Vacation Scheme Student Review

I found the insight to be rewarding but challenging, however the overall atmosphere in the office and the large number of vacation scheme students meant that I never really felt at home in the firm.

For my first seat, I felt as though my supervisor would rather I was not in the office and I felt slightly burdensome on both him and my trainee buddy, however my second seat supervisor was incredibly helpful and made me feel involved with the work.

All the workshops and sessions from the various departments were extremely helpful in showing you how a commercial law firm operates, and also set us up well for the tasks we were performing with our supervisors.

Again, the presentations and workshops were extremely helpful, particularly the financial ones which explains key legal concepts in basic language.

Good structure with the itinerary provided at the beginning, however received quite a few emails about room changes and events being moved around.

Myself and the other students on the scheme had a good time at the firm, particularly enjoying the taxi cab treasuring hunt and cookery skills workshop, however the office atmosphere was generally quite tense and quiet.

The number of workshops and skills sessions, as well as the partners' lunch, showed that the firm was taking the time and effort to impress students and set them up for a training contract.

The tasks I was given, particularly in the Corporate department, were from both associate and trainee level, and I feel that I got a real insight into the level of work which is expected and the type of work which is undertaken on a daily basis.

As I did not get an office tour or a chance to speak to many people from my department, most contact was with graduate recruitment, recruitment partners and assigned trainee buddies, therefore I didn't really get a feel for the real culture.

Quite useful, but mainly seeing the atmosphere in the office helped my decide whether the firm was for me or not. The level of work was typical of any commercial law firm.

£350 a week, although this had to cover travel and accommodation.

Yes, plenty. From the Partners' lunch to the Summer Party and Friday Drinks, there were quite a few opportunities to meet both partners and trainees. Graduate recruitment partners in particular were also extremely friendly.

Mostly pleasant, however very alcohol driven.

We were told about networks and sports teams but not particularly given information on how we could join them at the time.

Very useful to see whether life at a commercial law firm is for you, and whether the culture of a magic circle firm is what you're looking for.