Vacation Scheme Review

The scheme was truly fantastic - I made lifelong friends, was able to participate in insightful and cutting edge work and met some of the brilliant colleagues at the firm. There was a great range of social events, assigned pieces of work and opportunities to meet lawyers in different teams. Assessments over the two weeks were quite non-intrusive.

The firm did a brilliant job of making the vacation scheme participants feel valued, with a great range of socials and I felt graduate recruitment had massive enthusiasm for the scheme. The team I sat with also made me feel welcomed and valued, with various members inviting me to gain an insight into their work, and I was invited to socials within the team.

We had a great range of resources and support available. The presentations at the start of the scheme were a great foundation that enabled me to make the most of my time at the firm. Having a personal contact in the graduate recruitment team meant I felt I had someone I could go to if I needed extra support at any time.

The skills and insight I gained during the scheme will, I believe, prove invaluable over the next few years. Having gained a deeper understanding of the different practise areas and specialisms of the firm, I have been able to make decisions about my career moving forward. Further, I believe I have more of an understanding of the role of a trainee solicitor, which should be invaluable when starting in this role in the future.

The scheme was very well structured. We received a schedule at the start of the scheme. I believe the content of the sessions was great and that the amount of time spent in our teams and in these sessions was ideally balanced. I felt quite busy, but always knew what I had on on each day, and was able therefore to allocate time accordingly.

From my experience, the atmosphere at the firm was brilliant. There was a great energy in the team I was in, the graduate recruitment sessions were done with real enthusiasm, and you got the impression people really looked forward to coming in to work. People seemed to really care about one another also.

We had several sessions explaining key areas such as corporate and finance. There were carried out by market-leading lawyers in these areas, who were able to give us really fantastic information. The firm also put on several skills development sessions, and gave us several tasks to do to hone these skills.

I feel that the scheme gave me a deep understanding of what a full time position as a trainee solicitor would be like at the firm. We were given several pieces of work that aligned with the work of a trainee solicitor, and we spent time with trainees in order to see how they work.

We were given a clear description of the culture of the firm at the start of the scheme, which I found aligned with my experiences in the team I was in. The culture was clear and tangible, and it gave me an insight into how I felt I would fit in at the the firm in the future.

The scheme was a fantastic insight into what a career in commercial law looks like, and from this I've been able to make very informed decisions about my future career. That is one of they strengths of the scheme in my opinion - you really will understand what a career in this area looks like afterwards.

There were a large number of networking sessions which were brilliant in allowing us to speak to lawyers in other teams and find out more about their own practises. This was a great way of ensuring that our insight went beyond just the team we were in, and we were able to gain an impression of other practises at the firm.

We were given talks on various pro bono, charity, sports and social activities employees get involved with at and outside of work. We were also given a tour of the (very nice) gym at the firm. There seemed to be a great variety, and I was even invited to play at a football match at the firm.