Vacation Placement Student Review

The 3 week vacation placement at Pinsent Masons was a hugely enjoyable and excellently structured placement. It provided a true insight in to the role of a trainee solicitor within the firm, and everyone made a huge effort to make us feel a part of the team.

I was given meaningful work to complete during my placement, and given regular feedback on my work. Not only was work provided by my trainee buddy and supervisor, but other members of the team would assign me tasks which showed that the whole team was keen to ensure I felt valued.

During the placement each Vacation Placement Student was assigned a Trainee Buddy and a Supervisor, who was generally a Senior Associate. A couple of weeks prior to the placement my trainee buddy emailed me to let me know that I would be working in the corporate team, and gave me a brief run-down of who was in the team. Throughout the placement my trainee buddy sat down with me daily to assign me interesting work, and ensured he explained the background of the particular transaction to give me some context. My supervisor regularly made a point of ensuring I had plenty of work to keep me busy, and was willing to answer any of my questions. The approachable nature of the whole team meant that I didn't feel phased if I needed to ask for clarification on the work I was doing.

Throughout the placement we received a presentation on each practice group within the firm. This was hugely informative, and allowed me to consider the possible seats that I may undertake if I was offered a training contract with the firm. These presentations were also excellent in explaining how the different practice groups often work together on transactions. As part of the assessment process for training contracts that was undertaken during the second week of the 3 week placement, I had to complete a SWOT analysis on the firm's strategy and present it to a partner. This exercise was excellent as it allowed me to undertake comprehensive research on the firm, and I am leaving this placement feeling like I know a great deal about Pinsent Masons. The work I have undertaken throughout has been real work that a trainee would complete, including drafting board minutes and other ancillary legal documents. This will undoubtedly be hugely beneficial going forward both with my legal studies and when I begin a training contract. Overall, the placement has undoubtedly confirmed my desire to pursue a career in commercial law.

The whole placement was excellently structured, and we were provided with a timetable at the beginning of the placement which was almost fully followed. There were organised social events which allowed us to socialise and interact with trainees and other members of the firm. Although the assessments came round very quickly, as they took place during the second week, this was sufficient time to prepare and meant that we could spend the final week and a half immersing ourselves in work in our practice group.

I was working in the particularly busy corporate department. Despite the fact that many members of the team clearly had a lot of work on, there was an overall happy and friendly atmosphere and it is clear that everyone has good relationships with each other. At the social events, we found that everyone was keen to introduce themselves and include myself and the other placement students.

At the beginning of the placement each placement student sets themselves objectives to fulfil throughout the placement. This allowed us to focus on demonstrating the core capabilities that Pinsent Masons look for in a trainee. In terms of training, my trainee buddy couldn't have been more willing to ensure I was understanding the work that I was undertaking and providing context for the current transactions in the department at that time.

Being able to interact with the trainees, who all provided an honest and positive opinion of their role within Pinsent Masons, was hugely beneficial in understanding what it would be like to undertake a training contract with the firm. Furthermore, the work I was completing was work that my trainee buddy himself would otherwise have been doing, and I found that particularly in the third week I was given more challenging tasks.

Being able to work at a desk within the corporate team was a great day of witnessing first hand the culture of the firm. Overall the firm is an extremely sociable one, and there is certainly not a great sense of hierarchy within the firm. Of all the partners I met throughout the placement, all were warm and welcoming and easy to approach.

The placement definitely confirmed my intention to pursue a career in commercial law, and Pinsent Masons is undoubtedly one of the best places to do this. The practice group presentations were extremely helpful in this sense, in helping us consider what particular areas of commercial law that we would most like to practice in.

I was paid £300 a week for the placement.

On the second and third Friday, the firm had organised 'office drinks'. The last Friday of each month is also 'dress down day' which we were able to participate in. As part of the placement there were organised Trainee lunches, Partner lunches and Secondment lunches where we were able to meet a variety of different Pinsent Masons employees. The secondment lunch allowed us ask someone who had completed a secondment of her particular experiences. This informed us of the possibility to undertake either client secondments or secondments to other offices, both during the traineeship and after.

As part of the placement there were two organised evening social events with trainees, one at a comedy club and the other at bowling and dinner. These were a great way of getting to spend time with the trainees and gain their perspective on life at the firm. This was not including the office drinks and organised lunches during the placement which were also an invaluable way of networking.

As part of our induction we were given a presentation on the firm's CSR activities and the opportunities for employees to get involved in those. In particular, we were told that the firm dedicates a certain amount of hours a year per employee to get involved in these activities. There is also the opportunity for employees to take part in sport activities after work.

Without doubt I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this placement. I thoroughly enjoyed every day I spent at the firm, and became close friends with the other Vacation Placement students. It is an invaluable placement for someone who is considering a career in commercial law,