A&O First at Allen & Overy

Through A&O First I gained a much deeper insight into Commercial law and Allen &a Overy itself. I shadowed a trainee in Banking and was able to practice drafting a confidentiality agreement.

Through both Smart Start and A&O First I have felt extremely valued by Allen & Overy. The graduate recruitment team always made me feel welcome and emphasised that they saw massive potential in all of the A&O First participants.

The support and guidance I received on application advice was great. The graduate recruitment team went through the application question by question and highlighter exactly what they were looking for.

I developed my networking skills throughout A&O First which is a key skill now and in the future. I was also able to draft a mock confidentiality agreement which my buddy gave me detailed feedback on.

The structure was great. On both session the time was utilised very well and the days were both worthwhile.

The atmosphere at A&O is amazing every time I have visited, not just on the A&O First programme. Everyone who works at A&O makes a real effort to share their genuine views with me and I feel very comfortable around everyone I have met at the firm.

As a firm, A&O has invested so much time and effort in me and for that I am very grateful. I have spent many hours at A&O through Smart Start and A&O First and have received bountiful training ranging from personal development to interview skills. I have developed so much as person while being at A&O and I definitely feel like I have grown up here over the past three years. I feel very loyal to A&O for everything they have done for me and I hope to become a trainee here and continue where my journey started.

I really enjoyed shadowing my trainee buddy for a few hours, however I think that this should have been for a longer period of time. It would have been better if we could have shadowed trainees in a few different practice areas to get a real feel for more than one practice area.

I knew a lot about A&O's culture through Smart Start, and A&O First really confirmed this. A&O is a very friendly firm and everyone I have met has made a real effort to make me feel welcome. I definitely see myself fitting into to A&O, which is not something that I have felt at some of the other firms that I have visited.

The content was great and reaffirmed my decision that I want to be an international commercial lawyer. I gained a real insight into life at A&O which again confirmed my aim of being a lawyer here. Shadowing a trainee really helped me see what life as a lawyer at A&O is really like

There were many opportunities to network such as the speed networking session on the first day of A&O First, and networking with lawyers over lunch on the final day. I think that networking is the best way for students to get a real deal for the type of people at the firm and if they would enjoy working here.

I would have really liked an evening activity on one of the days, to network in a more relaxed setting. I gained a lot of information through the networking sessions and I really like that everyone I spoke to at A&O gave me their honest opinion and did not sugarcoat anything.

Networking often focused around what legal work they had been doing and why they chose A&O. Perhaps if networking sessions were longer or more relaxed in the evening I could have found it more about this. Alternatively it may be a good idea to hold a panel interview session and ensure that one of the questions is about activities outside of work.

Absolutely, it was an amazing and worthwhile experience! Both programmes that I have participated in at A&O have had a massive impact on my career decisions and have helped me grow as a person. The graduate recruitment team at A&O are keen to ensure that participants develop skills which will be useful for many careers and at many different firms, thus do not overly-promote A&O and instead let the participants decide for themselves if they would like to work at A&O.