What to expect from a vacation placement with a law firm
Your vacation placement experience will be more jam-packed than a squidgy jam doughnut. You can expect to be given a varied itinerary of events, ranging from client meetings to tours of the City or nights on the town. Placements are structured, with the emphasis on adding to your skills base and giving you a real taster of life at a particular firm. Come the end, you’ll have a definite idea of whether a firm is for you or not.
Getting your feet under the desk during work experience
Where and who you’ll be sitting with varies from firm to firm. Some allow their vacation placement students to share offices with each other, while others find it beneficial to have students sharing an office with a partner or senior associate. Most firms operate a rotational placement, meaning that you’ll get to sit in at least two departments. Others will have you sit in one place and bring you work from a variety of departments. Again, this varies from firm to firm. Placements are very structured but they cover a lot so ideally you should experience some of the following:
- seminars or presentations – to introduce you to various aspects of the firm’s work and help you get a feel for the bigger picture
- office-based legal work – tasks such as drafting and undertaking legal research
- training in areas such as negotiating or interviewing techniques
- attending client meetings and, possibly, court
- participation in a business project task with othervacation placement students, presenting your findingsto an experienced solicitor at the end
- social/educational functions – many of the larger firms lay on social mixers for students to meet with trainees and partners alike and fit in some sightseeing tours at the same time. Not bad considering you’re getting paid for the privilege!