Summer Vacation Student Review

Thoroughly enjoyed the placement. The firm make you feel at home right away and you can really fit into the team culture here. The quality of work is good and feedback is thorough and I can honestly say I have learnt a lot during my time here.

The people make a real effort to get you involved in anything that comes up. I was fortunate enough to attend a corporate hospitality event one evening at a local sporting venue! You are treated with respected and encouraged to flourish.

Each task, now matter how simple, was fully explained and I felt I could approach my supervise easily if I encountered any difficulties.

The Supervisors at Pinsents make a real effort to ensure that you are receiving the right balance of work and if they feel that your workload may be getting too big they will talk to you to ensure you are okay and redistribute if necessary. Having said that, if you are willing to put in the extra effort and occasionally stay late, you can manage your own workload really well which is a great skill to learn.

If you are enthusiastic and willing to learn you will be given a lot of responsibility. Obviously everything you do will be checked before it is sent, but that is often true of qualified solicitors as well. I was allowed to draft original documents and given responsibility to ensure everything was included that needed to be.

I have learnt such a variety of skills such as time management, prioritisation, drafting and client relationship skills that will be invaluable and set me in good stead for my future career.

Although a commercial working environment, due to the open plan office, you can always join in on a conversation whilst you are working. There was a great sense of humour about the team and I think it makes everyone more productive knowing they can have a laugh with their colleagues.

The placement had a nice balance between departmental work, practice presentations, trainee events and Partner social events. There was always something new to do or learn about which kept me highly motivated.

All placement students nationwide were sent to London for IT training and other general training. Although only there for two weeks, the firm made a great effort to ensure we were all well prepared to work in the office and it made me feel more confident about going into work the next day.

Whilst on the placement, each candidate was assessed for a future career at the firm. After the two weeks, the future prospects are very appealing and I will shortly find out whether or not I will be offered a Training Contract with the firm.

All of the placement students got on well and although some travelled a long distance to work everyday, they would still come out for drinks or a meal after work.

Birmingham is a great city for socialising and has a huge variety of bars and restaurants. Certain places were fairly cheap and others were more expensive. We were never taken anyway outrageously expensive. Overall the cost of socialising is relatively cheap.

Good variety of bars and clubs. If you go out on a work night there are plenty of bars for a few quiet drinks. If you want to go out for a long night on a Friday or Saturday there is a lot of clubs ranging from the student scene to a more professional scene.

Although the football season was over, the girls got the opportunity to partake in Netball and as mentioned above, there were corporate hospitality events that some placement students got to attend.