Summer Intern Review

From the very start, everyone was invested in you as a placement student. Every piece of information / speaker / task / fun exercise was enjoyable and provided a great insight into the firm and what the people are like. The grad recruitment team were great and it was such a fabulous week!

Right away, I felt valued as an intern. The programme had to be tailored to virtual due to COVID-19 but it ran smoothly, we still got to meet our fellow interns/respective offices and, as much as possible, get involved in the firm. We had many speakers across the week who had so much time to give us and answer as many questions as possible - given how senior they were within the firm this was amazing to see and shows how great the firm are!

Before the week, we were assigned a buddy who is a first year trainee. My buddy and I had a virtual cup of coffee before my placement started and she was able to answer any silly questions I had and conveyed how much she loves her traineeship and the firm. During the week, grad recruitment were amazing and available via phone / email if needed. Then, throughout our group project we not only had our buddies and grad recruitment, there were also “trainee drop in sessions” who we could zoom with to get group project specific advice. It was great!

The information received has solidified my desire to work with a firm like DLA. We were given a great insight into not only the firm, it’s structure, it’s sectors and some clients, we were also given a great insight into the legal industry as a whole. These skills are invaluable and I will be taking them back to uni next year and beyond !

Before the programme, we received a brochure in the post which set out the timings for the week. The team stuck to this as much as possible (some sessions did overrun but only for the benefit of the interns as we had so many questions!) and the way in which the team adapted the structure to online only was seamless.

Everyone was friendly, from trainee, to grad recruitment, to managing partners! As much as possible everyone tried to put any nerves at ease and get to know the interns on a more personal level, which is difficult at best when done via zoom calls! There was never any negativity and I came away from each day having thoroughly enjoyed it and looking forward to the next.

This was difficult as the programme had to be adapted to be online. However, in terms of development and training we had our group projects and a lot of help in doing these which has bettered my ability to take in a load of reading in a short amount of time, work (virtually) with fellow interns and develop my innovative / creative mindset in coming up with great solutions to problems faced!

We were lucky to hear from a variety of people from across the firm and because of this, I feel fully informed as to what life as a trainee and beyond would be within DLA Piper. One specific session we had was one of the trainees giving us a “day in the life of” and answering any questions. The information received was fabulous and hearing her perspective really sold the firm!

What came across immediately is that DLA Piper really do live and breathe their values (collaborative, supportive, bold & exceptional). This was mentioned by a number of speakers and it was clear that this was their choice to mention and not scripted! DLA Piper really did come across as an exceptional firm.

Given that I've always wanted to pursue a career in a corporate, global firm, the content simply further solidified my desire to pursue this type of career. As we heard from such a variety of speakers from all over the business, it showed how diverse and large DLA Piper actually are and there’s so many potential career paths to take within the firm!

It was originally supposed to be 3 weeks but due to COVID-19 we were changed to one week, so got one week’s pay. During the time we should have spent in London, the firm would have put on dinners and paid for these. Therefore, on the Monday and Friday we were sent a Just Eat gift voucher to enjoy dinner on the firm to replicate what would have happened in London! I wasn’t expecting it at all so it was a lovely surprise.

There were loads of opportunities to meet (virtually) with a vast amount of people from across the firm. Every day we got to meet more people and heard from the global ceo, uk managing partner, partners from specific firms, trainees and when split into office specific groups, got to meet our potential future colleagues!

Normally, the networking/socials would be in real life and much better. However, given the COVID-19 circumstances, the firm really tried their best! We had a quiz night on the first night with trainees and then at the end of the week we were encouraged to have lunch via zoom with our group project team members!

When we were split into office specific groups, we were told about the activities our office do! There’s a dedicated person per office to co-ordinate socials and charities. My specific office have monthly drinks, do charity events, have a running club, cinema trips and much more! Firm-wide there’s different groups you can join too!

100%. Even though I partook from my family home and didn’t get the full office experience, I had such a great week! I was sad when it ended and really look forward to (hopefully) being lucky enough to gain a traineeship with the firm! I highly recommend this internship to anyone!