Winter Vacation Scheme Student Review

Item: Winter Vacation Scheme Student at A&O Shearman
Rating: 5
Author: Anonymous

at A&O Shearman

Insight / Vacation Scheme (< 4 Weeks)

Commercial Law

London

Review Submitted: December 2025

Overall Rating

5 /5

The Overall Rating is the average of all the ratings given in each category. We take those individual ratings and combine them into one final score!

5/5 - Overview of Experience

5/5 - Skills Development

5/5 - Company Culture

5/5 - Overall Experience

5/5 - Recommendations and Advice

Overview of Experience

Please give an overview of the insight and what was involved on a day-to-day basis.

The Vacation Scheme was really enjoyable - everyone was lovely and really open to teaching you. Equally, everyone I reached out to was always happy to engage and answer any questions I might have about the firm. I had a great experience and definitely recommend applying!

How would you rate the structure of the insight

5/5

What was it like understanding all about the business and potential roles available?

It was really insightful to take on trainee-style tasks such as updating the merger control table and researching potential market dominance issues. Both the work and conversation I had this past week gave me a much better understanding of the firm and the role of a trainee.

Please rate how insightful you found the insight

5/5

Skills Development

Have you learnt any new skills or developed existing skills?

Yes! All the tasks I took on were completely new to me and I have learnt a lot - including how to use varying types of legal tech.

How would you rate the training provided during your experience?

5/5

How would you rate the knowledge learned around industry-specific skills during the experience?

5/5

How would you rate the knowledge learned around personal or professional skills during the experience?

5/5

Please rate how the knowledge learned has helped you with regards to your career development

5/5

Company Culture

What was the company culture and general atmosphere like?

Going into the Scheme, we were reassured that our performance was not being compared against others and that theoretically a TC had been saved for everyone. This meant that everyone was able to be more friendly, and I didn't experience any of the competitive spirit that I have heard is common in such Schemes.