What is a Summer Vacation Scheme?
A Summer vacation scheme serves as a pathway for individuals seeking valuable work exposure within a law firm. Typically spanning one t four weeks, these schemes offer a firsthand glimpse into the life of a trainee solicitor, allowing participants to explore the firm’s primary legal practice areas and clientele.
The experience provides insights into the expected tasks of a trainee solicitor, fostering an understanding of the firm’s culture, work ethic and aiding in the assessment of the participant’s capability for a legal career.
What does our Summer Vacation Scheme look like?
The summer vacation scheme is a week-long paid placement at one of our offices to provide you with first-hand experience of working at Weightmans.
You will be allocated a buddy for the week and be invited to attend training and skills workshops, which have been designed to develop your understanding of how the business works and what life as a solicitor is like at Weightmans.
How do you apply?
You can apply if you meet the following criteria:
- You are an undergraduate student who is interested in becoming a solicitor. This is from first year for law students and second year for non-law students.
- You speak to a member of our team at a law fair listed below or attend our online open evening.
- You must have right to work in the UK. This scheme does not qualify for Visa sponsorship.
When will the vacation scheme take place?
The scheme will take place the week commencing 10 June 2024. You will be based in our of our offices and will be working between 9am and 5.30pm.
Where will I be placed?
Successful summer vacation scheme students will be based in one of our offices in Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester or Newcastle.
Our latest law fair giveaway
How useful are branded post-it notes, key rings or notebooks? To reduce the amount of waste which careers fairs bring, we have decided to giveaway something which we believe is truly useful instead – paid work experience.
As our ‘giveaway’ at law fairs this year, we are committing to offering at least one place on our Summer Vacation Scheme at every university law fair we attend in autumn (as listed below). This will include our online open evenings for those who cannot attend the in-person events.
To enter:
- Find us at one of the events listed further down this page and talk to a member of the team.
- We will give you a code which you need to enter on an online form.
- You will then be sent a link to a short application form.
- We will be in touch to everybody who applies by the end of March 2024 at the very latest.
- We will select applicants based on the content of their application form and at least one person from each event will be offered a place.
Where we will be:
Law fairs & careers fairs (to attend, please contact the university or organisation directly):
Tuesday 10 October — Legal Cheek (online)
Tuesday 10 October — Edge Hill University
Thursday 12 October — University of Leicester
Wednesday 18 October — University of Liverpool
Wednesday 18 October — BPP (online)
Tuesday 24 October — De Montford University
Wednesday 25 October — University of Salford
Monday 30 October — University of Nottingham
Tuesday 31 October — University of Northumbria
Wednesday 8 November — University of Birmingham
Wednesday 8 November — University of Leeds
Wednesday 29 November — Liverpool John Moores University
Want us to attend your university careers fair? Get in touch at earlycareers@weightmans.com
Open Evenings
Thursday 14 December — 12noon–1pm — Online Virtual Open Evening
Thursday 4 January — 4.30pm–5.30pm — Online Virtual Open Evening
Please email earlycareers@weightmans.com to register for our online open evenings.