Summer Vacation Student Review

If I was offered a permanent place I would accept it. The socials in the evenings are beyond what and student might expect (or have experienced) and the work was valuable. Although the weeks can be stressful and tiring, and the awareness of being assessed for a permanent position puts a lot of pressure on interns, even if you didn't get a place, it would be excellent experience for all involved.

"Like family" would be taking it a bit far, but we were very welcome. Many of the trainees are only a few years older than most uni students and were more than happy to go out and socialise with us in the evening. People were more than happy to explain both the deals and the individual pieces of work to us despite our relative lack of knowledge/experise.

Although occasionally there would not be any particular work to do, this seemed more to do with the nature of the practice and not the efforts of the management. Grad recruitment gave us plenty of advice and pointers before we started about how to behave, what to do during office hours etc.

Very occasionally (particularly near the end of the day) there would not be enough to keep busy but the vast majority of the time there was enough work without unmanageable deadlines or too many tasks at once.

Obviously as unqualified lawyers any work we did for clients had to be checked by a trainee or associate to make sure we hadn't dropped the ball but as working relationships built up I was trusted to do proper work rather than (as I have found with other experiences in legal work experience) secreterial/admin/research.

A lot of interns agreed we're probably learnt more about the reality of law in these two weeks than we have in our degree - exposure to drafting, client calls, emails etc. gave me the foundations to develop the skills that I will need to be a solicitor that I might not get in an academic degree.

Obviously a high pressure enviroment affects the atmosphere in any office but this was exciting and good experience of real-life work in a law firm rather than stressful. There was good rapport between the interns and solicitors and plenty of chance to chat about things beyond the work.

Thanks to an online calendar we were never uncertain aoout what we were meant to be doing or where we were meant to be. We were given plenty of information with regards to evening events and on occasion, when other transport options weren't available/feasible taxis would be provided - this was great, particularly when a large group of you are going somewhere and the tube would be inconvenient.

The firm gave us plenty of training and talks on different sectors, departments, practices etc. and development sessions and workishops to do with, for example, litigation or real estate deals. As the firm hopes/intends to recruit from this internship I believe they have tried to get the bets out of us and see how well we can develop in the four weeks we are here.

There is an interview in August for a training contract, and given my experience with the firm I would be very keen to take up any offer.

All of the other interns, including those visiting from India, were happy to get involved with social events and eat together in the canteen etc. - I have spent time with many of the interns outside of office hours and structured social events.

London is always going to expensive but the number of (free) social events coupled with the decent pay meant that going out for dinner or a drink after work was well within our means,

Although Moorgate itself closes fairly early, there are enough places nearby (e.g. Shoreditch) which are lively right into the night. The social events arranged by the firm went on as late as people were happy to stay out and we had plenty of chances to do the usual student clubbing nights.

Getting involved in Corporate Responsibility work has been encouraged, as has football, using the gym etc. We have also had many oppurtunities to attend department parties, which have been great fun and a good chance to meet a wider group of employees.