Kabir | My Vacation Scheme at Pinsent Masons

Before applying to Pinsent Masons, I read every vacation placement (VP) blog I could find to get a sense of what my two weeks might look like. Now, having completed the scheme in London, I hope this blog gives you the same insight I was searching for - from the kind of work you would be getting involved in and how I managed work alongside team socials and external activities. Most importantly, if I can do one thing with this blog, it’ll hopefully be to convince you why my time in Restructuring & Insolvency at Pinsent Masons was such a highlight.

What makes Restructuring & Insolvency particularly unique is the opportunity to engage in both contentious and non-contentious work within a single team. While some practitioners choose to specialise exclusively in insolvency litigation or transactional restructuring, few areas of law offer such a breadth of experience. The team has fee-earners on each part of this spectrum, which meant I was fortunate to gain exposure to both sides.

Although I was only with the team for nine days as a VP student, I had the opportunity to contribute meaningfully to nine tasks related to live matters and one legal research task. Being entrusted with real, ongoing work made the experience incredibly fulfilling.

When I joined the team, they were in the midst of a busy period, and I quickly found myself immersed in the pace. The placement significantly developed my ability to be organised and proactive. I managed my time by clearly communicating my capacity to my buddy and supervisor, and by accessing the urgency of each task. This helped me prioritise effectively, focusing first on time-sensitive work and scheduling less urgent tasks accordingly. I grouped coffee chats into dedicated time slots to preserve uninterrupted periods for focused work. When VP sessions came up, I planned my workload around them to ensure I remained fully engaged without compromising on deadlines.

On just my second day, I found myself in the Restructuring team meeting, sitting around the table with partners, associates and trainees. Listening to partners - with a century of experience between them - discuss market updates, recent case law developments, and live matters was fascinating as a final-year university student. I had never had such exposure to expertise before; it was as if they were speaking another language. That same day, I joined the team’s ‘Wednesday Walk’ chatting informally to partners about life outside their work. The team’s approachability and social nature were genuinely reassuring.

I was also invited to lunch by the trainees, where they spoke candidly about their experiences at Pinsent Masons. This wasn’t a one-off; my buddy went out of their way to arrange lunches with fee-earners from different departments, including the Legal Director of Infrastructure & Projects.

My supervisor also encouraged me to attend court, where I got to experience a Restructuring Plan Hearing for Madagascar Oil, listening to the creditors’ legal representatives critique aspects of the plan. It felt movie-esque, watching a witness be examined in front of a judge. The list of experiences goes on and on.

Any nerves I had vanished after day one. Faced with real deadlines and surrounded by colleagues who generously shared their time and insight, I felt both challenged and championed. The experience gave me confidence not only in my ability to contribute meaningfully, but also in my place within the profession. It’s rare to feel so seen and valued as a student, and rarer still to leave with a sense of belonging.