Work Experience Student Review

I listened to panel talks and informative talks about the legal sector, different pathways into law, how to write a good CV, and other useful things such as the importance of being commercially aware. We also did interactive tasks such as debates as a team and trying to come up with legal solutions for a small cosmetics business. We also got to do individual tasks which involved writing clauses using statutory language.

I learnt about how to write a CV and for this to always be organised and keep your CV up to date. The work experience also improved my communication and confidence skills as, in groups, we tried to convince others of our arguments. I also learnt about the importance of being an opportunist, where you have to make the most of your free time, such as the summer holidays, to get work experience and make connections.

I really enjoyed the work experience. I found the interactive tasks, such as the street law task, the jaffa cake debate and the legal case study really fun. I also loved learning about being a responsible business and I found the talk on employment law very interesting. It was fascinating to see what problems employment lawyers have to overcome and how they do this using empathic management.

The work experience was extremely well organised. We got emails in advance to the program so we could check out Forage beforehand. Everything on Forage was really easy to navigate and the google meets started on time. Even if there was a problem it was really easy to email someone and it was sorted very quickly.

Pinsent Masons sounds like a very inclusive company. I liked the fact that it seems like a very positive and considerate environment that really focuses on the well-being of its employees. I liked how it also has a lot of opportunities to have fun with your colleagues not on a work basis.

The work experience has given me a really good insight into the legal sector and showed me things about it that I didn't expect. It has helped me to understand what actually goes on in a law firm and the role of solicitors. It also showed me that there are many routes into law and has really helped me think about what I would like to do as a career when I leave school.

No, as it was unpaid work experience, I was not paid or reimbursed for this experience. As it was online as well there were no travel fees, meal costs or anything like that. They also provided a free platform to do it on which was great as Forage and Teams were really easy to use.

There were many opportunities for networking and meeting other employees. At lunch time there were networking lunches where we could sit and eat our lunch while talking to other students participating in the work experience. On the first and last day we also were in groups and had meetings with our supervisors which was really helpful as we could ask questions that we might not have felt comfortable to ask in a bigger group.

Yes

It seems like a really caring and friendly environment to work in and somewhere that genuinely cares about its employees. People took a real interest in the students and I never felt that a question was stupid or silly. It also was great because it provided interactive tasks which many other work experiences didn't.

I would say to just be yourself. Have some questions prepared that you want to ask and try to be confident when asking them. There are loads of opportunities to get involved with the work and different tasks and just try them all because you gain a lot of invaluable experience from them.