Vacation Scheme Placement Review

I really enjoyed the placement, it was great to be helping with cases and doing real work as opposed to things which weren't adding value to the firm.

I felt extremely valued at Walker Morris; the associates and trainees made me feel like I was contributing and helping then rather than them having to find tasks for me to do. Some of the work was also quite challenging which gave me a sense of responsibility and want to do it to the best of my ability.

I received much guidance on the vacation placement, both in the assessed tasks and in my relevant team. This was crucial as I think in such an environment, it's easy to feel uncomfortable when you don't receive guidance. Walker Morris got the balance just right between giving guidance and leaving me to work on taks in an independent manner which required me to think and structure what I was doing.

Working in the firm has given me a greater understanding of how the law works in practice, as these skills are not the kind of skills you acquire through a law degree at University. Practical communication skills are something I've learnt a lot about this week, particularly in regards to communicating with a client as opposed to merely understnading the theory of law.

The insight had a good structure with a clear timetable of when and where to be. It took a while to find my way around the office, but once I had my bearings I knew where I was going and could be on time. Anything we weren't sure of, we were able to communicate via email and get the answers we needed.

The working environment at Walker Morris is unique; where other firms have a culture which makes you nervous/uncomfortable, Walker Morris prides itself in an open-door policy with friendly, down to earth staff. It made the firm stand out to me and consequently I really enjoyed the placement.

The firm invested in the vac scheme students a lot - I have been given good amounts of responsibility over my week in real work as opposed to workbooks which some firms offer. Working on real cases and assisting trainees and associates alike shows WM's commitment to valuing and investing in the students. Being able to attend client meetings also gave me the ability to see the appropriate manner in which to speak to clients - something that you don't learn in law school! Being given real work came with a sense of responsibility which helped with my personal development as I was able to research thoroughly and give 100% effort into the tasks.

To an extent, I learnt a about what it's like to be a trainee at Walker Morris, though it is difficult to work on real cases having not had the training that a lawyer obviously has. The tasks we performed weren't necessarily a thorough representative of what the laywers do on a day to day basis, but this was helping by lawyersbeing willing to explain their structure on a particular case. Furthermore, trainees gave presentations which helped with understanding what it's like to work in the firm. In summary, although we were not able to see the full extent of what a trainee lawyer does in practice, thorough explanations and presentations helped.

Working in the office alongside another associate really helped in understanding the culture, as I was present for a number of meetings and discussions. The firm really does have an open-door policy, therefore it wasn't uncommon for partners and assocaites alike to come and discuss certain things with me ,and I didn't feel uncomfortable to go and ask questions. The culture of the firm is something that made me differentiate it from other law firms, as the people are very friendly and down-to-earth, something important to a healthy working environment and something I desire in a law firm.

The content of the day helped with a particular aspect of the law, however because we could only experience 1 department, we were not able to see all aspects of the firm. This was definitely the right approach, however, considering we got a good feel for the department we were in. I think it is difficult at university level to have an idea of the area of law we want to go into when we don't have experience of a number of fields, especially not in practice. We were paid for the vacation scheme, which was brilliant considering most agreed they would do such a valuable placement for free considering the competative legal market.

In terms of networking, the first day consisted of a lunch which enabled us to communicate with a wide variety of the firm before going to our chosen department. Furthermore, a trainee social event was organised so we could go and ask the trainees any questions over drinks after work. This was great as it was an informal setting where the trainees could give their honest experiences of the firm. In terms of day to day meeting of employees, it was difficult to network considering the busy nature of the job.

The social event was really enjoyable and relaxed which was perfect after the assessment day. The trainees were friendly and welcoming and gave their experiences of the firm which were invaluable to deciding if the firm was right for us. The networking over lunch was crowded due to office refurbishment but useful to get to know members of the team and our associates who we were assigned to for the week.

There wasn't much opportunity to find out about activities to get involved with outside of work, probably due to the fact that apart from social events, commercial law hours are extremely long. Despite not having a presentation on this kind of activity, I am sure that if we were interested and asked someone, they would be keen to give us an answer.

The insight was a brilliant way to gain experience of what it's like to work in commercial law, particularly in regards to regional firms. Walker morris has an outstanding reputation in the UK despite its single office, and increasingly takes on international European work.