Equally the networking development was brilliant and really does help with future experiences, the workshop put on in London was very useful!

This was brilliant, every day was planned and this put everyone’s minds at ease. I enjoyed the morning video conference calls as it got all interns across the world together and meant that our days were structured. Equally having organised social events throughout the internship really helped everyone bond well.

There was a few at atmosphere throughout the internship not only in the offices but also between interns, everyone got on so well it was brilliant. All staff at the offices knew who we were and were lovely and offered great advice. Equally the grad rec team really carried the atmosphere in London and put us at ease.

I think the company invested a lot in us throughout the internship through the many different presentations in London week 1 with development of skills like resilience, public speaking and networking and then taught me real life practical skills in the weeks in the office where we were taught to use the computer systems and improved my drafting and research skills.

I think the insight scheme gave a very realistic and genuine representation of what working full time with the firm would be like, particularly being a trainee as we got to meet many of the trainees in both work and social settings and ask them questions as well as taking part in many meetings and work as we will in the future.

My understanding of the company culture increased rapidly through the vacation scheme from the talks from leading partners in the firm and the company values from seeing it in practice in the offices and the focus on them even as one of my objectives in week one of the internship.

I think the internship gave me really valuable insights that helped me to confirm that being a solicitor is the right career path for me, getting a video conference call from each of the different practice groups in the company as well as getting a deep insight into two of the departments really did help me confirm my previous thoughts.

This was something that surprised me greatly, I was paid very generously for the three weeks and was reimbursed for transport, food and even given a hotel room whilst in London for the first week. This helped me to be able to do the vacation scheme and I was incredibly grateful for the free lunch every day!

There were dozens of opportunities to meet employees from the firm whether that be from the dinner in London in the first week or networking drinks with the trainees to Friday drinks in Birmingham followed by a pizza making session with trainees and dinner with partners as well! Truly so many opportunities, even in the offices everyone was happy to have coffees and chat about their job.

The events themselves ranged in employees we could meet and style, they all had amazing food and drinks which was lovely and the style was quite informal and enjoyable which meant that we could genuinely get to know other employees. I think my favourite was the pizza making as this was fun and bonded everyone there.

Yes, I was told about many of the client secondments and pro bono activities people could get involved such as going to help refugees in Greece with but also social activities that regularly go on outside of work such as after work drinks, solicitor dinners, balls etc. As well as sporting groups like netball that go on.

I would definitely recommend the vacation scheme to friends and to be honest already have. Whether you get the job at the end or not it is an experience that is invaluable in building your skills as an individual and gives great commercial awareness and insight in to how a law firm works.