Student Review

It was really great to get an insight inside the Firm because brochures and grad websites are all much of a muchness and it becomes really hard to differentiate between them

Obviously the work I could do was somewhat minimal in the sense that I am not qualified in any way and have no legal background yet, however I found I was never stuck for something to do and everyone really seemed to trust me despite my lack of knowledge

Each vac scheme student has a supervisor and a trainee buddy so you always have someone to turn to and there is always someone you can rely on to give you something to do

I haven't started my GDL yet but I imagine that everything I have learnt will come in useful as I will be able to see how the theory I am learning could put into practice

Was well run but a shame there is no official Grad Recruitment person in each office as they will never really see you in action and have to make final decisions based on what they hear as opposed to being able to have their own perspectives too

I was so lucky with my vac scheme group and everyone was so fun and easy-going. It felt so effortless to talk to the trainees and fee-earners at the firm and I think that is really telling of the general culture at PM

We were only at the firm for 2 weeks so the investment is short-term but we still were treated so well and a great variety of events were put on for us. As well as that we were also invited along to firm wide events which really made us feel included and part of the PM team. Our supervisors and trainee buddies also invited us along to any meetings, conferences, CSR events or training sessions that they had themselves, so those were really invaluable insights into what the day-to-day life as a PM lawyer might involve

I felt like I got a comprehensive idea of what it would be like to work at Pinsent Masons especially because the open plan office allows you to interact with more people anyway and you can see all the inner operations and hear how lawyers speak and deal with clients and each other.

I felt like I really grew to understand the culture more than I could from any talk or brochure. You can only learn so much from a talk and you feel it is more of a sales pitch when firms come to your university and tell you about themselves. Being in the firm actually allows you to see whether they practice what they preach and I feel like PM are honest when they say they are a friendly firm even though all companies seem to say it!

It confirmed for me that I definitely want to be a lawyer. It took a long time for me to figure out what I wanted to and I was adamant I wanted to work someone I actually enjoyed rather than doing something I thought I SHOULD do. However the vac scheme allowed me to realise that I actually do enjoy the day to day work that a lawyer in a commercial firm is involved in.

As above - we often got asked along to business development things that our trainee buddies or supervisor were going to or even members of the department we were working in would invite us along to meetings and events. As well as that we had specific vac scheme events put on for us such as a networking lunch to help us network internally with lawyers across the firm so we could get a wider idea of the different departments within the work and the work they did.

Not too many as it is such a tiring process so you don't want to be out late every night, but just enough to allow us to relax and speak more freely with the trainees. We did some super chilled things like trainee lunches and drinks on Fridays, but also we did a Clue HQ Escape Rooms social which was a great way to work as a team and get to know each other better, and it was super fun.

Yes definitely. Talking with employees helped and unless they were swamped with work, the majority of people were up for going for a coffee with you just to chat and so you could ask questions about their role, their route into law and what sorts of things they get involved in outside of work. We even got asked along to some of them...

A great way to find out if the career or the firm is for you and if you fit into the firm. you may think you'll really like a certain firm and suit it really well but you never know until you are actually there. Although vacation schemes are hard to get in the first place, they are worth the effort! It's a career choice at the end of the day so you have to figure out what you will be happy doing for the next 50 years of your life!