As someone mentioned, the training programme is very inconsistent and some partners have a reputation for having unreasonable expectations over trainees. Some partners are ejection seats for trainees and lateral hires . Some trainees are nervous to go to the bathroom or taking breaks when around partners, whilst others are demanded profitability (whatever that means) since the start (????). Engineering has a particularly bad reputation for this, so physicists/engineers: watch out! Unfortunately, your experience will highly depend on the partner you end up with. Some are very patient and care about your learning, but too many of them just give you a case and expect you to prepare "finished products" after a couple of days. It is also very clear that your personality is an important factor for them to decide to keep you or not. Since I joined another firm, these are some of the comments I got from former colleagues at Mewburn (trainees): - every day without being called into HR is a good day - we are terrified all the time - I survived my review, I got three months more to live! - it's good to keep in touch with someone from outside, in case I'll need to abandon the sinking ship - is there space in the live-saving boat? (Other firm) Trainees are thrown in the bin very easily and with very little warning or explanation. It's possible that there are over-hiring policies in place, so if that happens to you, that is not necessarily a reflection of you doing a bad job. You should realise that they might fire you within the first six months or so without much warning (except for weird meetings with HR where you get asked personal questions such as "what do your parents do?").
