Vacation Scheme Student Review

The scheme included a mix of group sessions (e.g. practice overviews, Q&As, talks from partners, etc.), a two-part project, a trainee simulation task, tasks set by my principal in my seat, and coffee chats I organised with employees to hear about a topic of interest to me. There were also socials in the evenings (incl. a virtual murder mystery!) and a client pitch exercise.

I got a good insight into the trainee role, and in particular the role of trainees at Linklaters. I also learned a lot about how that role develops as one becomes more senior.

I learned a lot about the firm: its culture, its values, its internal structure and how individual teams work with each other, etc. I also learned a lot about the people who work at the firm through individual chats where I heard about their experiences.
The project helped me develop my commercial awareness and attention to detail, as well as my communication skills. The client pitch exercise was a great way to practice presenting.

friendly: people were very welcoming, eager to get to know me and by background and to hear about my experience on the scheme
dynamic: everyone was clearly very bright and worked very hard
diverse and inclusive: there was a strong emphasis on D&I and the people I met very much reflected this
sociable: people seemed to genuinely like one another and to enjoy working together

I very much enjoyed the insight. There was a great mix of activities to keep me busy and to make each day interesting. It was stressful to some extent as I knew I was being assessed, but people were always trying to put me at my ease and to support me in getting to know the firm and improving my understanding of the trainee role. I would definitely do the scheme again!

Yes