Vacation Scheme Student Review

It was extremely fun. Everyone is extremely nice and I especially enjoyed the nights out with the trainees. On a particular occasion we went to a ping pong bar in Holborn which was the most fun I had had for a long time.

Sometimes when there isn't much work offered you do feel slightly useless because the work is erudite and requires a deep understand of the particular case. However, this is not the norm. Everyone is very happy to give you work and you do feel very valued. For example: I was asked in the corporate tax department to draft a client memo that would be used often to explain a legal point of law to clients. Knowing that my work would be given to real clients made me feel very valued.

This really depends on who you are seated with. One partner who I sat with was extremely helpful in explaining the basic concepts of what he did and gave me every opportunity to learn about the firm and the department. Others are less hands on, and prefer you to get on with the work given. However, HR was incredibly helpful with any issues or questions that I had.

The vac scheme definitely defined more clearly my ambition to become a lawyer at Stephenson Harwood. I learnt a lot about the practical side of law which would not have occured if I did not take part in this placement.

We were given a full schedule before we even started our placement and this was followed perfectly throughout. There were lots of informative induction talks throughout as well.

This depends on the departments you have been put in and also the time of year that you are able to do the scheme. In the summer things turn down a notch because there is generally less legal work going around because employees in firms are beginning to take their holidays. When I was placed in the Corporate department things were fairly calm and relaxed. However, the Finance department was a bit more hectic. I was not in the Commercial Litigation or Marine and International trade department but I heard that it was incredibly busy and there was lots of work available for vacation scheme students during our time here.

The partners invested a lot into us on the assessment day which was an extremely hectic day from 9am to 3:30pm. They were volunteers who were keen to assess the future of the firm. Generally, our supervisors and trainees were also very good at investing time into us because they clearly were very busy but still took the time to explain simple procedures and concepts to us for our benefit.

Yes, you only realise what the life of a trainee is really like once you spend time in the office with them. From this placement I took with me the atmosphere of the firm, the general work ethic, the individual personalities that I met, the ambition and drive of the partners to attract clients and the general feel of the work that I would be expected to do.

I wouldn'y say that there is a particular culture as such. Every individual has their idiosyncrasies and ways of doing things. But a common denominator was that everyone was incredibly friendly, polite and well-rounded people.

I don't really know what other forms of content would be available to help me decide whether to be a lawyer or not. Two weeks working within the firm should definitely be enough to help an individual decide if law or Stephenson Harwood was indeed for them.

Yes, we were paid £520 for two weeks work at the end of the placement.

I pretty much met everyone within the departments of finance and corporate. These were the two departments that I was put in. There are also trainee events such as drinks and dinner which presented the opportunity of meeting some of the trainees from other departments that I had not been involved with.

The social events were very very fun indeed. We went to a ping pong bar in Holborn and I had the time of my life.

Yes, for example the trainees tend to go out every Friday, work permitting. Also, the partners told me a lot about how they interact with clients outside of work on things like Ascot racing days, golf, coffee or dinner.

I would recommend this placement to anyone with an interest in going into the legal profession.