Vacation Schemer Review

I personally had an incredible week at the firm. In addition to the wonderful support structure in place [Grad Rec / secretarial staff], I was given a consistent level of quality work during my seat. The one thing that made the experience particularly enjoyable was how welcoming my team [projects] was. In addition to entrusting me with a variety of live matters usually handled at an associate / trainee level, I was invited to all their team meetings / social events / training sessions. The social events organised by the grad rec team were quite enjoyable as well.

I felt incredibly valued during my time with the Projects team. The associates / partners that handed me work genuinely treated me as part of the team and made sure that they personally thanked me for helping out during the placement.

I received ample guidance and support during my scheme. My supervisor / other associates made sure that they allocated a good amount of time to explain the context and nature of my task; as opposed to simply handing me the task and asking my to figure out things on my own. The secretaries at the firm were also incredibly helpful. Having helped out trainees year after year, they were quite well accustomed to the challenges interns faced and how they would help out. The grad rec team were also always available over the phone.

Whilst the placement itself was too short to help me succinctly develop any actual skills that I did not already possess, it was great for validating my career choices. Having done an LLM [finance geared - with certain dispute resolution modules], I was very pleased that I was able to put my commercial acumen and other skills to good use during my placement.

I personally felt that the insight week allocated far too much time outside my department. Some of the sessions; e.g. the Partners networking brunch and TMT case study, could have been scrapped since there were other sessions that served the same purpose. This would have allowed me to work comfortably around my deadlines. Aside from the work aspect, the social were perfectly timed and structured.

Within my team [Projects], the atmosphere was incredibly friendly and welcoming. Every member of the team looked out for one another [including myself] and I got to know everyone in the team on a first name basis rather quickly. There was also a strong sense of collegial bond within the team, everyone got along very well. Despite being one of the busiest week of the year, spirits were high and there wasn't a sense of unease to be found. Outside of my team, everyone else seemed to be happy working with the firm. Although, I did sense certain underlying tension that resulted from the firm's approach of deviating from its 'friendly' image.

I am not quite sure about the financial investments the firm made during the placement but my supervisor and other partners invested a lot of time and energy to keep me up to date with all the relevant current affairs and legal issues surrounding my work.

Having worked on a variety of associate level live matters, the insight worked wonders in terms of allowing my to understand what it meant to be a projects lawyer at Simmons.

Despite only being a one week placement, I got to understand the company's culture quite quickly. In addition to the collegial culture I experienced within my team, the introductory session by Alan and the speed networking session gave a well rounded understanding of the firm's culture.

I started the work placement with a good idea of which direction my career was heading towards. The placement was helpful in terms of validating my career choices [i.e. department wise and firm wise].

I was paid.

There were ample opportunity to network and meet other employees of the firm. The speed networking session was incredibly helpful in terms of allowing my to meet fee-earners across the firm's key practices [from trainees up to managing associates]. The socials; e.g. welcome drinks and farewell lunch, also created a comfortable environment to meet and greet other employees of the firm. However, it did feel that I was being assessed during the networking sessions [since there wasn't an actual interview at the end of my placement].

Great. Plenty of networking and social events.

There was little mention of the firm's various sporting teams or pro-bono initiatives. However, given that the scheme was only 1 week in length, I would not place too much emphasis on this oversight.

Sure. The insight week was a great way to find out about the firm's practice and culture. I was also able to forge long-lasting relationships with the other interns and members of the firm.