Vacation Scheme Review

Really great insight into the firm. People were very freindly and knowledgable. Partner presentations on each of the practise areas were amazing, having a passionate partner explain what they do and then being able to quiz them afterwards was of great value.

I felt like they really wanted us to do well. People treated me as a future trainee rather than i was just passing through which was really nice and meant I felt like I actually got to build some relationships with people that felt longer term.

My "buddy" who was a current trainee really spent time going through my work with me, he really enjoyed the work so we had some good interesting conversations about it

I'd say what I learnt more applied what I'd learnt in my degree, which was great to be able to link everything up, especially in contract law. the skills I built upon were all the skills you need in the application process up to this point. But my knowledge of the law and how private practise works has increased dramatically and it's been a great insight.

first day was an induction where we had some really great presentations, including one by the managing partner. There was a networking evening making cocktails on the Tuesday night which was good. the first week was then mainly learning about the firm and doing work. The second week ramped it up a bit in terms of the assessment with a group presentation, group assesment and then partner interview on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday respectively. So it felt well balanced in terms of getting an oversight, but also being assessed and being able to focus on each one individually.

the current CMS employees are really freindly, relaxed, approachable, and passionate about what they do. I was really lucky and shared an office with a lawyer who was happy to chat about law and also everyday stuff like we were sharing an office normally. the firm's focused and people do get their heads down and work hard, but you never feel like they'd bite your head off if you asked them something.

The aforementioned partner practise presentations were fanatastic. We had comprehensive IT training to ensure we could do the job. We recieved presentation skills training in advance of the presentation and they talked us through how to do well in the remaining tests

Really open and honest (i hope, i've yet to start) about the pros and cons

I think by building relationships and people being open to that and freindly you get to know what the firms like through the people. I'd say I've come away thinking, passionate and expert in what they do and their industry sectors, but freindly and human at the same time

£250 for each week

2 organised networking nights with current trainees and grad recruitment. But ad hoc I went for extra drinks with the trainees twice

Good fun, cocktail making night and a sit down dinner

CSR was quite in depth asked about football etc

Definately, it gave me a much clearer understanding of what a law firm does, what this law firm does, what drives it, what it takes to be a successful lawyer, what practise area I want to investigate.