1st year workshop Review

I thought that the days were very well structured, with the opportunity to meet solicitors from a range of different practice areas. The evening event was a really lovely surprise, and the two workshops on mediation and negotiation were brilliant.

Everyone I met took a genuine personal interest in me, and I was impressed by the amount of partners who took the time to come and meet us.

The presentations from Mark Bardell and Clare Feaver were really informative, and the trainee I was shadowing was happy to answer all my questions. During the workshops we were able to work among ourselves fairly independently, but there was always a trainee on hand to ask if we got stuck.

The information I received will probably not assist so much with my degree studies but more in helping to make an informed choice about what type of law I would like to practice in the future and whether Herbert Smith Freehills would be a good fit for me.

The two days ran very smoothly, and a lot was packed in for us to do. I thought in particular that the corporate and ADR workshops were really well done - the work was interesting and required some thought without there being a need for a detailed knowledge of the law, which would have put the non-law students at a disadvantage. As it was, everyone was able to participate.

The atmosphere was brilliant. I cannot stress enough how friendly and welcoming everyone was.

There was not really enough time for a great amount of personal investment, but I did feel that the work shadowing session was a great opportunity to see some of the work and ask questions. All the lawyers I met over the two days were more than willing to answer questions when asked.

It gave a great taste as to what the role of both a trainee and and associate would involve across a range of different practice areas. Unfortunately during the work shadowing there was not a lot of work I could help out with, but nevertheless the trainee I was shadowing was happy to explain some of the cases to me, and the type of work that he had been doing so far during his training contract.

I was left with a really good impression of what it would be like to work at Herbert Smith Freehills, I think the best way to understand the culture of a firm is to meet the people that work there and there was plenty of opportunities to meet lots of HSF lawyers throughout the workshop.

I thought the workshop was really well structured and gave a great oversight of the may different practice areas of the firm and the type of qualities that you would need to succeed in a career at the firm.

The firm was very generous in reimbursing travel expenses and provided breakfast, lunch and dinner so we did not go hungry!

Yes, there were lots of opportunities.

The social event was really well planned, and the element of surprise made it really exciting, I did not expect it at all. The London Eye was spectacular and I had a really great time at Skylon. The atmosphere was brilliant - it definitely did not feel like a stuffy law event! I think it was a really good idea to take us out of the office and show us a bit of London, especially for those who had never visited the city before.

Pro bono work was spoken about quite a bit, but there were not any other activities mentioned. It might have been nice to hear a bit about some of the other initiatives, such as the Women Trainee Lawyers network.

I definitely would, I had a really fantastic two days.