First Steps Programme Review

The first day was lots of talk from different department about their roles and responsibilities, follies by an insight into the firm, its culture and their values with presentations on pro bono and Just Purpose. This was followed by an evening social with trainees of pizza making.
The second day of the scheme involved shadowing a trainee in the tax litigation department and learning abut heir job role, I was learning about the rules around limitation and applying them to a case the team are currently working on.

It was extremely inspiring to know exactly what the roles involved I feel much more informed and now know what to look into further to develop my career.
I loved hearing from the trainees about the different seats they never put down as a preference and now are contemplating qualifying into.

I increased my confidence a lot, everybody at the firm was so friendly it made it really easy to ask all sorts of questions and develop really good connections. The trainees also gave some really valuable insight about applications, as well as specific tips for the firm.
This is not really a skill but this is something I have taken away I did not expect to, being more open minded, particularly in relation to the departments I will be looking into more. I never considered construction as an option and wrote it off assuming it would be boring, but after hearing what the trainees had to say about it and the opportunities within the it, I am now going to look into this more. Similarly its tax litigation I never would have though it was an option for me as I was intimidated by the numbers and complexity of the cases felt with. But the team explained everything so clearly and answered all my questions without any judgment, I quickly got past this and was able to see how interesting and emotive an area this is.

The best culture I have experienced in a law firm to date. They obviously work hard and to a very high standard but they clearly want you to enjoy your work and life outside of it whatever your interests may be, the hive also allows you to do this and meet other people from all departments.
They want to help you and will give you their time, you are not left to struggle and have to work everything out alone. Everyone even the associates I met accepted they do not know everything so the culture of reaching out to others to succeed together runs throughout the firm beyond the trainee stage.

I really enjoyed my time, I wish there was another day so I could sit in another department as well and spend a good amount fo time with them. I feel more focused than ever to research and continue to further my career in law. I also just rally enjoyed the meeting the people they are genuinely nice people which makes a huge difference. My mentor in tax litigation was keen to check I was doing well and she gave me loads of information about applying and made it clear she would be happy to help in the future.

Yes