Academy participant Review

The first week was focused on the business of law, there was a simulation exercise, a client dialogue, info on pro bono, a group presentation based on a challenge we were set and practice sessions on LUPL. The week was run by a company called mind 3, and included lots of reflection activities. The second week was meant to be the legal internship but the only task that we did was a group research project.

There wasn't much of an opportunity to learn or develop new skills on the internship as we were not given many tasks or projects to complete, most of the time on the internship was spent sitting and listening rather than actively participating. As the internship was completed online there was an opportunity to develop relationship building and teamwork skills virtually. There were discussions around what skills and qualities good lawyers have, for example the o shaped lawyer.

There were practice group sessions during the second week of the internship. This was to provide insight into the different areas of the business that you could qualify into and the different seats you could do during your training. This was not very insightful as there were 150 people in the call and were not given an opportunity to interact ourselves and ask questions as there were so many people. It would have been better if they did smaller groups for the practice session activities and we could ask questions ourselves.

The company culture was very friendly, there were people willing to talk to you and answer your questions via email. However, on the scheme itself there was not really an opportunity to do this as there were so many people all in one zoom or Microsoft teams call so you could not really interact personally with anyone, unless you wanted to email them outside of the scheme. Further, there were 'networking sessions' however these were just with the other academy participants and not with anyone from the firm.

It was enjoyable getting to know a the other academy participants through the networking sessions, reflection times and group projects. However, there was no opportunity to network with people who actually worked at CMS. This meant we were not really given an honest insight into what working there is like and were unable to ask the questions we wanted and interact in a way which would benefit us. I also felt as though a lot of time was wasted on reflection activities which instead could have been used for longer q and a sessions to learn more about the firm.

No

When applying to cms make sure you compare the CMS Academy and people's experiences on the vacation scheme to the vacation schemes at other firms as if you are expecting to be able to have an insight into what work you would be doing as a trainee or get to sit in different practice groups this is not the vacation scheme for you. Instead there are lots of talks, little engagement, and many 'reflection' exercises.