Work Experience Participant Review

My work experience was an interactive and informative week outlining different aspects of the legal sector, pathways into law as well as interactive presentations and activities to complete by myself. There was so much to do across the course of the week and I was particularly interested in the interactive sessions with other students and the legal tasks we were given to complete by ourself.

I developed my ability to critically analyse and condense legal documents, work as a team with other students and I was able to develop more realistic view of what a lawyer does on a daily basis and what their work involves. By completing written tasks and reading, I definitely learnt how to pay closer attention to detail and think logically about legal scenarios.

I absolutely loved my week's work experience with Pinsent Masons. It was such an informative, insightful and engaging week, full of a range of tasks from debating with my peers to legal tasks (including lease contracts and statutory interpretation and drafting). I definitely finished the week with a better understanding of what a lawyer does on a daily basis, as well as the different pathways I can follow.

My work experience was very well organised. Before the work experience even began the Early Talent Team at Pinsent masons did a trial event on Teams to ensure all participants had everything they needed/ were able to access the platform the work experience was held on. This organisation was maintained throughout the rest of the week, delivering a fun and interactive programme that was easy to access.

I learnt a lot about the company culture and what it would be like to work there. Firstly, each student was allocated two supervisors - these supervisors were solicitors/ trainee solicitors who worked at Pinsent Masons. This interaction enabled me to ask questions about the firm and its culture and receive answers on what felt to be a more personal level. Additionally, I enjoyed presentations on how the firm is a 'Responsible Business' and also about the teams they have across the UK to focus on giving back to the local community.

This work experience has helped me a lot in deciding my future career path. Not only did I learn about the different pathways into the legal sector, it made me realise that being a lawyer would be so much fun! I definitely hope that in the future I will be pursue it as a career, providing I am successful!

No I was not paid for this work experience - but this didn't bother me! I am just so grateful to have been given such an amazing opportunity. Unfortunately, due to COVID, this work experience had to be held online - but this meant there were no travel costs etc. I just needed a laptop to join on!

There was so much opportunity for networking and meeting other employees. We each had a supervisor that we were able to talk to about their experiences as lawyers and ask them any questions we felt necessary. Additionally, whenever a talk was delivered we were able to ask any questions again - the only downside was that we were unable to add any employees on Linkedin due to safeguarding issues, but this is understandable. On the very last day there was also a 'networking' lunch. This enabled all work experience participants to talk to each other.

Yes

For all the reasons I have already outlined above! Pinsent Masons seems to have such an amicable, open and welcoming culture. Throughout the week all the employees involved in delivering the experience were friendly and always happy to help. If I ever felt like I needed some extra support/ help I would certainly have been more than happy to email in to ask for some extra support. The Early Talent Team were amazing throughout the whole programme.

I don't really have many tips or advice. There was an application process online in which you had to fill in details about your schooling and any experience you had, as well as submitting a CV. You should 100% give it a go as it is such an amazing opportunity - the best work experience I have done to date!