Every year hundreds of law graduates apply for internship roles in the United Kingdom. Out of them only a small percentage succeed and get a training contract. This is due to the high level of competition and that the number of applicants outnumbers the available traineeship positions. The list that follows shows the law firms in the UK with the highest number of traineeship places per year.
| Firm | Training Contract Vacancies |
| Linklaters | 100 |
| Clifford Chance | 90 |
| Allen and Overy | 80 |
| Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer | 80 |
| Slaughter and May | 80 |
| CMS | 79 |
| DLA Piper | 70 |
| Pinsent Masons | 69 |
| Herbert Smith Freehills | 60 |
| Addleshaw Goddard | 50 |
| Clyde and Co | 50 |
| Hogan Lovells | 50 |
| Irwin Mitchell | 50 |
| White and Case | 50 |
| Norton Rose Fulbright | 45 |
| Dentons | 42 |
| Baker McKenzie | 33 |
| Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner | 30 |
The training contract application and recruitment process can sometimes be lengthy and hard.
In the UK there are many notable law firms and the applicants need to be aware of the various stages that they have to pass in order to secure a place in their company. The five most prestigious law firms in the UK complete the well known “Magic Circle”. These are Allen and Overy, Clifford Chance, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Linklaters and Slaughter and May.
ALLEN AND OVERY
Law graduates that want to start an internship at Allen and Overy follow the usual application process. They start by completing an application form that is online and give the company as much information as possible about previous work experience and academic performance.
After answering five essential questions (250 words each) that will prove among other skills the commercial awareness of each candidate and show their interest in legal technology, they have to take a 20-minute immersive video-based Situational Judgement Test (SJT). This shows filmed scenarios that have to do with everyday trainee tasks and in which the candidate has to give an answer as to what he would do in a certain situation if he was the trainee.
In addition, a commercial case study interview and a skills/competency-based interview follow at the assessment day with an informal meeting afterwards. With the commercial case study interview, the company can understand if the candidate can identify key pieces of legal and commercial information.
On the other side, to the competency interview candidates have to give the reasons why they chose Allen and Overy and show general knowledge and skills that can prove useful to the firm.
CLIFFORD CHANCE
Clifford chance pays a lot of attention to detail. Applicants, after submitting their application containing all the information about degrees and work experience, have to complete the Watson Glaser test.
The test consists of 40 questions that have to be answered in 30 minutes. It gives an indication of a candidate’s ability to define a problem and recognize assumptions. If the applicants cannot pass this test the application will not be screened but they can practice the online test in the company’s website as many times as they can before the final one.
When they succeed they can proceed to the assessment day in which they have to do a competency-based and a case study interview. Candidates will be given a business scenario and they will have 15 minutes to find a solution and make a presentation.
FRESHFIELDS BRUCKHAUS DERINGER
In the third company of the ‘Magic Circle’ future trainees, after completing the application form and sending a motivation letter of 850 words, can move on to complete the Watson Glaser test. If applicants progress to the next stage of the assessment day, this means they have a great potential to become a member of Freshfields.
Then, possible trainees will have 45 minutes to complete a written exercise in the company’s office answering for and against some given arguments. Immediately following this they will be given a 30-minute reading exercise in which two lawyers will make questions about an article that the candidates have previously read so as to test their commercial awareness and understanding of the material given. The final stage is an interview in which the applicants have to demonstrate their interest in this specific area of law or skills that they may have.
LINKLATERS
The company with the highest number of trainee lawyers, Linklaters, requires applicants that made a successful application, to take the Watson Glaser test online which will indicate critical thinking. Then, they may be invited to an Interview Day to take once again the same test to confirm the results. This can be difficult and they have to choose if some statements given are true or false.
Afterwards, they will have to do an E-tray exercise to give the best response to some emails and they will write an email response to a client or colleague. The final stage consists of the first interview with a member of the Human Resources Team and the second one, which is with a partner of the firm.
SLAUGHTER AND MAY
A law graduate that wants to work at Slaughter and May should complete, like in the other firms, an online application form. The next phase is the interview day which starts with a 30-minute exercise and the candidates have to write the summary of an article given. Then they will have 15 minutes to read a news article, which will be discussed with them and the firm’s partners, and the latter will make questions related to it.
To sum up, most training contract applications may be challenging. With the right research and preparation, candidates can receive a positive answer. By starting applications well in advance of the deadlines future trainees can easily lay the foundation for the strongest applications possible.
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