Insight scheme participant Review

First week - skills sessions with a focus on commercial awareness. Presentations from current employees. Networking with your peers and students from the Sheffield office. Social engagement day where CMS showcased how important it is to them to give back to local communities. Second week - shadowing legal teams. One student per team to allow you lots of exposure to the sort of tasks required of a lawyer at all stages. For example, you may observe partner, associates and newly qualified lawyers all working on the same case.

I developed an understanding of how commercial law firms work, before the programme I had no first hand experience of this and I feel that CMS did their best to show us the ‘real world’ of law. CMS also put on skills sessions for us to work on our commercial awareness. This is often a buzz word in applications however, the skills sessions helped us to really understand it and apply it to different situations.

It was excellent. I feel that I could now talk about the sorts of challenges that CMS would face as a business. Equally, I could look at new headlines and understand how current affairs may impact CMS. It was also very beneficial to speak to many members of staff during the placement. I spoke to staff work were part of the legal team, staff who worked in recruitment and staff that worked in administration. They all provided valuable insights into the business and shared their stories as to how they secured their current role.

Extremely friendly and welcoming. Everyone wanted to help and support us. I found everyone more than happy to answer any questions and everyone was forthcoming with valuable advice and information. I found that when I was observing teams in my second week, everyone got me involved and gave me tasks to do rather than leaving me to watch. This helped me to understand the context of what I was being told about. I was grateful for this as, in general, it is harder to learn when you are just watching others.

I really enjoyed it. The two weeks seemed to fly by as I was busy and learning everyday. I met some lovely people and extremely knowledgeable professionals. Everyone I met made me feel welcome and always asked if I was enjoying myself. Furthermore, my peers were all supportive and kind which made the experience even more enjoyable. I am extremely grateful to have had such a positive experience and I would highly recommend it to anyone what wants to gain an insight into a legal career.

Yes

Be yourself, it shows on applications and CMS really value who you are as an individual. Know the business of law, in particular the business of commercial law.