Summer Vacation Scheme Student Review

Our time at the firm was dedicated to exposing us to the legal world and the practices within it.
Sitting in Energy and Infrastructure, I was given tasks such as review documents and contracts, drafting emails, and witnessing client meetings which deepened my understanding of what was the day-to-day work of lawyers within the area I was sat in.
These sessions were accompanied by presentation hosted with the help of HR to introduced us to the work handled in other departments, with which we engaged less. I left this internship, not only feeling more knowledgeable about the work that my supervisor and colleagues were doing, but obtaining valuable information over the breadth of work offered within the entirety of the workplace.

I feel like the structure of working at a legal firm was very throughly explained throughout, whether it was by supervisors, trainees that are engaging with the next steps we would be entering, and lawyers across the establishment which we could regularly interact with through coffee chats and meeting.
I definitely feel more confident about dedicating the next steps of my life to a professional sector which from an outsider’s point of view is seemingly more opaque, now that I’ve been given the tools and exposure necessary to my understanding.

I think analytical skills remain primordial in this field of work. Through rereading contracts, I not only delved into areas I had never been confronted to and learn about the technicalities of it, but also developed my attention to detail and rigour which are both crucial to the profession.
Evidently however, we can’t do much when focusing on legal work as we remain unqualified which carried its parts of frustration.

We had access to coffee chats with the most wonderful people. I have rarely seen a corporate environment this welcoming and open and this is decidedly one of the factors that makes this firm stand out in its excellence.

The fact I felt it was too short is a testament to its quality. I very much enjoyed the people and the trainers I was lucky enough to be paired with and they would always go out of their way to explain things to me. I think I would’ve like the scheme to be longer to learn more and apply some of the recently acquired knowledge to practice which I didn’t have the time to do.

Yes

Always reach out to people around to learn more. I found myself to be surrounded with individuals happy to help and I am really glad I had the courage to just ask, which is daunting at first, but incredibly rewarding.