Spring Vacation Scheme Student Review

I took part on Taylor Wessing's Spring Vacation Scheme and I found it an enjoyable experience. My two main objectives were to learn more about the day-to-day work that a commercial lawyer undertakes and to find out more about the culture at Taylor Wessing, and my time at the firm fulfilled these aims, while also showing me the impressive social culture that the firm possesses. Everyone I met was friendly and accommodating, and happy to put aside a few minutes from their busy schedules to chat about anything related to either the firm or commercial law.

The firm do a fantastic job of making vacation scheme students feel valued during their brief time with them. Being assigned a supervisor and a trainee buddy helped to make me feel included in the department I sat in, and being able to tackle real legal work to meet deadlines reinforced the feeling that I was actively contributing to the firm during my short stint. Trainees, associates and partners alike interacted with vacation scheme students at the many networking events that the firm organised, which was an added bonus.

There was strong guidance and support for vacation scheme students, whether it was from my supervisor offering suggestions to improve my work. trainees and the graduate recruitment team who offered advice on applying to the firm or associates and partners who were happy to talk about their experiences with Taylor Wessing and what they did on a daily basis.

For non-law students considering a career in law, there is no better way to gauge how suitable a legal career is for you than taking part in a vacation scheme. The scheme helped to provide real life situations, where we could develop and, indeed, showcase important skills that a commercial lawyer requires. Chief among these are the important soft skills, such as confident, spoken eloquence and communication, that a commercial lawyer needs to build relationships not only with clients, but also within the firm. Networking events challenged us to initiate discussions with fellow members of the firm, and being friendly and approachable is an important skill. The week long group presentation task challenged our time management and presetnation skills, as well as our commercial knowledge. It gave us the platform to bring in our wider commercial knowledge and pressed us to communicate our information in a manner that made it important to the firm. We also had to balance this week long assignment with other tasks we were given throughout the week from our respective departments. On the whole, the scheme helped me develop the aforementioned skills, which should serve me well in my future work.

As this was only a one week placement I was impressed by its structure, especially as it managed to combine a good number of social, networking events with the various assignments that we had to tackle. The 'Supervisor and 'Buddy' system especially helped to make me feel more included at the firm right from the beginning.

The atmosphere at the firm was great. There is a good balance between 'working hard' and 'playing hard', and everyone I met at the firm was approachable and friendly. People at the firm were happy to answer any questions I had either face-to-face or via e-mail, and it seemed to be an exciting place to work.

The firm were very interested to find out more about us as people, and they were keen to make us feel valued during our brief time there. Graduate recruitment ensure to keep in touch with vac scheme students, and are constantly looking to improve students' experiences by getting appropriate feedback.

The scheme gave us the chance to tackle real legal work with the firm, similar to the actual work carried out, and being given the independence to manage our own tasks helped us to experience the daily working life at the firm. The scheme also helped me learn about the firm's forward thinking values and their application of them in their work.

Law firms say very similar things on their websites about haivng a friendly culture, and taking part in this scheme confirmed that Taylor Wessing actually have a genuinely friendly culture. People work hard at the firm, but are also very approachable, and that was fun to experience first hand.

I would say that it has confirmed to me that I want to be a commercial lawyer. The work is challenging but stimulating at the same time, and I think I would enjoy working in similar social and working environments to which I worked in during this week.

Payment for the week was reasonable, but this was a minor consideration for me. The experience was much more valuable.

The firm hosts numerous networking lunch events during the scheme, and there is great attendance from existing staff. Alternatively employees accommodated my requests for short meetings, and were happy to talk about what they did specifically at the firm.

The networking events were well attended by staff, and they were usually fun occasions. It was easy to get lost in intriguing discussions with people from all levels of the firm.

There was plenty of opportunities to ask about the social side of the firm. People were very forthcoming in giving information, and it was fun to hear about different charity events that people took part in at the firm, from sponsored runs against other Taylor Wessing branches to inter-office footbal tournaments. There seemed to be a good balance of business and pleasure.

Absolutely. Taylor Wessing run an extremely enjoyable scheme, and my biggest piece of advice is to be as proactive as possible. Don't be afraid to ask or e-mail someone at the firm if you have any questions.