This review was submitted over 4 years ago, so some of the information it contains may no longer be relevant.
Rating
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About You
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The Company
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Everything Else
- 1. To what extent did you enjoy the insight?
- 2. To what extent did you feel valued during your time at the company or firm?
- 3. How much guidance/support did you receive during the insight?
- 4. To what extent did/will the skills you developed, and information you received, assist you in your degree studies and beyond?
- 5. How well structured was the insight?
- 6. How was the general atmosphere during your insight?
- 7. In terms of personal training and development, to what extent did the company or firm invest in you?
- 8. To what extent did the insight help you to understand what it would be like to have a full time role with the company or firm?
- 9. How much did the insight help you in understanding the company culture?
- 10. How valuable was the content in helping you to decide on your future career path?
- 11. Were you paid or reimbursed adequately for this experience?
- 12. Were there opportunities for networking and meeting other employees of the company or firm?
- 13. How were the networking/ social event opportunities?
- 14. Did you find out about activities that employees can get involved in outside of work?
- 15. Would you recommend this insight to a friend?
About You
Mishcon is a fascinating firm, and their vacation scheme is an excellent insight into what the firm does. The people you get to work with clearly love their jobs, and you get given a trainee buddy to learn the ins and outs of their work. You sit in two different areas, although you do not have more choice over what these are beyond general area. It was unfortunate that the first day of the spring scheme fell on Easter Monday, as it did shorten the experience. I really appreciated that the work I was able to do felt largely authentic. My one complaint with this scheme is with the application process itself: the number of interviews you need to pass to get the scheme make this an exhausting process, on top of which they do not guarantee a training contract interview (and considering the small intake, there really is no way to tell how you've done). While this makes sense for the firm, this means that you can't plan on getting this job, which you might be able to do with other schemes.
While everyone was very welcoming, there were little things which didn't feel very welcoming. You don't get a personalized email, as you do at some other firms, but rather a generic 'summer placement' email. Because of the size of the office, you also get fit in where there is space, and there is occasionally overlap between your occupation of the desk and the person who's meant to be sat there. Finally, the reminders at how many people we beat for the scheme, while clearly meant to be congratulatory, really reminded me that I was entirely replaceable. There are not a significant points, but did hamper feeling welcome at times.
Beyond the talk on the first day, we did not receive too much guidance on how the scheme would occur. However, in terms of individual tasks, I was given great support by my supervisors, trainee buddy, and the paralegals. I felt able to ask questions about my work, and was able to get a clear idea of what I had to do.
The work I did was largely text based, spending lots of time in Microsoft Word, and I did some research which would be useful if I was still at university. The amount I learned is consistent with other vacation schemes: it is ultimately a niche skill set. However, I felt that the IT induction was entirely useless for my week of work. It was not a practical demonstration (only a lecture), and I felt like I had to learn as I went to along.
The Company
We received talks at least once a day about the firm's practice areas, giving us the opportunity to ask question. There were two socials. Beyond this, the work was set by the supervisors and varied greatly between participants. This seems fairly consistent with how other schemes are organized, but given that some of the feedback I received was that I didn't ask for enough work, this aspect may be lacking.
Very pleasant. The other members of the scheme were very nice, and the grad rec team were lovely. The firm seemed very receptive to our presence, and I never felt unwelcome during my time here. It was a little awkward that they kept on reminding us how many applicants we had successfully beat out for our spot on the scheme - while this didn't make anyone competitive, it could have quite easily.
Given the length of the application process, the firm clearly invests a lot in you by the time you reach the scheme. However, on the scheme itself, I felt that the training we received was lacking. The IT training was a bit of a joke, and had to be compensated for all week. There were also technical difficulties in accessing the cantine (to their credit, grad rec really worked to fix this)
I was fortunate, and had some wonderful trainee buddies - they were able to explain what the liked and disliked about the firm, what work they did, and what their lives were like at the firm. Similarly, senior members in the firm were able to explain their work clearly, as well as what they liked about working at Mishcon.
Everything Else
The vac scheme paid well - given that the first day was Easter Monday, the amount was slightly more than expected. For the interviews, the firm reimburses travel expenses for the first interview but not the second - an unusual policy. Finally, the amount reimbursed is lower than other comparable firms.
Other than the organized socials, there were no formal opportunities to network with people from your department. Given that this is something that the firm assesses, this is unfortunate. Any networking has to be done balancing the work given and the numerous presentations given to us - and I would argue that there is no time for it.
There were two socials: a drinks reception in the office, and a social at Bounce. While the events themselves were good, with good food and wine, they ultimately felt a bit flat. The drinks reception did not feel like a social at all - more of a graduate recruitment networking than an after work social - while Bounce is a fairly average time.
Given the sheer volume of talks, it's impressive that none dedicated any proper time to this topic. While there was one talk about the life of a trainee, it was incredibly vague and not particularly informative. A talk discussing the social events, pro bono, benefits, and work life of the firm in general would have been very useful, particularly given the firm's reputation in these areas.
Details
Insight / Vacation Scheme (< 4 Weeks)
Legal/Law
London
April 2018