Summer Vacation Scheme Review

I thought that the vacation scheme generally was quite good. Students were able to sit in two different practice areas, and there were a couple of talks and social events too. The general placement was well structured.

The firm let us know that they wanted to hire some of us from the vacation scheme intake for a training contract. I felt that some supervisors were quite good, in that they gave students the opportunity to help out with work.

We knew that we were being assessed for a training contract on the basis of a presentation, assessed pieces of work and an interview. Therefore the process was quite transparent and guided. My supervisors were helpful in that they gave me some tips, so there was support there.

The vacation scheme was very beneficial in the sense that it is great to put it down on your application form when applying to other firms. There wasn't much work given by my supervisor, so there wasn't the chance to really develop new skills.

It was well structured. We essentially sat in the same room as our supervisor, an associate in two different departments. Alongside this there were a few social events and general talks from the firm. I felt like there could have been more different activities for us to do.

Everyone was really friendly, although it was obvious when my supervisor was really busy. At that point, I was slightly hesitant to talk to my supervisor. In my second week, I mostly sat in silence in the office and didn't talk much to my supervisor.

I felt like how busy we were, and how many opportunities we got to learn new skills was heavily dependent on how much work our supervisors were willing to delegate to us. In my case, this unfortunately wasn't very much.

This was very clear, and the application process we had to go onto to secure a training contract after the vacation scheme was told to us on day- as well as what we would be assessed. It would have been nicer to know the threshold we had to pass to gain the training contract.

Very well, as there were many opportunities to network with different people from the firm. I was able to sit with very different departments as well. We also had many social events so we could gain a taster then too.

We were paid £350 a week.

Yes there were many. Quite a few associates came to the social events, however I found out that the same people- the recruiting committee- came to the events. I didn't get the chance to meet other people in the departments I was sat in, apart from my supervisor.

They were generally quite relaxed and everyone was really friendly. We had a couple of drinks nights, and the vacation scheme students were invited to the firm's summer party with all the employees there.

Not too much. We had a talk on pro bono opportunities, sports teams, and on-going training within the firm as an employee, but apart from this we didn't hear, for example, about any societies employees could join.

The vacation scheme was worth it, and I was able to experience what an american law firm was like. However, I did feel that some supervisors were just too busy at work to care that much about us, and therefore we were sometimes left awkwardly in the office with nothing to do.