Vacation Schemer Review

I loved every minute of the vacation scheme. It is a brilliantly structure scheme, filled with activities, socials and lunches where you can really get to know everybody working at the firm and the other candidates on the Vac scheme. The departmental work that I produced and witnessed were real life client matters and I really enjoyed being able to produce something that a trainee would normally produce!

I really felt like a genuine employee at the firm because of how welcome everybody made me feel. Also being able to recieve feedback when completing a piece of work for someone was great to hear that you're doing something that is actually contributing to the department and genuinely helping people!

There wasn't a point throughout my scheme where I felt like I didn't have somebody to ask for help. Whether that be a supervisor, the HR Team, or somebody in my department since everybody was so willing to help. Regular feedback sessions were also a great chance to feedback any problems or queries you had with HR.

The skills I've learnt on the vacation scheme will help me massively. I have become familiar with the working environment of a commercial solicitor - something that I believe is so essential. It has helped me to confirm that this is the career path I want to take and it has helped me to decide what sector or law I would like to go into.

The Insight was structured brilliantly. We were given a timetable on the first day which told us where we needed to be at what time and who with! But we were also given the freedom to possibly choose which was ones to attend depending on prioritising certain other appointments. Two socials - one in the first week and one in the last - were perfect for first getting to know everybody and lastly celebrating with everybody at the end of the scheme for having a great 3 weeks together!

The general atmosphere during the insight was friendly, open and supportive. Everybody I met made the effort to get to know something about me and were always willing to help if I needed anything. HR are the most supportive team of people that exists - I really got the impression that they just want you to do well.

The firm invested a lot of time and resources to my personal training and development. We had a number of schedules skills sessions, including Westlaw and Lexis training that was completed by skilled training professionals and whose hints and tips I will carry on to use at my final year at University. Having presentation on the departments we also didn't get to see gave me a more rounded view about the firm in general.

You are really thrown into the life of working solicitor on the firm, undertaking many things that they do on a day-to-day basis. Although you are also contracted normal 9-5 hours, you were allowed to stay if you had work to do which I thought was a great thing because it was a real life experience of how things operate.

Although I gained a huge understanding of the company culture from the assessment day and interviews alone, the Vac scheme gave me a better understanding of how this translates into every day working life and how it functions in practice. I learnt that it is something that everybody truly believes in and is evident in everything that the firm do.

I was really fortunate in being able to work in a department that I put forward as a preference because I believed it was something that I would be interested in. The Vac scheme was brilliant in that it confirmed my original thoughts and I realised that the type of work involved really suited me.

I was paid more than adequately for this experience, which I believe is more than other law firms in the area generally offer. I was also reimbursed expenses for the stages of the recruitment process that came before the vacation scheme, which was brilliant as I had flown over from Spain twice. This was really helpful as I'm not sure I would have been able to do it otherwise!

There were plenty of opportunities for networking and meeting other employees of the firm, not only on the Vac scheme but also during the recruitment process. We had a partner lunch which was a great chance to sit down and chat to them about what they do and their experiences. There was also a business briefing with the whole office given by people normally in London, which was a great opportunity to meet people from other offices.

The networking and social event opportunities were brilliant ran. The social nights were organised by the trainees who had obviously been on the vacation scheme before and so really understood what the intakes would enjoy doing after work. Trainees were open to questions and speaking to them was a great opportunity to chat to someone who had been through what you were doing.

I found out about a lot of activities that employees can get involved in outside of work. I found out either via emails sent to the whole office, or posters that were put around to advertise. I also chatted with the people I worked with and found out that they often meet up with colleagues for a drink or for a meal outside of work. I also played Netball out of hours for the firm's netball team!

I would absolutely recommend this insight to a friend! It has been a thoroughly enjoyable, sometimes challenging, worthwhile three weeks. From hearing feedback from other Vac schemes I truly believe this is the best out there - particularly because there is the definite opportunity of a training contract at the end.