Vacation Placement Student Review

As a history student aiming to become a commercial lawyer, the vacation scheme placement was an incredibly helpful and useful insight for the two weeks I was at Pinsent Masons. The employees were very keen to ask me about my interest in law as well as clearly demonstrating why they enjoyed working in law, and indeed at Pinsent Masons itself, so much. I got a chance to go to Court, whilst also being given difficult and detailed tasks within the litigation department. I would highly recommend this placement to any student aiming to become a lawyer and aiming to work in a friendly, professional, and expert law firm.

All of the employees were extremely accommodating and set me some challenging tasks whilst I was here - I was responsible for a number of bundles and cost assessment sheets, whilst also doing some research for a PDL in the litigation department and for an employee at the international Russian desk, from where I was able to research many legal research tools, such as WestLaw. I felt like the work I was doing at Pinsent Masons was challenging but also rewarding and since I was able to accomplish a list of tasks whilst I was here I felt they set work at an appropriate level for my current knowledge of the law, overall I felt very valued and would happily have stayed at the placement for a lot longer.

My trainee supervisor and my supervisor, and also the other people who sat around me in the open play layout, all took an interest in my entry to the firm and gave me some interesting tasks to help them with their current work in litigation. If i ever came across a professional or personal hurdle, I felt very comfortable going to ask for assistance or advice, and therefore I received a good level of guidance during my time here.

I brought with me a specific skill set from doing a history degree, research abilities and writing capabilities. However, the firm has added to these so many legal, professional and life skills, such as understanding better the interaction between law and commerce, and teaching me to draft particular legal documents, hugely useful skills for the future as I am to pursue a career in law. I also learnt how to work well within a team, and show my skills whilst realising that I had a lot to learn from the other employees.

The assessments, socials, day-to-day tasks and general experience was flawless, there were also presentations to introduce each of the vacation placement students to the rest of the firm - which were useful in getting all of us to understand what the firms key values and objectives are, and giving us a real insight into what life at the firm would be like if we are offered a training contract.

The people were extremely friendly, and work was highly valued by all of the employees, and therefore the general atmosphere was a great balance between professional and academically interesting, whilst also practically useful and a happy atmosphere within which to dedicate my skills. There were also great socials which were good for meeting other lawyers and trainees and finding out more about the firm and life in general as a lawyer.

I was taught a lot about specific legal documents, such as bundles or research tasks or attendance notes, which took a bit of time from my trainee supervisor and my supervisor's own time, so I was really grateful for this assistance. I often was in meetings about my own personal training and development with the people surrounding me in the litigation practice, so that evidently showed how committed the firm was in my personal development, even though I only spent two weeks at Pinsent Masons, another example of the firm investing in it's trainees and prospective potential future applicants.

I was involved in the open plan layout with my own desk amongst trainees, partners, associates, PDLs, court clarks, and other members of the law firm so I really got to see how the firm worked on a day-to-day basis, and how people interacted with one another on a professional level. Thus it was an excellent representation of a full time role within the firm.

The company culture at Pinsent Masons is all-inclusive, approachable, friendly and really excellent. Not only are the lawyers professional and interested in my future potential as a lawyer, but they were very personable and easy to talk to, and excellently showed the culture of Pinsent Masons as a hardworking, expert, but also down-to-earth and friendly law firm to work within.

Pinsent Masons has been hugely generous in reimbursing all of my travel expenses whilst also giving a generous salary to the vacation placement students.

Yes, through presentations, office drinks, and generally around the firm where people introduced themselves to me and discussed my time at the firm.

The office drinks and socials, and casual meetings during the day, were excellent opportunities for meeting other employees within the firm and everyone was very approachable.

Different sports opportunities, music, Corporate Responsibilities, inter-department workshops, future potential projects (mostly to do with the Corporate Responsibility team) - overall the firm invests in it's employees not just professionally but on a hugely personal level too.

Absolutely, I think this is a perfect opportunity for someone trying to work out whether they want to be a commercial lawyer, how the best approach is to get into the right area of commercial law, (i.e. environment-related commerical law, corporate, litigation, etc) and for someone wanting to work in a directed, driven, hard-working, capable and friendly law firm.