Vacation Scheme Student Review

I absolutely loved my time at HSF, everyone was extremely friendly and patient. I found the work I was given extremely interesting and generally had an excellent experience.

The vast majority of work I was given was real work that was of value to my supervisors. To that extent I felt like I was making a real contribution to the firm.

I received an excellent level of value and support. Both of my trainee buddies were always on hand for any question I had and took the time to explain everything to me in great detail to make sure I understood it all.

The research tasks I was given really built upon the skills I use every day in my law degree. The insight from graduate recruitment about what they look for in potential employees and the learning and development session will absolutely stand me in good stead for the future.

My vacation scheme was very well structured. We had presentations from different departments almost every day and the right amount of social events after work as well. I think I had a good balance of working at my desk and attending events and presentations.

the atmosphere was great. I got on well with both of my supervisors and everyone was really lovely at all times.

We had an induction and IT training on the first day which was extremely useful in getting to know the HSF IT system and the style and formatting most commonly used for written documents. We had a dedicated learning and development session to teach us valuable skills such as giving a good first impression and developing our attention to detail.

I was treated like an employee, I didn't feel that anyone was putting on a 'front' to try and impress me. I felt like the firm was somewhere I would be happy to work for the foreseeable future.

I got a good understanding of the company culture. Both of my supervisors were senior associates but I did not get the impression there was a hierarchy between roles and everyone treated each other the same and I felt like an integral part of the team.

My vacation scheme confirmed to me that this is definitely what I want to do for the rest of my life and I have made the right career path choice.

We were paid a competitive London salary but had to source our own travel and accommodation.

Yes, there were trainee and partner representatives at all social events and a dedicated partner drinks event where we could network with the partners at the firm.

Great - on the first evening we had a dinner which just the vacation scheme students attended. This was great to get to know people better in a less formal setting. We also went bowling which trainees and graduate recruitment also came to. Then we had 3 further drinks and networking events, 2 at the firm and one at a rooftop bar nearby.

Yes - there was a session dedicated to the different social networks the firm has to offer including, female lawyers network, multicultural network, sports and social committee, disability network and LGBT network. We also had a presentation dedicated to pro-bono work and were given our own pro-bono related project to work on during the scheme.

Absolutely - I loved my time at HSF and would highly recommend them as a frim.