Every trainee’s journey is different but you can be confident you’ll be playing a meaningful role on some of the most exciting cases in the world as you learn from the top legal minds. After your training contract, you’ll have the technical skills, industry-recognised qualifications and the experience to become an exceptional lawyer.
During your two-year training contract, you’ll rotate through four seats across different practice groups. This means you’ll move around our business to experience different areas of law and work alongside new colleagues every six months as you find the area you want to pursue. Our training contract is structured so you can be immersed in our work almost immediately and develop your skills in the only way that really matters: on live projects for real clients taking real responsibility.
Before you get started with your seats, we’ll provide you with a comprehensive one-week induction. You’ll learn skills that will underpin your personal growth and professional success for years to come. We’ll help you prepare for your first seat so you can dive straight in.
SQE
The City Consortium is a group of six leading, global law firms: Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Herbert Smith Freehills, Hogan Lovells, Linklaters, Norton Rose Fulbright and Slaughter and May. The role of City lawyers has transformed, going beyond technical expertise to become trusted business advisers who have the ability and confidence to operate and build relationships in a commercial setting.
The introduction of the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) has given the City Consortium the opportunity to transform how we train our trainees to succeed in this fast-paced and rapidly evolving environment. We value education and believe that by investing in you, our future trainees, before you join us and by giving you the time and space to learn, you will be able to make a meaningful contribution to practice from day one.
You will need to pass the centralised assessments, which will test your knowledge across a wide range of law and practice (SQE1) as well as your core legal skills (SQE2). Above and beyond the SQE, we have partnered with BPP to create a unique and market-leading Plus Programme designed to prepare you for practice as a City lawyer.
About you
During your two-year training contract you’ll rotate through different seats. You’ll build on your skills as you go, learning how to deliver level-headed advice to clients and deepen your commercial instincts and sector expertise. Two of your seats will be in one of our corporate and finance groups and another in one of our litigation teams. For your third or fourth seat, you’ll have the opportunity to apply for a secondment in one of our global offices or directly inside a client’s business. Each of these will last six months and will help you scope out where your interests lie and which area best matches your developing skill set.
Secondments
In your second year you’ll have the opportunity to apply for a secondment to an international office or work with a client and see law from an entirely new perspective. Whichever you choose, you’ll be exposed to a new environment and come out of it with experience and skills you’ll draw on for the rest of your career.
On an international secondment, you’ll join a new team, experience life in a new city and see what the term "global law" really means. We currently offer trainees a secondment in Washington DC, Frankfurt, Dubai, Hong Kong, New York, Paris and Singapore. The world of law is your oyster.
Client secondments are your opportunity to sharpen your commercial edge as you understand how leading businesses work from the inside. It’s an irreplaceable chance to see the world through our clients’ eyes which will make you invaluable to other clients throughout your career.
Application details
- Please note there are no restrictions on applying for the HL Lift Off programme alongside a Vacation Scheme or Training Contract. However, you cannot apply for two vacation schemes or a vacation scheme and training contract role within the same application window.
- Our current application window runs from 1 September 2024-31 August 2025.
- Application deadline: Friday 31 January 2025 at 23:59 (UTC)
