Legal Intern Review

I was given a range of real work to do from different members of both the Contracts and Legal department and this gave me an insight into the workings of the company as a whole. I was also given increasing responsibility as the weeks progressed, which started out from proofreading contracts and giving my thoughts on other peoples' comments, to eventually conducting my own legal research on issues and drafting advice directly for clients.

Everyone was really friendly and I was invited to the departments' drinks and other social events. I felt that my contribution was valued and the people that I worked with took the time to also go through the work that I had done with me.

I felt comfortable asking my supervisor any questions that I had or clarifying what I needed to do. I was always asked whether my workload was manageable and there was always someone else in the department to ask if my supervisor was away.

There were periods of busy and quiet times, and there wasn't any pressure on me to meet strict deadlines for my work. I always asked around the department for any extra work that I could do to expand my experience, although other people with a less proactive approach may find themselves bored. I think this is also partly due to the fact that I worked very efficiently and so finished the work I was given faster than was anticipated.

Increasing responsibility as my internship progressed, so that by the end of it I was drafting guidance notes on legal matters that the rest of the department would later rely on, or would be published on the company's intranet for other employees to use. I was also able to draft legal advice for other employees without much supervision before it was sent off.

The internship has helped me massively with understanding how the law is applied in a practical, business environment, and the extent to which legal advice must be carefully tailored to the person you are advising. I've gained a much better understanding of key skills such as contract drafting and negotiation, which will also be a big help in my future career. I feel my experience here helped me hugely in gaining a training contract this year, because of the hands on experience I gained in giving legal advice in a commercial context.

The open planned office made it a very relaxed and non-hierarchical office environment. Everyone was really friendly and willing to help, but were often very busy doing their own work or in meetings/ conference calls to always be available. Not exactly a "fun" working environment, but still very sociable.

Very well organised in terms of salary payment, connecting me up to the intranet and having a spare desk for me. I didn't have a set workload or project to work on though, so it was more a case of me asking around and finding work to be doing - which I think added to the well-rounded range of experience I gained.

People took the time to review my work and talk to me about my future career and offer job application advice, but not directly to work at the firm in the future. My internship was only for 6 weeks, so I didn't expect any thorough personal training or development.

A future career in Mott MacDonald's Legal or Contracts department is still appealing, but not in the immediate future. Perhaps in 20 years or so when I've done my training contract and have gained some experience in a private law firm, when I am looking to settle down and switch to an in-house legal career.

I was the only intern in the department; there were two other trainee solicitors there, who were really friendly and offered great advice in applying for training contract, but there wasn't much hanging out after work. Another placement student came a few days before I left, but there wasn't much time for me to get to know her that well.

Cheapish I'm guessing, but since I didn't live in the area or really socialise there after work, I cannot really say.

Cannot really say; once again, I commute from quite far away to get to the office, so I don't know how the nightlife is in the area.

There are green initiatives and some other activities, but they are targeted at permanent members of staff I think so I don't know much about them.