Vacation placement Review

The vacation scheme has given me an invaluable experience. I have been given a variety of tasks to keep me engages as well as organized tasks such as the written exercise and the negotiation to break up the week. The inclusion of a social was a nice treat too! Everyone is so friendly and welcoming which is a reflection of the atmosphere of the entire firm.

My trainee buddy and my supervisor have been amazing. They have made a lot of time for me despite their busy schedules. The trainees throughout the whole firm made a massive effort especially at the social to interact with us and find out what we are like. It was so apparent that the friendliness was genuine which makes you feel valued as a person as well as essentially a visitor to the firm.

At first, it understandably quite scary if you are set a research task for example and struggle to find an answer. As the week progressed I was made to feel more comfortable in being able to say that I was struggling and I was responded back with kindness which puts you at ease. It is the friendly atmosphere created here that makes you comfortable enough to ask for that support. Everyone I came into contact with from all departments were always happy to answer questions about anything also.

Any sort of experience is valuable with regards to the future. This week is something that other employers can ask me about and gives me the opportunity to talk about the skills I have learnt. For example, the negotiation task teaches the skills of listening, as well as being as assertive as necessary to meet the client's needs. The writing task involved research skills and assessment skills (had to give information on two expansion proposals). The social improved networking skills, increasing ability to build meaningful relationships. All of these are useful skills that will be needed for life in anything I do.

The structure to the vacation scheme was very well balanced. I felt that I had enough time to work in my department but also had enough planned activities to break up the week and offer sufficient variety.

The atmosphere could not have been friendlier. Everyone seemed genuine and welcoming which created a nice atmosphere to be in. There was never a time that I felt uncomfortable or felt like I was in the firing line. Everyone took a very laid back approach to ensure that I didn't feel overwhelmed which made the experience that much more enjoyable. The social definitely helped put people at ease with regards to being around people in the legal profession. One would imagine everyone to be really intimidating and unapproachable but that wasn't the case here.

I think there is only so much that they can do for you in a week and I felt like Walker Morris did a lot. There is not room for extensive training per se, but they did allow you to undertake real elements of work which I think shows an investment of trust and time.

Obviously the level of work is not at the same level that would be expected in a full time role but it still gave a valuable insight into what it would be like. I found sitting in on client phone calls to be very valuable in this respect as it allowed me to see the sort of stuff that does go on daily and how the professionals have to react to certain situations.

Being around the people that work here, in their working environment rather than in a networking event gives you such a better understanding of what it is actually like to work for that firm. I don't think that can be achieved in any other way than this.

I wasn't sure what to expect from the CDR department but the variety of cases dealt with on a daily basis has definitely sparked an interest that I didn't know I have. Sometimes you don't know if you will like something until you do it and so I'm glad I was given that variety of content to give me clearer picture of what this department is like and whether I would enjoy it.

We are paid a set amount at the end of the week. This was nice as it helps with any costs incurred over the week, although for myself that was not much. The firm was extremely generous in providing all the food and drink for the social to ensure that everyone could go and that was very much appreciated by all.

We had the lunch with trainees on the first day, a casual drink on the first night, the social event on the Wednesday night and the trainee chat on the Thursday so there was plenty of time to network and ask any questions.

Free drinks, free food and people that are interested in what you have to say, what more can anyone ask of a networking event?

Yes, there are so many things that go on such as charity events, sports etc. that I had no idea about!

Couldn't recommend it more! It would be interesting to do more experience here in another department for comparative measures.