Vacation Placements

The facts speak for themselves.  A good 70% of our trainees regularly join us after experiencing the working environment first-hand, over a two-week summer placement.  It’s by far the best way for you to get to know us, and for us get to know you.

A placement offers you a structured programme of work experience, skills training and presentations, working alongside trainees and solicitors on real client matters.  You’ll experience first-hand what it’s like to be part of a team, and get the chance to make a great first impression.  It’s also a great time to get a feel for the social scene, make friends and start building a network of contacts that might come in very useful!

A summer placement is the start of our investment in you.  To make sure we give this opportunity to the most promising people, we interview for every position.  If you gain a placement, it’s because we’re already thinking of you as a potential trainee.  And over two weeks, we’ll do our best to give you every chance to prove us right.  That’s why placement students don’t need to make a separate application for the training programme.  If you’ve already gained a placement, in our eyes you’re already a candidate.

Vacation placement dates

We do not run a winter or easter vacation placement, instead we offer vacation placements over the summer.  The dates for our 2012 vacation placements are 18-29 June and 2-13 July.  You will need to be available to work in one of our Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, London or Manchester offices for the entirety of one of these fortnights.  Typically students will undertake a placement in the office in which they wish to become a trainee solicitor, but if it would be more convenient to undertake a placement closer to home then this can be accommodated on request.  To help with the costs of undertaking a placement, we’ll pay you £250 a week.

The application process

All vacation placements are awarded on merit and in order to be considered you need make an application through our online application form by 31 January 2012.  Interviews for places on the programme typically take place in February.  You can find out what we look for in our trainee solicitors here.

If you have any other questions relating to vacation placements please consult the FAQ section of the website.