Summer Scheme Student Review

The whole placement was very well thought out with the students in mind. Pre and post communication was also very well conducted and I didn't feel anxious to get in contact if I had clashes with the schedule (eg. rescheduling the interview). Certainly a unique emphasis on self-improvement given the feedback that you received throughout the time there.

I was able to confirm the friendly and supportive atmosphere that I had heard so much about. The firm is mid-sized and the floors are arranged so that you are much more likely to interact with your colleagues irrespective of their title. This meant that at lunch you felt comfortable chatting with trainees and partners alike. Supervisors were very happy to give you feedback if you asked for it.

The level of guidance was just right. After a fairly long first day of inductions the balance seemed right. Guidance covered just enough so as to allow students to show initiative by going the extra mile, without HR explicitly providing guidance in all areas. (for example training seminars are put on and I would recommend students get a taste of this- however HR never explicitly explained the process of booking). To Improve: There was consensus that students took issue with the fact that the Vacation scheme was not assessed. There is concern this might have prejudiced our assessment day against us because given we had all our questions answered across the two weeks, when asked 'do you have any questions for us?' by the interviewer some students felt the need to artificially construct one. Clearly this may not outweigh the benefits of your experiences at the firm which you can draw upon.

Self-improvement at RPC is a recurring theme. There was a lot of detail provided in the form of feedback from the interview and also the assessment day. Even if students are unsuccessful the HR team put in a lot of effort to make sure you leave with points that you can improve on for the next assessment day. This is particularly unique for a law firm to do.

Usually the schedules ran according to plan. However during the assessment day there was an issue with the timetables which meant those who thought they were doing exercise A were in fact doing an interview - this threw some of the students off. Overall the seminars given were run smoothly and ran on time. This can even be said for those which were conducted by very senior speakers in the firm who I'm sure were very busy.

Very good. The people were incredibly happy to help with any issues you might have had. I personally had to call IT for some advice and they were more than happy to help. I felt the trainees were very happy to take the time out of their schedule to chat with you about the firm and the work and you didn't feel like they were prepped with propaganda about the firm. There was also a lot of trust in us as students given that they had organised a whole event just for us without any trainees and trusted us with an envelope of cash. There was a good mix of real work and social events.

Given the amount of time that senior figures of the firm took out of their schedule to present to us about various different aspects of the firm I get the impression there is a large amount of investment. As mentioned before the feedback from the interview to get to the scheme was very detailed, however any feedback from the scheme itself and the assessment day is provided for after you are assessed for a TC. It could have been good to get more feedback during the vacation scheme so students knew exactly what to work on in preparation for the assessment day. However I appreciate HR were trying to be impartial.

I felt that I was treated exactly the same way as everyone else. The work I was given was given to my by various trainees and associates and some of my work was used without amendments. I was also invited to take part in a run around London which the department was involved in. I certainly think this was a realistic expectation of what it would be like to work there full time.

As above, the realistic exposure to the floors meant I was able to confirm the atmosphere that RPC is known for.

It was very insightful to see contentious areas of law and compare this to my experiences of transactional work.

As well as the friendly atmosphere, plenty of employees from around the office attend various lunches where you can chat to all the lawyer. There was also a speed networking event which allowed exposure across all the departments.

HR organised events just for Vac schemers so that we could be more comfortable as well as events with trainees. This gave you an idea of what the people were like outside the office.

Coincidentally they had just won an award for CSR so it was very hard not to be exposed to that area of the firm. Also there was plenty of talk about the sports teams and the various trips that they organise (e.g. ski trip).

Certainly a unique experience for a mid-size city firm.