Summer Intern Review

First week was very social. The days were spent in the office getting to know the firm and the other interns; we were encouraged to socialise with each other outside of office hours.
Second week - in litigation and regulatory group. My line manager made sure to get me involved with as many client calls as possible (I think I averaged one per day).
Third week - in restructuring - a lot of the work was in helping the team to understand the structure of the proposed transaction. They listened to the areas that I asked for exposure to.

It's a law firm, and so understanding the business to a degree is important before applying. In any commercial environment, it's important to understand how the business works, but there is perhaps a greater onus on this in commercial law. That said, the way that the scheme is structure develops this understanding. Many of the talks/lectures are geared towards helping interns to understand the corporate structure, and the Early Careers Team go to great lengths to get the most senior people at the Firm to talk to interns. This provides a great overview of the Firm's leadership structure globally, and how the Firm is driven by relationships.

I come from a "non-law" background, so I have had to learn a different skillset in terms of how lawyers write and research. This was a subtle adjustment, but a valuable skill.
The scheme is very communication and relationship heavy. Before starting, I would have said this was a weakness of mine (pitching and presenting, rather than communicating), but I think that this has been developed, both directly and indirectly throughout.

The Firm seems to take the approach that you get more out of your people i they enjoy working where they work. This is evident in the corporate culture, and is a top-down system, where the leadership have, both for business reasons and because it's the right thing to do, sought to make this an enjoyable place to work.
There are an awful lot of genuine friendships that stretch beyond colleague to colleague pleasantries.

I've had a fantastic time, both socially and 'professionally'

Yes