The ringing tones of Brazilian samba instruments are not the usual sounds to come from a lecture room. But for the 100-plus students starting their careers with Allen & Overy, the drums, whistles and bells are proving to be a very hands-on way of understanding the principles of teamwork and leadership.

The percussion sessions are one of a range of innovative ideas used by law firms to induct new recruits – whether graduates just starting their Legal Practice Course (LPC) or those starting their training contracts – into their particular culture and ethos.

David Jabbari, A&O’s global head of know-how, explains: “The percussion sessions are part of the extracurricular programme we run alongside our bespoke LPC. We felt they would appeal to our students because they are more energising than traditional approaches. The drumming also gives a signal that we do things differently from other firms.”

Simon Botham, the training consultant who set up Innerbeat 18 months ago, orchestrates the percussion sessions in partnership with the Bridge Consultancy, which runs the team-building course. “Percussion is a great metaphor for the skills the students learn in their lectures – that the sum of the parts can be much greater than the whole,” he says. “When everyone is playing with variety but in sync, it is a much richer sound.”

It is certainly something that Gabby Davies, a student, has never experienced before. “It is a completely different and fun way of learning. It helped us to visualise how different people act within the group – the natural leader who says when to start, when to get quieter or louder, and the way you can input your own ideas.”

As part of its enhanced corporate social responsibility programme, Addleshaw Goddard sent 32 trainees, plus two partners, to Romania to spend a week on a house-building project with the charity Habitat for Humanity.

Marcus Jamieson-Pond, the corporate social responsibility manager, says: “The project gave the trainees a week-long bonding exercise. The anecdotal evidence is that we have never had such a group of trainees who have started so confidently.”

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer organises a challenge day during its trainees’ two-week induction. Deborah Dalgleish, who heads the UK trainee recruitment team, says that trainees help with projects such as painting a homeless shelter or creating a garden at a school. “This helps to keep them grounded. We are a very successful and wealthy firm and it is important to touch base with different communities.”

Trainees at Kennedys are taking part in a project with the Citizenship Foundation to help to provide the legal side of the national curriculum citizenship courses at a nearby girls’ school. Akbar Merchant, a second-year trainee, says it is “intrinsically rewarding as the students are bright and interested. You are encouraged to draw on your own personal experience of being a lawyer so there is an element of role-modelling. It is also a good opportunity to build on your presentation skills.”

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