Summer Vacation Placement Review
by Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP
This review was submitted over 4 years ago, so some of the information it contains may no longer be relevant.
Rating
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About You
3.0
-
The Company
2.9
-
Everything Else
3.4
- 1. To what extent did you enjoy the insight?
- 2. To what extent did you feel valued during your time at the company or firm?
- 3. How much guidance/support did you receive during the insight?
- 4. To what extent did/will the skills you developed, and information you received, assist you in your degree studies and beyond?
- 5. How well structured was the insight?
- 6. How was the general atmosphere during your insight?
- 7. In terms of personal training and development, to what extent did the company or firm invest in you?
- 8. To what extent did the insight help you to understand what it would be like to have a full time role with the company or firm?
- 9. How much did the insight help you in understanding the company culture?
- 10. How valuable was the content in helping you to decide on your future career path?
- 11. Were you paid or reimbursed adequately for this experience?
- 12. Were there opportunities for networking and meeting other employees of the company or firm?
- 13. How were the networking/ social event opportunities?
- 14. Did you find out about activities that employees can get involved in outside of work?
- 15. Would you recommend this insight to a friend?
About You
This insight was enjoyable. It is a good firm with generally nice people who are happy to help. However, it is clear that trainees are concerned about retention rates in light of problems the firm seems to be facing.
I did feel valued during the vacation scheme. People were happy to help me and seemed interested in me as a person. However, there was a lot of talk of the firm spending money on the scheme and trainees rather than current staff.
I received some guidance when undertaking tasks such as proofreading and memos. However, there weren't as many opportunities to ask questions as I would have liked and people seemed very busy.
Skills are unlikely to be useful during my degree unfortunately. However, they will be useful when deciding where to undertake a training contract and when distinguishing between the various different firms.
The Company
Well structured on paper but not so much in practice. There were various talks but some ran late and this caused difficulties with supervisors who were expecting us back at a certain time.
People seemed very concerned about job security. This was upsetting as the lawyers were nice and clearly hard working too.
Money was spent on social events such as drinks. There was a talk by the managing partner which was interesting. Not so much time actually networking with staff though.
The insight was helpful in determining what it would be like to work at the firm. It was difficult to really get a feel of the firm though due to the current problems it is facing.
I was able to understand the culture of the firm. It appears to be a friendly firm with a focus on teamwork. However, trainees did sometimes have to stay late on their own to finish tasks.
Content was useful. Good mix of talks, social events and time actually at the seats. Learnt a lot about how solicitors work too.
Everything Else
£275 a week which was adequate.
There were some opportunities for networking and meeting other employees. This was good to understand the culture of BLP.
Lots of opportunities to drink and network. This was welcome however other, more varied events would have been really good too.
We talked through the Pro Bono work that the firm does along with the sports teams that we could get involved in!
It was a good insight and which was well paid. However, we were not given that many opportunities to find out that much about the firm.
Details
Insight / Vacation Scheme (< 4 Weeks)
London
August 2013
