Our Application Process

We are looking for talented individuals who are aligned with our values of being Authentic, Collaborative, Committed and Forward Looking, helping us to unlock and grow value for our clients.  

Furthermore, we’re looking for people who can champion our inclusive culture and focus on being a sustainable business. Alongside being technically brilliant, we expect more from our lawyers including our trainees. We recognise the need to be human in our approach so emotional intelligence is key. The below information sets out our application process and see more details about what we look for at each stage here.

 

Stage 1 – Application Form

For our Solicitor Apprenticeships, Training Contracts and Placement Schemes, you’ll submit an application form through our Rare Candid portal.

• For Solicitor apprenticeships, you’ll ideally have achieved or be predicted at least BBB at A-Level (or equivalent) and 8 GCSE’s grades 9 – 4 including English and Maths.
• For Placement Schemes and Training Contracts, you’ll achieve ideally a minimum of a 2.1 in their degree, but we also look at the full application form and any mitigating circumstances alongside this.  

We have partnered with Rare Recruitment and use their Contextual Recruitment System as part of our application process. This helps us to understand the wider context of your achievements and identify exceptional candidates.

As part of your application form, you’ll explore your motivations for a legal career and why you are applying to us as a firm. We are also keen for you to showcase how you align with our values of being Authentic, Collaborative, Committed and Forward Looking. You can see more about our values here.  If you have mitigating circumstances or require any potential adjustments during the process, we encourage you to add details of these so we can take this into account or if you’d rather speak to someone about your specific circumstances, we’d be happy for you to get in touch with our Early Talent team.

For more details on how to get the best out of your application, see ‘What Do We Look For’.

Stage 2 – Video Interview

If you are successful, you’ll be invited to complete a video interview where you’ll see the question appear on your screen and be given time to prepare before recording your answer. We have practice interviews you can do through the Shortlister website here so you know what to expect and be ready.  

During the video interview, we want to see more of your individual personality and why you’re keen to join us. We also look for other key attributes, such as being client centric, committed to driving high standards, commercially minded and being collaborative.  

Stage 3 – Placement Scheme and / or Assessment Centre 

Our final stage is attending our Placement Scheme or standalone Assessment Centre depending on which pathway you have applied to. If you attend a Placement Scheme, your Assessment Centre will be included within your programme.  

We work with Aspiring Solicitors to provide firm-specific tailored support all candidates who receive a place on a Placement Scheme or Assessment Day to help you prepare in advance and get the most out of the experience.  

Our Assessment Centre includes a face-to-face interview and other exercises which are designed to assess our identified performance criteria. People come to us from a variety of backgrounds and degree disciplines, with a range of views that combine to give us our distinctive perspective on the law – our assessment centre is designed for you to showcase your best self and also for you to get to know us in return.

For more details on each exercise, see our 'What do we look for?' page.

Reasonable Adjustments

We are able to make adjustments for those who require it so encourage you to get in touch with our Early Talent team if you think this might apply. It’s important to us that you have the right arrangements to perform at your best, so if you aren’t sure it’s always best to ask and we are happy to help.

For help on how to succeed at each of our recruitment stages, read our see our 'What do we look for?' page.

If you have any queries that you would like to raise with our Early Talent team, please contact us and we will do our best to help you.

Please remember that we usually recruit two years in advance, and you must be eligible to start your training contract in the appropriate year we are recruiting for, i.e. at least in your penultimate year of your law degree, or final year of your non-law degree. If you aren’t eligible to apply for a training contract or placement scheme, why not apply for an open day – find out more information here.

---

Apply

Open Day applications will open on 15 September 2023 and close on 15 November 2023. Placement Scheme and Training Contract applications will open on 2 October 2023 and close on 15 January 2024. Solicitor Apprenticeship applications will open on 2 October 2023 and close on 11 February 2024.

Apply here