George Maxwell
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- Oct 25, 2021
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Hey @georgiejg,Hello all - this might not be the right thread to post this is so if there is somewhere/someone more appropriate I should direct this to, please do let me know.
I have 3 vacation schemes coming up this summer. I'm really excited but feel quite underprepared in terms of knowledge. I haven't done my LPC yet, my paralegal experience is not commercial and I didn't really study commercial law modules at university.
I'm hoping we are not expected to have too much knowledge but I would like to have a more general understanding before starting than I do now. I'm worried I will miss out on being able to participate fully if not.
Does anyone have any suggestions on what to read etc for a good background / or overviews of helpful concepts / terminology. I guess it could be LPC / uni type textbooks but again, recommendations / suggestions would be really appreciated!
Thanks in advance!
Congratulations on your three schemes!

I agree with @thirdtimelucky about Watson's Daily and Jake Schogger's book. Jake's Training Contract Handbook is invaluable in my experience. @AvniD's point about non-commercial/legal experience still being relevant and important is also spot on.
One thing that I would say is that the expectation of legal knowledge in vacation schemes varies between firms. For example, at White & Case we were all given standardised tasks (in addition to some work given directly by our supervisors), whereas at HSF and Akin there was one standardised task that everyone did, but the majority was supervisor-led. So if you can, try to gain an idea of how you are likely to be assessed. If you are being assessed alongside other non-law students for some of the vacation scheme, I think @thirdtimelucky is right that you will not be expected to be extremely hot on your legal knowledge for those parts (although this will help either way).
I was a non-law student (pre-PGDL) when I did my vacation schemes, so I can only really speculate on what was expected of law students. I would guess that firms are likely to see some evidence of legal knowledge from you. My advice would be to have a look on LinkedIn and see whether there are any other students/trainees who did the scheme and ask them about the firm's expectations. If you can find out from someone who did the scheme as a pre-LPC law student, even better.
Listening to a commercial news podcast daily/every other day, reading Watson's Daily (if you can afford it) and having a look through the resources mentioned above will set you in good stead.
As a more generic piece of advice for anyone doing vacation schemes, my advice is always to use an executive summary (as far as possible) in your written tasks.
Please do reach out any time if you would like any further thoughts or advice! Excited to hear how they go
