The high-paying grad schemes at Magic Circle law firms which you could worm your way onto

If you want lots of money and lots of worries, then a law training contract might be for you! The Magic Circle is a group of high-powered, high-paying corporate law firms which all hopeful law students (and panicked humanities students) are desperate to work at.

The five Magic Circle law firms are A&O Shearman, Clifford Chance, Freshfields Bruckhause Deringer, Linklaters and Slaughter and May. All of them run training contracts. A few also run other grad schemes in different areas of the company.

All these two-year training contracts will now pay you a staggering £56,000 in the first year, and £61,000 in the second. I swear that’s almost as much money as Coleen Rooney is getting to go on I’m A Celebrity. I’m starting to see now why people actually want to be lawyers.

A “seat”, by the way, is basically a placement in a department.

So, here are all the grad schemes and training contracts at law Magic Circle firms which you could apply for right now.

A&O Shearman law tech and operations graduate programme

This is more of a law-adjacent grad scheme. But it pays pretty well for a technology grad scheme. You’ll learn from coders, developers and project managers how different areas of the firm use technology. You’ll make £37,000 in the first year, and £43,000 in the second. Applications open on 16th December, and close on 3rd February 2025. Add it to your diary now, folks.

A&O Shearman training contract

The training programme lasts for two years. You’ll spend six months in different departments, and work towards the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE). The first year pays £56,000, and the second pays £61,000. I’m afraid this one closes on 18th November.

Clifford Chance training contract

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Applications are open until midnight on 20th November. The scheme pays £56,000, then you’ll start raking in £150,000 as a newly-qualified lawyer. You’ll also have access to their gym, season sports tickets and “resilience training and support” (because being a lawyer probably requires a lot of resilience).

If you make it through the first round of applications, you’ll have to endure a very stressful-sounding assessment day at their London office in Canary Wharf on a day between the 13th and 20th of January.

Freshfields Bruckhause Deringer  eight-seat trainee associate programme 2027/2028

This mouthful of a grad scheme pays £56,000 in the first year, and £61,000 in the second. You can apply from now until 23rd January 2025 to do this scheme in 2027 and 2028.

The Freshfields grad scheme will give you loads of experience in different areas. You do at least one seat in dispute resolution and at least two seats in global transactions. You get to pick other seats in antitrust, competition and trade, people and reward, tax and IP (intellectual property).

Linklaters training contract

Looking at the building makes me feel stressed
(Image via Google Maps)

Linklaters recently increased the pay of their training contracts to match the grad schemes at the other Magic Circle law firms. You’ll now make £56,000 in the first year, and £61,000 in the second.

Applications for their schemes are open from 2nd September 2024 to 12th December. You’d start the programme in September 2027, then March 2028. You have to have already done a minimum of two weeks’ work experience at a law firm.

Linklaters offers a few different training contracts. The London training contract is based at their mega-fancy offices near the Barbican. There are opportunities to do part of the programme abroad with an international client.

The Middle East-London training contract requires you to be fluent in Arabic. Some of your training will take place in London, but then you’ll start your career as an associate somewhere in the Middle East.

The Singapore-London training contract doesn’t have any language requirements. You’ll start work in Singapore once you’ve finished.

You don’t need to be studying law for the London programme, but you do need some kind of law degree for the international ones.

Slaughter and May training contract

@legallylucy

How I got two training contract offers from the magic circle law firms 👩🏼‍⚖️ Law is competitive and quite a closed off profession, so it can feel overwhelming starting out. I know I sat there thinking what am I even supposed to be doing / have done?? There’s no set way but let me tell you my EXACT journey. Including all my experience (basically everything on my CV that I used in applications) & the timings. This lead me to get two training contract offers from A&O and CC #lawstudent #trainingcontract #trainingcontractadvice #vacationschemes #magiccirclelawfirm

♬ Sunny Day – Ted Fresco

Applications for the September 2027 and March 2028 schemes are open until 29th November for grads and people in their last year of uni. Students in their second year of uni can apply for them in June 2025.

Slaughter and May commercial academy

So, Slaughter and May have launched a new grad scheme for people who want to work at law firms, but not as lawyers. You’ll gain experience in five different departments – marketing and communications, business development, research and analysis, legal operations, and knowledge and learning.

Applications are now open until 3rd January. A few lucky candidates get to complete a series of online assessments in January and February. The in-person interviews and assessments will take place in April.