Vacation Scheme Student Review

Your work was overseen by an assigned supervisor, who would be the first port of call for being assigned new tasks. Vacation scheme students were assessed for a training contract through (though not exclusively by) a piece of assessed work, the format of which was up to the supervisor's discretion, and which therefore could take up anywhere from most of your 'seat' (time spent in each department) to a day or so of work. On a day-to-day basis, you would normally be expected to attend calls being taken by your supervisor or others in your department; common tasks included note-taking, reviewing drafts of legal documents, and legal/commercial research. You would also be expected to attend talks hosted for the vacation scheme students where possible.

I have learned many of the norms of legal drafting and client communication. I have also gained an insight into how court and acquisition proceedings are conducted, which involves a lot of project management and communication skills. There were many opportunities for me to develop the skill of processing large amounts of information quickly and distilling it down into the most important parts. I also developed my presentation skills during an assessed exercise. Additionally, I learned how to use legal databases such as Westlaw to assist with legal research.

Everyone was very friendly and I was presented with countless opportunities to sit down with people to discuss their work and their role in the company. Frequently these would take the form of meetings over coffee, and I was able to ask frank questions about the firm and the person's career development in order to gain a fuller picture. I also gained insight into the firm's billing structure, something which is normally not publicly available, which increased my understanding of how the firm operates as a business. We were assigned 'trainee buddies' to whom we could ask questions about work, as well as questions about life as a trainee at the firm.

Everyone was very welcoming and friendly, even if they were very busy. You always felt like you could ask any question (even if the question had an obvious answer). The cafeteria (which became a coffee shop between mealtimes) served as a location where more informal meetings with members of the firm could occur, including with specific personnel (for professional networking purposes) or the firm's diversity and inclusion network leaders. There seemed to be no pressure to stay late; departments kept in touch to ensure that nobody was disproportionately swamped.

I enjoyed it immensely, and would even say it was the most enjoyable piece of work experience I have ever completed: the type of task and subject matter of the work were extremely varied such that I was never bored, and the welcoming atmosphere and various social opportunities allowed me to develop friendships very quickly. The firm struck the right balance between independence (allowing us to seek out our own work) and structure (requiring us to report to a supervisor for guidance and guaranteeing that we would complete two pieces of assessed work over the scheme).

Yes

Think carefully about the written questions and try to use the word limit as a guide: you needn't use every single allotted word, but if you are struggling to meet it, then perhaps you have picked too shallow an example/idea to elaborate upon. All backgrounds and levels of experience are valued so try to stand out as much as possible. During the assessment centre, be confident, but not so confident that you won't change your approach given new evidence. You are not expected to get everything right, but it is important that you demonstrate curiosity and reasonable thinking.