Summer Vacation Scheme Review

You are placed in two seats (you get to submit preferences in advance) where you sit in the room with your supervisor (mid- to senior associate) and shadow them completing any tasks they give you. Tasks can include taking minutes for meetings, drafting shareholder resolutions, research, due diligence, proof reading and more. The work you are given is supposed to be 'real' work that actually needs doing for the business and/or clients.

Learnt to draft memos and shareholder resolutions. I also developed my proofreading/attention-to-detail. As a non-law student I did my first bout of legal research as well.

It was an incredibly invaluable experience, you get a full picture of what working in a commercial law environment is like. There is only so much of the firm's 'culture' (of which all firms make such a big deal) you can glean from the internet or even talking to people. Once you're actually in the environment, see the kind of pressures people are under and the attitude of the partners to training and juniors you can fully grasp the culture and understand the nature of the business.

There is a very collegial culture across the whole firm. They work hard on being less hierarchical than the partnership structure would imply. Most partners are keen to chat to vac scheme students and get involved in training and career development for more junior team members. There are also micro-cultures among the different divisions (main practice areas) and the teams within them. In non-contentious teams there is a real emphasis on giving responsibility to trainees early on and scaling-up that responsibility. Disputes is more difficult on that front due to issues with rights of audience and client expectations but they make sure that trainees get a variety of work and as much responsibility as they can to make up for that.

I absolutely loved it. Because they are getting you to do 'real' work and assessing your engagement with the wider team, there will be times when you don't necessarily have much to do as a vac scheme student. This is your opportunity to show willing as seek out work, also to observe your supervisor, understand what their day-to-day looks like and ask questions. Everyone is very willing to answer questions which made the whole thing so enjoyable as I got all the information I felt I needed.

Yes

HSF has world-leading disputes practice but that is not everything they do. Make sure you show interest in both sides of the work (what they call their 'twin engines'). They genuinely don't have a template of a trainee they're looking for so the best thing to do is show your whole self, your interests, strengths and what makes you different. HSF lawyers are very proud of the things they work on and they know that applicants won't know everything they work on (their confidentiality procedures are thorough and well-adhered-to) but those things they do publicise, that is usually because it was big or important, or specifically emphasises some element of how they work. Hone in on that. Also, they really value attention-to-detail; check over everything you send them at least 3 times.