Vacation Scheme Student Review

Sometimes on vacation schemes the focus is on socials and you are not provided with a lot of work to do, meaning the insight is not as accurate as it could be. At Linklaters not only do you sit in two seats, which provides a flavour of different areas of the firm and the cultures, but there was not one day where I was not working on something.

My seat in banking was incredible because the people did not feel like colleagues but more like friends. It was something I did not expect but it made my experience extremely enjoyable. Many people actively approached me in both my seats to ask me to help them with work which made me feel valued,

Every step of the way I felt very supported and I knew exactly who I had to call if I had any issues. There were also many sessions provided by grad rec early on that made sure we were very comfortable with all the technology. My supervisors were both very happy to talk me through anything I did not understand as well.

Skills that I learnt on the scheme were how to tailor my communication skills depending on who I am speaking to. For example you would speak differently to a trainee than how you would a partner. I also learnt how to draft different types of documents, paying particular to attention to ensuring everything is very concisely written.

Brilliant structuring. We were given a timetable from the start with all our different socials and different talks clearly set out with times. It was however flexible enough to let us add in whatever we wanted to, for example lunches with different lawyers or training sessions provided by each department.

It was really positive and something I particularly loved was how diverse everyone was. There isn't a "type" from a particular university or background, you really meet a huge range of people. The general atmosphere was very social. There are drink trolleys every Friday featuring a different theme and trainees always sat with each other during lunchtime.

You can tell that they spend a lot of money and time on their vacation scheme student and ultimately their trainees. It's great because it ensures you are up to speed with how the firm works on the inside and out. The intranet is spectacular as well - on there is literally every type of information about the practice areas and the law that you could want.

Because you spend a lot of time in the practice areas you have the opportunity to do many different types of work for different people. This enabled me to understand what my role would be like as a trainee as opposed to a vacation scheme student which is very important when you are choosing where to go.

You get a great feel into the culture of the firm when you are in an office with its people for several hours a day. I recommend seeking out as many people as you can, get coffees with trainees, grab lunch with your supervisors, express interest in speaking to other people - because these are the experiences that will truly allow you to understand what kind of firm you will be working at.

There is really no equivalent to doing a vacation scheme. I cannot imagine applying to a firm I hadn't done some sort of scheme at now because it really changed my entire outlook on the firm. When you do a scheme you really see the firm from the inside and you can ask questions you couldn't ask before.

£300/week

Yes but these are opportunities you need to seek out yourself. Linklaters will not serve you everything on a plate but it has a great deal to offer. If there is a practice you are interested in, tell your supervisor and they will be sure to connect you to someone they know from there. There is also an open door policy so as long as the person does not seem to be in a meeting, you can probably talk to them.

Great fun. We had cookery classes, speed boating and even climbed the O2!

There are a great number of sport clubs you can join and people at the firm all seemed very keen to get involved.

Yes