Freshfields Summer Vacation Scheme
If you want to become a solicitor, doing a vacation scheme is a great way to show recruiters that you’re committed to a legal career. It will also give you a taste of what working at a law firm might be like before you start applying for training contracts.
The Freshfields Summer Vacation Scheme gives you the opportunity to do six weeks of relevant legal work with a view to pursuing a career in law. You will gain experience of working at a demanding pace where both character and intellect are tested. Most importantly, you will be building the skills needed to pursue a long-term career in our profession. Each year around 100 students complete the Summer Vacation Scheme. Will you be joining Freshfields Solicitors’ Summer Vacation Scheme? Leader in London’s legal market, they offer a challenging and exciting opportunity to work with the best that the legal industry has to offer.
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What Is A Summer Vacation Scheme
A vacation scheme is a way of gaining invaluable work experience at a law firm. Schemes commonly last between one and four weeks and give you an opportunity to:
- Experience first-hand what life as a trainee solicitor is like
- Explore the firm’s key areas of legal practice and client base
- Understand the type of tasks you will be expected to perform as a trainee solicitor
- Understand the culture and work ethic of a law firm
- Establish whether you are suited to a career in law
Freshfields Summer Vacation Scheme 2022
What Do Law Vacation Schemes Involve?
Work-Based TasksDuring your vacation scheme, you will be expected to perform tasks that a trainee solicitor would. You will be supervised, supported and ultimately assessed by one of the firm’s partners or associate solicitors, assisting on a variety of deals and/or cases. You will also have an opportunity to work alongside and observe current trainees.
Day-to-day vacation scheme tasks may include:
- Performing legal research
- Drafting, amending and reviewing legal documents
- Attending and taking minutes of meetings
- Attending court
- Proofreading
- Performing administrative tasks such as filing, document management and photocopying
- Group Exercises
Some law firms like to set group tasks, projects and exercises to simulate a scenario a solicitor would face, for example, a mock negotiation. They’re great chances to demonstrate the following to your law firm:
- Teamwork
- Effective communication
- Problem solving
- Commercial awareness
Ensure that you show these core skills to the best of your ability to give yourself the best opportunity to shine.
- Socialising
Law firms tend to embrace socialising and networking amongst fellow vacation scheme students and the law firm’s employees by organising social events. These could include lunches, dinners and drinks out. Use these events to connect with as many people as possible and broaden your network.
Law Vacation Scheme Benefits
- You’ll get a genuine insight into life as a trainee solicitor at a particular law firm
- You can broaden your network and make vital links and contacts with experienced lawyers
- You will realise whether a career in law is right for you
- You’ll get constructive feedback on your work, allowing you to develop your core skills
- Your CV will look great when you start your training contract applications
- At the end of a vacation scheme, you may be considered for a training contract.
Are Vacation Schemes Paid
Salaries
Your salary will depend on the law firm and the location of your vacation scheme. It could range from merely covering travel expenses to a weekly salary of up to £500. Take a look at our deadlines calendar for specific law firm salaries.
Freshfields Vacation Scheme Application Process
When to Apply
You should apply in the penultimate year of your undergraduate degree.
- Application deadlines for spring/summer vacation schemes tend to be around January time
- Application deadlines for winter vacation schemes tend to be around October/November time
Other Options
If you do not manage to secure a vacation placement, there are plenty of other work experience opportunities available. Options include:
- Sending an ad hoc CV and covering letter to smaller/high street law firms that do not run vacation schemes
- Applying for mini pupillages or other work experience in a court setting
- Exploring summer schemes and legal internships run by the larger commercial organisations such as investment and commercial banks, media and telecoms companies and accountancy firms
- Sending an ad hoc CV and covering letter to smaller commercial organisations that do not run structured schemes
Am I eligible?
You’re eligible to apply for the vacation scheme if you are a penultimate-year undergraduate studying any degree. You can therefore apply if you are in your second year of a three-year course or third year of a four-year course.
You’ll also need the right to work in the UK as our vacation scheme is a paid placement. If you have a visa to study in the UK, you’ll need to ensure that our vacation scheme falls outside of your term time.
Our vacation scheme is very competitive. If you are applying for a training contract, don’t worry if you didn’t get a place on our vacation scheme – we will still consider your application.
To apply for a place on our vacation scheme, complete our application form and write a personal statement of up to 850 words. If you are invited to the next stage of the process, you will complete the Watson Glaser test to assess your critical-thinking skills. If you are successful at that stage, we will invite you to a half-day assessment centre.
A lot of trust is placed in you and you’re given opportunities to prove yourself.
Panashe JingaAssociate
Summer Vacation Offers
Applicants with disabilities
Freshfields is committed to being a disability-inclusive employer. We are constantly searching for ways to attract and progress our disabled talent. We partner with Business Disability Forum, who help organisations become disability smart, and are part of their Global Taskforce. We also work with Myplus Consulting who advise on better attracting, retaining and progressing talented disabled undergraduates and graduates, and EmployAbility, who provide personalised adjustments advice.
If you have a disability, we want you to be able to show your full potential. We will provide any adjustments and/or support you need during the recruitment process. Adjustments we can make include assistive technology, extra time, offering interviews at a specific time and ensuring ease of physical access.
Doing something other than law at university doesn’t rule you out.
I studied French at Bristol University. Everyone I spoke to encouraged me to do whatever I wanted to do and the door to law would always be open.
I did a vacation scheme at the end of my third year.
I had taken a year out so I then had another year at university. I sat in project finance, which is something I knew absolutely nothing about as a second-year French undergraduate. The trainees and associates (who you spend most of your time with on a vacation scheme) were very supportive, so there was a good atmosphere and it was a great place to learn.
During the vacation scheme, we all had to research a topic to present to a partner.
For me, that was the most satisfying part of the experience (and still as daunting now as it was then!). There are some other interesting exercises, such as group negotiating, and you experience some of the day-to-day work by getting involved in whatever your supervisor is doing.
There are plenty of social events outside of work.
During the three weeks of the scheme, current trainees organise activities. We had a very eclectic mix: a graffiti workshop, climbing the O2 dome, going to a circus show and a dinner at a restaurant in Mayfair. Lots of the people I did the vacation scheme with became trainees and are now associates here, so it’s a good way of meeting people before you start.
Between accepting my training contract offer and joining the firm, I did my final year of university.
After graduation I did the GDL and LPC, which the firm paid for. Freshfields also contributed to living costs to enable me to focus on studying. I really made the most of a couple of extra years of being a student and did some travelling in the summers in between.
As a trainee, there can be a lot of demands on your time, but you’re always learning.
I spent six months in corporate before moving into leveraged finance. My first three months were full on, as I joined at the start of an M&A transaction. There were lots of long days and the occasional late night, but it was clearly a good experience for me because transactional work is what I enjoyed and have ended up doing.
Towards the end of my training contract, I spent three months at a large private equity client and then six months in the corporate team in Hong Kong. Seeing similar work from different perspectives like that really helps round you out as a lawyer.
It was a great feeling to qualify – I used my one-month qualifying leave to take a road trip through New Zealand.
I qualified into the private equity team, which is what I wanted after spending time there as a trainee and going on secondment to one of the team’s main clients.
When the people you work with are so nice, it makes the long days so much better.
You also get pretty well looked after with lots of social events. Highlights for me have included the corporate-wide summer party and the leveraged finance ski trip. There are plenty of perks.
