Spring Vacation Scheme Student Review

This insight was extremely enjoyable. The people at the firm were friendly, approachable and wanted to help me in any way they could. This made coming into work exciting. Furthermore, on top of being able to carry out real work for clients, I was also set specific vacation scheme tasks, which took me all over the firm. This meant that there was always something to do and that I was not just sitting at a desk.

Shoosmiths really lives by their values and this was apparent throughout the whole insight experience. They value their workforce by providing them with various opportunities to gain feedback. This in turn encourages development and builds working relationships within the firm. This practice extends to vacation schemers and so for each piece of work I completed, I was able to see what I did well and areas for further development. It was really nice to have my supervisors take time to give me tailored feedback as I felt that the work I was doing was being used, thus making me feel valued by the firm.

Shoosmiths fosters a collaborative environment and this is facilitated by their open-plan office. Therefore, if ever I was unsure of a piece of work or needed to ask a question to my supervisor, I could go over to their desk and talk with them openly. The open plan office enabled me to go up to colleagues and talk with them, thus grating me the support and guidance I needed. It was also extremely useful in allowing me to introduce myself to members of the firm as I never felt awkward about approaching people.

I learnt a great deal about what it is like to be a solicitor during my time with the firm. Despite the fact that the experience lasted for a week, I was able to gain an appreciation of the wider skills required when carrying out this role. For instance, I learnt much about how to interact with clients, how to build a colleague base within the firm and externally and how to communicate with clients succinctly and effectively. These skills go beyond what is learnt at degree level and so it was extremely useful to begin to learn them here.

The insight was very well structured. Prior to joining the firm, I knew which department I was going to and had been in contact with my host. On the first day I had been set up on the firms IT systems and had been given an overview of what was going to happen for the week. It was useful to have all this information on the first day as it allowed me to plan my time with the firm, thus allowing me to gain the best experience I could. Overall the vacation scheme was very well structured and I never felt that there was nothing for me to do.

The atmosphere within the firm was extremely friendly and conducive to working life. The firm is able to balance being friendly and approachable alongside completing market-leading work for a number of high profile clients. Due to this unique culture, there was a constant buzz in the office of things going on and due to the open-plan office, different departments were able to interact easily, thus making it a fun place to come and work.

Despite being with the firm for only a week, I felt that I came away from the experience with a good idea of what it would be like to work there. Due to the collaborative culture, I was able to talk to people of all levels throughout the firm and gain insights into the work they have been doing. In addition to this, from having joined trainees for lunch and from working alongside them, I was able to see what it would be like to carry out a full time role with the firm if entering at the trainee stage, the one most relevant to me.

The insight was extremely useful in helping me to understand the company's culture. Unlike a number of firms, Shoosmiths really lives by their values and they seek to use them to drive the firm forward. The firm values dictate the culture of the firm and thus the values of taking initiative, talking business sense, being within reach and responsive and pulling together translated into a culture which emphasises inclusivity, development, collaboration and innovation.

There were numerous opportunities to network internally and externally. By getting involved in trainee fundraising events, I was able to introduce myself to all the workers within the firm. Equally through the trainees 'New Friday' networking events, I was able to meet a number of young professionals within the local area, thus building up my network base.

This insight was extremely useful to me. Having carried out similar placements at larger firms, it was refreshing to see how you could gain the same challenging and high-profile work without compromising on a friendly culture. I would definitely recommend this experience to anyone who is interested in working on compelling cases but wants to be in a supporting and friendly culture. It is a hard balance to get right but once at Shoosmiths on a placement, such as this, you see it is possible to get right.