Vacation Scheme Student Review

The vacation scheme was a really enjoyable and insightful experience. You feel supported all the way through, and it is a really good mix of being in the office experiencing the kind of work a trainee does day to day, and a variety of social events.

People are very good at providing you with feedback on work that you've done and also they do express their appreciation - no matter how small the task!

You recieve a lot of support throughout the scheme. You have a trainee buddy who is there if you need to ask any questions and you also have a supervisor within your department who you usually share an office with so you get to know them very easily. You have various different activities with the graduate recruitment team too so they're always around to ask questions or have a chat with.

I think the skills that I've learnt during this scheme will definitely help me to prepare for a career in law and also when I begin the GDL and LPC.

The scheme was extremely well-structured. You are given a booklet on the first day with all the information you require. There are several different social activities planned which help you to get to know your fellow vac-schemers and also various people at the firm. We even had a day trip to the Paris office which was a great day to get to know people better outside of the office!

Very friendly, supportive and fun. You get a real sense of what it would be like to work at the firm and everyone you meet is really encouraging and will take the time to explain something to you if you don't understand.

We were offered the chance to do a practice interview with the training and development team which I thought was really impressive. We also had some induction talks to help us settle in to the firm and knew who to contact if we had any problems or questions.

I think this vacation scheme really gives you a good insight into what a career at the firm would be like. The summer scheme is 3 weeks long which is a great amount of time to settle into your different seats (you do 2 seats over the course of the scheme) although it does go really quickly once you're here! You have lots of opportunities to talk to people at the firm, from trainees to partners, and I think that also helps you to understand how your responsibilites and career would progress.

You get fully immersed into the culture as you are constantly meeting new people and you quickly discover what the feel of the firm is just by being in the office everyday. If you are looking forward to coming into work in the morning (which I was) I think that's a good indicator that the firm has a good culture.

We were paid £275 a week and we were also given money for food and drinks or treated to meals when we were out at social events.

You are sat in two practice areas during the scheme so you get to meet a lot of different people at the firm, as well as during the different social events.

We had all sorts of different events from drinks and nibbles on the first night, to bowling in Shoreditch and a day trip to Paris! It was fantastic.

There are a lot of sporting activities and also informal drinks either departmental or firm-wide.

I would really recommend this scheme to anyone interested in getting a true insight into the firm - there really is not better way to ascertain whether it's the right firm for you then actually experiencing it first hand.