Summer Vacation Scheme Review

The summer programme at Cooley was two weeks in their London office. I sat with Product Compliance and Litigation. After a day and a half of orientation, a typical day on the scheme involved assisting with a broad range of real work for clients (for example, drafting a letter to opposing counsel or reviewing a client's questions sent to legal counsel); having a catch-up with my supervisor (an associate); having coffee chats; and attending sessions led by professionals at the firm on Cooley's pro bono efforts, marketing, legal intelligence etc. Every day, all the vacation scheme students would eat complimentary breakfast and lunch together at Cooley's cafe, Arthur's. Most evenings there would be a social event!

Graduate Recruitment were very good at being transparent from the start of the scheme as they explained the criteria they will use to assess each of us when deciding on training contract offers. Throughout the scheme, I was able to learn so much about Cooley through assisting on real work and doing vacation scheme assignments which relied upon us researching in-depth into the firm.

I became much more confident at networking through coffee chats and the variety of socials graduate recruitment organised. I developed my teamworking, research and time-management skills through having to balance real work, the vacation scheme assignments, coffee chats and socials.

I really got to experience the "Be Cooley" ethos first-hand as everyone who I spoke to made an effort to mentor me and give me advice. As the firm has a small trainee intake and operates within lean teams, I noticed how tight-knit everyone at the office was.

I loved the two-week scheme at Cooley. I learnt so much and found it very insightful as I was able to see first-hand how an elite US firm operates, the exact work trainees get involved in and learn about how the firm is invested in your professional development.

Yes

I would advise you to understand that Cooley specialises in life sciences, technology and products work and subsequently consider why this may interest you. Make sure you are authentic in your application and show what personally drives you outside of your academics.