Summer Vacation Schemer Review

I very much enjoyed the insight into life at Pinsent Masons. The placement was well-organised, with a few social events per week and chances to socialise with the other vac schemers and trainees. I also had the opportunity to do a range of interesting work.

My team was excellent during my time at Pinsent Masons - I felt like a valued member of the team and was given interesting work to do.

I was assigned a trainee buddy and a supervisor, who was a more senior lawyer. Both took time to feedback to me and check that everything was going well throughout my placement. They were also both on hand for any questions I had and were more than happy to answer them in depth, as well as chat generally about banking law.

I learnt more about the work commercial solicitors do and how to do it - however I am still at a stage where I was involved in reasonably basic work. I developed more confidence in the workplace and felt more comfortable in such an environment.

Well structured - our first day was in London rather than Birmingham, which made it slightly harder logistically however the rest of the placement in Birmingham was well-structured, with social events planned and lunches throughout the 2 weeks.

Extremely fun and friendly team, who were happy to include me and generally looked after me extremely well. Other vac schemers were also friendly and welcoming - great atmosphere overall with good integration with current trainees.

There were daily talks about the practice areas of the firms and my department was always on hand if I had a question or didn't understand anything to explain it to me.

It gave me a good insight into the culture of the firm, the hours, the people, the work etc that the banking sector employees experience while at the firm.

Got a very good insight into the company's culture and everyone I talked to/asked emphasised the importance of the culture within the firm.

Definitely persuaded me that I would like a future career in commercial law and opened my eyes to a number of sectors that I had not previously considered practising in.

Good pay and good reimbursement of expenses

There were lunches organised to meet other employees of the firm from trainees to partners and throughout the 2 weeks, office drinks and evening events were organised for us to socialise with other vac schemers, trainees and solicitors.

Plenty of opportunities to socialise and meet people within the firm - many times with a good ratio of employees to vac schemers so we actually had a chance to talk with them and often in informal settings where we felt more at ease (office drinks, lunches...)

Lots of CSR opportunities and sporting opportunities - seemingly good work-life balance at the firm and chances for us to get involved with such opportunities.

I would definitely recommend this to a friend!