Law, laughs, and Love Island: The Pinsent Masons Experience

“When you’re preparing to start a Summer Placement at a firm, you become acutely aware of all the horror stories that friends and classmates have collected over the years. Tales of stuffy afternoons locked away in dark offices, of days spent chained to a photocopier, and of the horrific moment when you first consider coming into the office with a sleeping bag.

Those stories could not have been more different from my time in Pinsent Masons’ Glasgow office.

When we arrived on the induction day, we were immediately met by friendly trainees who were happy to speak to us over coffee and snacks. That welcoming atmosphere was a constant throughout our time there, and the three weeks that have just flown by have been everything you could ask for from a Vacation Placement.

The work was always interesting and varied, there was plenty of room for training and development, and we had plenty of opportunities to have a good look at the life of a lawyer at Pinsents. The best part of it all, though, was definitely the social side.

Every day we spent in the office was one where we were fully welcome in the office chat, where all the members of staff made us feel really part of the team. Nobody let the fact that you were only there for a few weeks, or that you didn’t share the extent of their expertise, or even the fact that you knew almost nothing about Love Island get in the way of talking to you like a friend and colleague. The events put on for us, including some time in the brilliant Escape Rooms, were all absolutely fantastic, and gave us time out to talk to some of the Trainees of the firm away from the typical office environment.

Even where events were put on for all of the staff, the placement students were always made to feel more than welcome. Before we’d even sat down at our desk, we had an invitation in our inbox to take part in the annual inter-office football match against the Edinburgh office- which three of us happily accepted. Even though I wasn’t a proper employee (or even a half decent footballer, for that matter), I got to take part in a thrilling win which (I’m told) will go down in PM history.  We were also invited to the end of month drinks at the end of our first week, which was a fantastic time at which we got to see everyone away from their desks and really enjoying their time together

The placement has definitely been a fantastic way to start the summer and it’ll be a surreal occasion to walk out of the office and not be able to look forward to seeing everyone you’ve met again on Monday. But I’ll be leaving having met some great people and with a lot of good memories, helpful training, and a lot of new TV addictions…