Vacation Schemer Review

During my time at HSF, I spent two weeks in their Disputes department and one week in their Corporate department. My tasks included legal research, proofreading, contract review and document drafting. Alongside my daily tasks, there were usually talks each day given by numerous speakers to give the vacation schemers an insight into the firm. We also had to do a group project, where we had to pitch HSF's legal services to a client.

As a non-Law student, the scheme was a great way to learn more about the work of a lawyer and how to do such things as look up cases, interpret contracts and other legal skills. Besides that, I also developed my presentation skills through the group project and my organisational skills through balancing the various tasks I had to complete each day. All in all, the scheme was a great learning experience and was really useful.

The firm put on numerous presentations regarding the practice areas in which their lawyers specialise, the sectors in which they operate, and the types of clients with whom they work. All of this was really interesting and provided a good overview of the sort of work we could expect to do if we were taken on as trainees. The recruitment team also gave information on how the trainee programme works and what opportunities are available when you are a trainee.

The culture was reasonably relaxed and the people were all very approachable. Obviously, since it is a law firm, everyone was quite busy and had a lot to do, but people still took time out of their day to answer any questions you had or go for a coffee. From what I heard before going on the vacation scheme, HSF has a reputation for having one of the nicer cultures amongst the big City law firms; my experience during the vacation scheme confirmed that impression.

I really enjoyed my time during the vacation scheme. The variety of work on offer meant that the work remained interesting, the presentations always provided some new insight into the firm, and the people were all really nice. The days are certainly quite tiring, since you are meeting lots of new people and trying to grapple with a lot of new information, but overall it was a really positive experience.

Yes

Try to do as much research as you can into the firm before applying. A lot of people do 10+ applications for vacation schemes at law firms, but in my experience it is better to focus on just a couple that you really like and research them extensively. This will stand you in good stead not only for the online application form, but also for the assessment centre itself should you get through to that stage.