A&O First at Allen & Overy

I had a great time at A&O - I felt that the grad recruitment team put in a lot of effor, and everything ran very smoothly indeed. We were never left twiddling our thumbs, and the activities were engaging and insightful. I would recommend to anyone thinking of a career in commercial law, especially at A&O. My only wish would be that it had been longer!

As stated above, we were looked after fantastically, and never had to wait around. We were always supervised by someone, and all the employees were very welcoming - one from the group I was in one afternoon came specially to see me as she knew that we had studied the same subject. Aditionally, the grad recruitment knew all our names very quickly, which made the experience feel more personal.

We were given a wide range of skills workshops, and there was always someone to answer questions. We had a trainee buddy throughout the scheme which meant we felt comfortable discussing anything we were interested in.

The skills workshops were good in that they were not designed to be helpful to our degrees, but rather to a career in commercial law. We had resillience training, presentation skills training, and legal writing training. There were networking sessions and partner panel sessions, which meant we were given a range of viewpoints on all aspects of the job.

The only complaint I can make about the structure is that it could have been longer. Otherwise the timetable was clear, varied, and full of events, but not so many that we were overloaded. Maybe another day of shadowing would have been useful, so we could get our teeth into a mini-project.

All the employees were very friendly, and they made the scheme seem very cooperative. Often you hear of schemes where everyone is in competition with each other, but we were able to enjoy each other's company and get to know each other throughout the scheme.

I feel that the skills sessions were well planned, and the feedback call from our interviews was also really helpful.

In many ways it did, but the two things that would have helped further would have been a longer scheme and more shadowing. Otherwise though, it was very informative, and we had plenty of information given to us.

I think that the culture became quite clear over the course of the scheme. Everyone was very open, genuine, and friendly. The element of corporate social responsibility was pushed home, and our trainee buddies in particular were honest about the ups and downs of the job.

Very. I am very keen to work for the firm in the future, largely as a result of this scheme.

They even put up some people in a nearby hotel if they lived a long way away.

There were many networking opportunities, with associates and trainees from a range of practises.

They were well managed, lively, and with a wide range of people to speak to.

It was clear that there were other opportunities within the firm other than work, although this was not a focus of the scheme.

I definitely would, and I think that anyone would enjoy the scheme hugely.