Work Experience Blog - Adam Smith

The first thing that struck me about Rollits was the friendly atmosphere of the firm. The ‘open door’ policy that operates meant that I was never afraid to approach people with any questions or problems that I had. Everybody who worked at the firm was made aware who I was and I was made to feel very welcome throughout. During the two weeks I was made to feel involved with everything going on at the firm and as though I was apart of the team, including being allowed to attend on departmental meetings and meetings with clients.

Upon arriving at the Rollits Hull office I was introduced to the other three students taking part in the Work Experience programme and we did an ‘ice breaker’ session to get to know each other. We then met some of the current trainees who gave us a tour of the office and introduced us to everybody.

During the two week period my time was split between the Property, Dispute Resolution and Company/Commercial departments. Each day was spent sharing an office with another fee earner. I found this to be a very valuable experience as I could see how solicitors worked on a day to day basis and they all spoke to me about current cases they were working on and other things that they were doing. Throughout my time with Rollits I was kept very busy with trainees and other fee earners passing on work and research for me to do. Never did I feel under pressure and worried about any of the work because at regular intervals people would come to check how I was getting on and answer any questions that I had.

All the work experience students were also given talks during the two weeks from support staff about the day to day running of the firm as a business. These included talks from people in accounts, IT and marketing, and they really helped give me an insight into how the firm was marketed and how it was run from a business perspective. One of the days was also spent at the York office, where we were given a marketing exercise to present and we were kindly treated to lunch by a Partner.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Rollits and would recommend it to other students looking for work experience. Everyone at the firm is very friendly and you are given real work to do which is varied and interesting; only once was I asked to do any photocopying!