Paralegal Review

I was placed within a great team and really enjoyed being a part of it and getting to know everyone in it. The work was really varied and often linked in to topics I'd read about in the news, which made it really interesting. Plus, the office happened to have an emotional support dog visiting on the last day I was there - it doesn't get much more enjoyable than having a dog to play with!

The team I was placed in took a real interest in me and put a lot of thought into making sure the work they gave me would be valuable for me to complete. They also took the time to talk over my work once I had completed it, to show me how I could improve. The partner I was placed with also gave me a lot of great advice for dealing with clients and working in a law firm in general.

The grad recruitment team were in touch with me on nearly every day of my placement to give some guidance or to check everything was going well, and they even had a catch-up call with me mid week. The head of HR in the office also came around regularly to check on how I was doing.

The work I was given was very varied and different from the work I do in my day job, and so I felt I was able to develop new skills and knowledge which will be directly useful to me in future. The working environment was quite different to the office environments I'm used to, with lots of innovative ways of working, and so I felt I picked up a lot of new and different office skills too.

The grad recruitment team had clearly put a lot of thought into structuring the placement, with a mid-week catch-up call and a presentation to prepare during the week, which I delivered on my final day. There was also a lunch organised on the penultimate day with two of the partners, who told us all about the culture of the firm and what they were looking for in trainees, which was certainly very valuable!

The atmosphere in the office was fantastic - there's a real sense of engagement and adventure in the office, which is still very new. Everyone in the office seemed to be on board with the shared objective of building up a successful practice, and even though everyone I worked with was very different, there was a real sense of collaboration and team spirit.

The firm had clearly put a lot of thought into setting us activities during the week (on top of the workload from ours teams) that would develop a range of useful skills. For example, we were set a presentation to research and plan and an assignment focused on prioritisation. The exit interview at the end of the week focused greatly on how useful I had found the week in terms of personal development, and this was clearly a top priority for the firm when planning the placement.

Everyone I met was very keen to tell me what they appreciated about the firm and what had motivated them to move there. Plus, I got to experience first hand what working in the firm would be like, and so I could see for myself what a collaborative and innovative environment the firm has managed to foster.

Two of the partners took the vac schemers out to lunch on the penultimate day and spent a lot of time telling us about the culture of the firm, why they had chosen to move there and how it contrasted to other firms they had worked in. This left me with a very clear picture of the appeal of working at the firm and what it is which makes it distinctive from others in the market.

The placement really showed me what the best of life as a lawyer could be like, and so really cemented my decision to pursue a career in law. Plus, it gave me the opportunity to experience an area of law I hadn't tried before, and so had made me consider a new and exciting potential practice area for my future career.

I was really impressed by the number of people in the office who went out of their way to come and introduce themselves to me. Everyone was keen to tell me a bit about what they did and find out a bit about me. Going out of my way to introduce myself to people always paid dividends as well, as people were always very responsive and friendly, and no one made me feel that they were too busy to take the time to talk to me.

I think a lot of my friends and colleagues pursuing a career in law would really appreciate the culture and atmosphere of the office and would find it very refreshing, and so I'd be very likely to recommend it to them. The firm certainly ticks a lot of boxes in terms of what people I know are looking for in a legal workplace.