Legal Intern Review

I enjoyed the work that I did however my commute made the year difficult. I commuted from Ipswich every day to London. However, my team were supportive and I was able to work from home once a week to reduce the effect of the journey. The placement gave me a real boost to my career.

I felt more valued by some colleagues than others. Some were very appreciative of the work I did for them and made sure to keep my development and progression in mind. Others seemed to give the impression that I was being taken for granted on occasion, and made it more obvious that I was lower than them in the hierarchy.

It seemed that i was expected to know how to complete most tasks without explanation. This wasn't so much of an issue for me as I am a fast learner and able to work things out quickly, however this wouldn't be the same for everyone. More support was given by my manager for the first 6 months of my placement before this was handed over to someone else in the team.

Each week was different and the year felt like a rollercoaster. There wasnt ever a perfect balance. If I was quiet, I was very, very quiet and it made time very slow. However, if I was busy, I was very busy and felt like everyone was pulling me in several directions.

I was given more responsibility by one colleague in particular who saw my potential and adjusted to it. However, to most people I felt like "just an intern" and it was difficult to progress. Towards the end I wasnt particularly concerned about this as I had found the next stage of my career, however before i secured this i was looking for as much opportunity as possible and this wasnt really available.

My placement has been invaluable and assisted me in securing my training contract. I wouldn't have gotten as much out of my experience on a vacation scheme had I not been working at EDF Energy and the skills I have developed can be widely applied to the next stages of my career.

The atmosphere was generally very quiet, people were very much individuals and ran on their own schedule. Working in a team entirely of women was difficult as there was a lot of "two faced"-ness and it felt like you couldn't trust anyone to be a friend. The atmosphere could be tense at times.

This was the first of it's kind in the NNB team and it showed. At the beginning no one really knew what work could be given to the interns and I felt like I wasnt really needed. However this improved over time. What was terrible, and still is, is the lack of communication before you start. The security process is awfully complicated when there is no need for it to be, and there are too many people involved in it. I had no contact from anyone in my team between being offered the job and turning up on my first day.

The only real example of this was my manager allowing me to take two weeks out to complete a vacation scheme without taking annual leave, as it was this that led to me obtaining my training contract which, according to her, was the purpose of offering placements to students and graduates.

Due to the commute I would not consider working for the NNB team. I appreciate the time I had but it has very much come to an end and I am looking forward to a new and different chapter in my career. As far as I am aware there was no opportunity to be part of the team permanently at this stage in my career.

I was very good friends with the other intern and we would socialise, however it was not common for the team to socialise outside of work. At office-wide events there was never a good attendance from the legal team. Everyone was very individual in that sense and kept their social and work lives separate.

I paid £750 a month on train travel and this was still a better option than moving to London. I spent over half my salary on travel and couldn't afford to live anywhere other than with my parents, because I didnt have any money to pay rent or other living costs with.

I didnt experience much of the nightlife scene as my commute was 2 and a half hours, it was never a viable option to go out after work unless I was staying in London (very expensive) or working from home the next day. However, the times I did go out were enjoyable as london is obviously very well connected via the tube network.

As far as I'm aware there were no opportunities like this. In any event I would not have been able to participate due to the length of my commute. My days were on average 14 hours long and taking on anything else would have been extremely counter productive and detracted from my experience.