Intern Review

I thoroughly enjoyed the week! The talks that were given were very interesting, the people I met and spoke to were lovely, and you could tell the graduate recruitment team had really tried to make it as similar as possible to the non-Covid internship. I only have it 8 stars rather than 10 because it was virtual and I obviously would have enjoyed it more if we were able to all meet in person and have that first week in London together.

Very valued! Even though we were on a zoom call with 100+ people the graduates recruitment team, in particular [This section of the comment has been removed by a member of the RateMyPlacement Team because it did not meet our site terms and conditions] always tried to have little interactions with us individually. Then with the partner talks there was always time at the end for us to ask questions and they really engaged with us and gave us great answers. The trainees that provided the drop in sessions were also lovely and really helpful when it came to helping us with our presentation. [This section of the comment has been removed by a member of the RateMyPlacement Team because it did not meet our site terms and conditions] who conducted my interview was particularly lovely.

We were always given great support and guidance. Graduate recruitment were there to help us every step of the way and always on hand - for example when we had technical issues accessing zoom for our presentation. They made it clear that if we had any questions we could approach them with anything we needed. They went above and beyond to be supportive and explained the process very well at every point. The partners were also very supportive in our office specific talks.

The graduate recruitment made sure that we had interesting activities every day whilst also making sure that we had sufficient breaks throughout the day so we were not overwhelmed. Once we were given our group presentation work we always had something to be getting on with so that kept us busy when the day’s activities were finished with. I only gave it 9 stars rather than 10 as at one point we did have a 3 hour zoom call which was a little too long.

With it being a virtual internship due to coronavirus I would not say that we were given that much responsibility - which is entirely understandable as we missed out on the two weeks we should have had in the office. However when we were given our group presentation that was completely independent work which is why I give it a 5. From reading about previous DLA internships I know they try to give more responsibility.

I think we all developed Technical skills with zoom (haha) but also skills in socialising and interacting with people over zoom which will undoubtedly be valuable as there is a shift towards home and flexible working. I also believed I developed my presenting skills and gained confidence in presenting to partners which will be valuable for my career. I give 8 rather than a 10 as I believe we would have developed 10/10 skills if we had the in person and office experience.

It was such a lovely atmosphere throughout. Everyone that We spoke with and interacted with ranging from other interns, partners, the graduate recruitment team and the CEO was so genuine and lovely. It made us all feel relaxed despite the odd circumstances. Everyone was so down to earth. Also I got on really well with my presentation group, and we really had a laugh on our constant zoom calls when sorting out our presentation work.

It really was seamless. As I have previously mentioned you could really tell that the graduate recruitment put so much effort into making the internship as enjoyable as possible and as similar to what we should have had were it not for COVID. There were minimal technical difficulties which is surprising as they had to organise zoom calls with 100* people. The only thing that wasn’t “organised” was that most things overran but it was not a problem.

I only have this a 7 as I believe it was hard for anyone to train and develop whilst being on zoom without having any face to face office time. However I still gave it a 7 despite this as I would still say they “invested” in us. They did try and make an effort to get to know us regardless. Especially in the one on one interview you could tell they wanted to get to know us. The development side was limited to learning about the firm which is still valuable!

I would give this more stars if I could! From all the talks and interaction it really did sell DLA piper to me. The talks about the firm were so interesting and made it evident that the work we would be invoked with would be interesting. From the talks with the people and meeting various partners you could really get a feel of the firm’s culture. Everyone was so genuine and approachable that it made working there so appealing.

This only gets a 7 because we had to interact virtually rather than in person. But they still tried to get us to socialise for example with the trainee quiz on the Monday. I imagine the social scene we would have had if we were all together would have been 10/10 particularly as we were supposed to all be in a hotel in London together. Me and the rest of the Leeds office had a WhatsApp group chat to talk on and I spent so many hours on zoom with my presentation group which was nice.

N/A - virtual internship.

N/A virtual internship.

N/A virtual internship