Vacation Placement Student Review

Although the work I was doing were the more basic tasks, it was what I expected. I did enjoy working in a commercial practice and getting a feel for the atmosphere and the expectations. The social evenings with the trainees were also good fun!

Very, we sat through a presentation every morning for the first 2 weeks from a different department in the firm, outlining the work we do and why we should choose to work with them! Everyone was friendly and made sure we were welcome and comfortable and that we were important.

My day to duties were just spare work the solicitors had for me. I was assigned a trainee buddy who was very helpful, always answering my questions and helped with regards to what I would expect from the interview and other tests I had to sit asd part of the application process for a traineeship with the firm.

I learned valuable skills such as drafting letter and the manner in which you address different people. With regards to the actual law, didn't learn so much, just much more of the practical side which you don't really learn about in university.

Very structured, we were given a timetable and a lot of time was spent welcoming us into the firm in the first few days so that we knew what to expect and who to go to if we had problems. We had our own email addresses and could access a lot of the firm's internal intranet and resources. We were also given presentations every morning for the first 2 weeks as well as knowing in advance when we had our interview and other assessments, as well as email reminders from HR of important events happening that week.

Very good, the office was open plan so even the high ranking partners were approchable! The social evenings organised by the trainees were good fun, as we got to know each other and some of the staff in a solcial environment. There was never a moment where I was hating it and wishing I was somewhere else.

A lot of time and energy would have been spent on the departmental presentations and taking time to interview and assess us. Everyone was willing to take time out to answer any questions we had.

Although we didn't get to experience the true amount of hours and pressures involved, everything else such as the atmosphere and facilities was useful in informing me what it would be like to have a full time role in Pinsent Masons.

This was also very helpful, as part of some of our assessments for the application process we had to research one of the firm's sectors in great detail, prepare a SWOT Analysis and then do a presentation to one of the partner's on it. Therefore we had to have a strong awareness of the company culture. We also learnt a lot about it on one of our first days in the introductory presentations.

£750 for 3 weeks work amounted to £6.25 an hour. I suppose this is reasonable for internships but I know people in London getting thousands of pounds for albeit 10 weeks work but at a much higher rate per hour. The work we were involved in would not have been vastly different.

Yes, the trainee social evenings I have already mentioned. We went to the bowling and had a pub quiz. The firm themselves also offer staff drinks in the office of the last Friday of each month, and this gave us an opportunity to speak to anyone in the firm. On the first few days several of the senior partners came to speak to us, and we even went for a lunch with two partners to a nice restaurant in the city.

Although not everyone came to the staff drinks, it was good to speak to people in a relaxed environment. The ones with the partners on the first week were a bit forced but this is to be expected, it is hard for the firm to do this in another way without having several social events with partners and senior associates.

Yes we were given an opportunity to hear a presentation on the firm's corporate responsibility programme and give any ideas we had for the firm to do in the future. One of the boys went away with some of the staff to take part in a 5-a-side football tournament, and I know that the firm are involved in an 11-a-side league with other firms in the city.

Yes - very useful to learn about a career in a commercial law firm and help you decide whether the career is for you or not.