Summer Internship Review

I have really enjoyed my 3 weeks at DLA Piper and have found the three weeks to not only be professionally rewarding but also personally rewarding. I have been able to interact with 100 like-minded individuals who are on the cusp of embarking on their legal careers and being able to speak to so many people from such a wide variety of backgrounds meant I really enjoyed my time at DLA. I have also learnt a great deal about the commercial realities of the legal industry that I would not have been able to learn elsewhere.

Many law firms claim to have an open-door policy with partners but DLA actually mean it. I've been able to walk through the doors of a Global Co-Chair as well as partners across practice groups and have been welcomed as if I had worked at the firm for several years. You will never feel like just an intern at DLA and that is what has made the experience even more rewarding.

We have received a lot of guidance from graduate recruitment throughout our internship as well as from our line managers. I think some more guidance when given a task would make it a 10 as there were several tasks where I felt some guidance would have saved a lot of time but overall DLA has been great at ensuring we don't feel lost during the internship.

The commercial skills and the general corporate legal skills I have been able to gain will definitely be of great use going into the future. I also feel the people I have been able to network with during my time at DLA Piper has also made this experience so rewarding.

The insight was very well structured and the 1 week spent in London interacting with interns nationwide as well as meeting the Hong Kong interns showed a real commitment by the firm to it's values. Spending 2 weeks in 2 different seats was also very rewarding and allowed you to really interact with the two teams.

The general atmosphere was really great during my time at DLA Piper. I'm not just saying this for the sake of an amazon voucher but I got on really well with all the interns and there wasn't a second where I felt I was competing against other people. I have been able to make great friends during my time on the internship and will definitely stay in contact going into the future.

The company has invested well in excess of £1000 into me on a monetary level but the time invested by those that work within the firm has been far more valuable. Partners/Associates/Trainees/Graduate Recruitment and all the other great staff have invested a lot of time and money to ensure we benefit fro our summer internship.

Being able to talk to trainees and see the work they undertake on a day-to-day basis was very valuable in understanding the work we can expect in our two years as trainees. I also believe we were given a good insight into the work that you can expect post-qualifying as an associate.