STEM Future Lawyers brings together top law firms and the best science, technology, engineering and maths students

The first ever legal careers network for students and graduates of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects has gone live today, with backing from a host of leading City of London law firms.

STEM Future Lawyers will facilitate the recruitment of a new generation of solicitors with the skills to bridge the gap between high-level legal practice and cutting-edge technological innovation.

In doing so, it will draw on Legal Cheek’s relationships with nearly 50 elite law firms and chambers via our series of panel discussions, Q&As and networking sessions.

At a time of change for the legal profession, that is seeing it embrace artificial intelligence-derived techniques to speed up processes from document review to the prediction of case outcomes, there is a growing demand for lawyers with a grounding in science subjects.

Legal Cheek founder Alex Aldridge described the project as “inspired by conversations with some of the law firms we work with that are seeking to boost the number of trainees they hire from STEM backgrounds.” He continued:

This is an interesting subset of students with very real skills that could prove increasingly valuable to law firms as they bid to integrate the new AI systems in which they have been investing. If the legal profession is to have its own version of Steve Jobs, I’d wager that he or she will be a millennial STEM graduate who does a law conversion and trains at a large law firm.

STEM students are getting excited about the law too, with Thomas Kwoh, the chair of Imperial College London’s student law society, summing up the mood:

As a STEM student, commercial law is a continuation of what I have enjoyed most in science: the research, the innovation and above all, the opportunity to engage with challenging and impactful problems. Conversely, City firms place great value on STEM degrees that are directly relevant to practice areas such as IP litigation, where technical know-how and scientific literacy are key. But by no means are scientists shoehorned into IP; the transferable skills from a STEM degree are applicable to almost any practice area. For instance, those with a quantitative slant can add value to a team by being better placed to understand some of the complex transactions in banking or capital markets. In brief, both the germane and transferable skills of a STEM graduate provide for fantastic opportunities, and never has there been a better or more exciting time to make the switch.

Legal Cheek will be working with STEM Future Lawyers on two upcoming events. The first, taking place on Thursday 6 July, is ‘How to make it as a City lawyer’, features one of Mayer Brown‘s junior solicitors who entered the profession from a STEM background, alongside lawyers from Herbert Smith Freehills and Hogan Lovells. Then on 12 July Legal Cheek and STEM Future Lawyers will be partnering with Pinsent Masons to host ‘Innovation and the next generation of lawyers’ at the firm’s brand new Birmingham office. Further events will take place with a wide range of leading law firms in the new academic year from Autumn.

Commenting on STEM Future Lawyers, Pinsent Masons’ head of graduate recruitment Margaret Ann Roy said:

With the continued focus on innovation and delivering efficient digital solutions to clients, the legal profession is of real interest to students who can use their background in STEM subjects, together with legal expertise to deliver new and exciting solutions while operating at the vanguard of the profession.

Mayer Brown graduate recruitment and development manager Charlotte Hart added:

We always seek to attract talent from diverse academic backgrounds to increase the range of different perspectives in approaching solutions. There is huge value in the analytical, technical and creative thinking skills that STEM students develop and as the legal profession continues to embrace transformative technologies we welcome the fact that more of these students are considering a career in law.

Meanwhile, Jon Chertkow, financial institutions and graduate recruitment partner at Hogan Lovells, had this message for STEM students considering a career in law:

Innovating to stay at the forefront of technological advances, and balancing the resulting benefits with managing the inevitable unknown, is a key challenge facing not just law firms, but any business in current times. Change is happening faster than ever, and to stay ahead, you need to anticipate what’s next – understanding and solving the problem before it becomes one. Technology will undoubtedly play an increasingly important role in all our lives, both in and out of work, and as technology and the law converge now more than ever is the time for STEM students to consider a career in the legal sector.

Science, technology, engineering and maths students and graduates who are interested in becoming lawyers can sign up to STEM Future Lawyers here.

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One said it was ‘a shameful political witchhunt’

Lawyers and academics alike have rushed to the defence of Leigh Day, as the human rights firm is cleared on all misconduct charges brought against it.

The London-based firm has been the subject of tabloid and social media wrath this past year. Charged with a total of 19 professional misconduct counts, Leigh Day, partners Sapna Malik and Martyn Day, and junior lawyer Anna Crowther were accused of spearheading legal challenges against the Ministry of Defence that were based on false allegations.

During the seven-week Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) hearing, some Twitter users seemed more than happy to take aim at Day and co:

#LeighDay. The depths some will go in pursuit of wealth is staggering. Immoral & shameless. If found guilty you should all be banished.

— Simon Paul Powley (@Si_powley) April 24, 2017

Let's hope the vile people at Leigh Day get struck off like the other crook Shiner. #fraudsters #traitors #moneygrabbing #PayBackTheMoney https://t.co/EyvkD5NYGL

— Gardenchick (@Gardenchick4) April 24, 2017

Then, the culmination of the longest and most expensive SDT hearing in history saw Leigh Day and its lawyers cleared of all misconduct. Costs in the case — which was brought by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) — are expected to hit seven-figure sums.

Now it’s time for the fall-out. In stark contrast to the social media brimming of anger embedded above, lawyers have this weekend been quick to jump to Leigh Day’s defence. Law centre worker and future pupil barrister Miranda Grell described the fiasco as “a shameful political witchhunt”:

Good.A shameful political witchhunt against lawyers for simply doing their job.Appalling attack on the rule of law. Delighted for Leigh Day! https://t.co/jVq0bd8gnT

— Miranda Grell (@MirandaGrell) June 9, 2017

Solicitor Peter Todd said it was “great news” the firm had been cleared and, like Grell, said the prosecution raises important questions:

Great news that @LeighDay_Law exhonerated. This prosecution very worrying for any lawyer taking on the state https://t.co/R2XZ8y9iKU

— Peter Todd (@PeterTodd_) June 9, 2017

While Mark Stephens, media law partner, said the outcome of the case is “fabulous”:

Fabulous news as Leigh Day and its lawyers cleared of all 19 charges https://t.co/mdpSraj97Z

— Mark Stephens (@MarksLarks) June 9, 2017

As can be seen above, aside from rejoice and relief for Leigh Day and the staff involved, many lawyers have penned concerns about the SRA’s approach to this case and the wider impact this will have.

Law Society Gazette reporter John Hyde has said the focus will now shift to the SRA, and asked: “Did the case truly merit such time and expense?… Solicitors will wonder whether this case should have been handled as it was. We might learn more at the future costs hearing, which will no doubt produce some eye-watering figures. With the profession footing the bill for this whole episode, lawyers everywhere — not just those exonerated Leigh Day practitioners — will feel they deserve answers.”

SRA have serious questions to answer about nature and scale of this prosecution. Two QCs, seven weeks. Was it proportionate? #leighday

— John Hyde (@JohnHyde1982) June 9, 2017

Richard Moorhead, a UCL academic, reached a similar conclusion. He blogged:

Making mistakes is much more common than we care to admit. Some of those mistakes probably do require the full monty of adversarial process but most probably do not… So let’s react, investigate, think about the lessons to be learned. But let’s also keep those lessons in perspective and remember which glasses we have on as we peer at the few things we know now or the SDT judgment in a few months’ time.

Having spoken to an SRA spokesperson this morning, Legal Cheek has been told the regulator cannot issue a comment in reaction to these latest articles beyond what it issued on Friday. This was:

We note the judgment handed down today. We need to wait to see the full detail and rationale behind the tribunal’s decision. We will then consider the possibility of an appeal.

However, it is perhaps worth mentioning at this stage the SRA is keen to have the SDT’s standard of proof lowered from the criminal standard (beyond reasonable doubt) to the civil standard (on the balance of probabilities). This change has had backing from, for example, Lord Justice Leveson.

A written judgment in this case will be published in August. Expect more social media reaction then.

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Ahead of the firm’s training contract application deadline, Reed Smith trainee Roch Glowacki reflects on what he learned during six-months at firm’s client

The life of a trainee solicitor is changing. As innovation leads to smarter ways of working at elite law firms, expect less photocopying and more opportunities to develop greater business savvy. A conversation with Roch Glowacki, a second-year trainee at Reed Smith, illustrates the shift that is taking place.

“It’s been a fantastic experience,” says Glowacki, who is currently in his fourth seat. “The work has been diverse and interesting throughout, and I had a brilliant second seat — a secondment to Bauer Media, one of the firm’s longstanding clients.”

Glowacki explains the rationale behind a secondment to a leading media company:

One of Reed Smith’s big selling points to students is the opportunity to do client secondments during training contracts. The aim is to get trainees and junior lawyers thinking about client relationships and the business drivers to legal practice at an early stage. It was something I’d always been keen on.

Bauer has media stable that reaches 25 million consumers in the UK alone, thanks to household-name titles such as Heat, Kerrang!, Grazia and Empire. They’re just a few of a portfolio of more than 600 magazines, 400 digital products and 120+ radio and TV stations around the world, including 4Music and KISS FM. Working in the company’s legal department sounds fast-paced and dynamic — what’s it like in practice?

“My secondment was between March and September 2016,” says Glowacki. “It was a very exciting time for the company, because it was in the process of acquiring Orion Media, the Midlands-based commercial radio group.” There was a lot at stake, with the move set to increase Bauer’s share of UK commercial radio listening to 34%, and Glowacki relished working on the transaction. “It was great to see how the deal was put together, and be part of the team that helped make it happen.”

Other work undertaken when Glowacki was at Bauer included drafting commercial contracts, release forms, competition terms & conditions, NDAs and session agreements; he also dealt with reader queries and complaints, investigated alleged trademark and copyright infringements and negotiated licences for the recording of artists performing at the Isle of Wight Festival 2016. On a daily basis, Glowacki would report to Bauer’s in-house legal team, but he would also maintain contact with his colleagues at Reed Smith, though “in an organic way — it wasn’t restrictive at all.”

Glowacki is from Poland, and studied Law with European Studies at King’s College, London, graduating with a 2:1 in 2014. It was during his degree — which also entailed a year spent in Holland, studying at Leiden University via the Erasmus exchange programme — that he realised he enjoyed business and commercial matters as much as academic law. That, in turn, meant that Reed Smith’s bespoke masters in business, in partnership with BPP Law School, was the ideal way of completing his LPC.

“It enabled me to complete extra modules in business strategy and finance, and also to work on a business intelligence project,” says Glowacki, who obtained a distinction in the combined MA and LPC. “It was an excellent way of understanding the commercial factors that are in clients’ minds, driving what they do, and helped me get a head start in understanding how business people think.”

Glowacki joined Reed Smith in August 2015, having been a Business Masters intern with the firm for four weeks, from June to July that year. Thanks to his secondment at Bauer, he already has a good sense of the differences between private practice and in-house legal work: “In private practice, you have a lot of different clients; in-house, there is just the one client, but each person in the business is like an individual client. You learn a huge amount about the business — about what makes it tick — and you have to know something about everything. You have to think on your feet.”

And is working in the media as glamorous as it sounds? Glowacki — a keen sportsman outside work, with a passion for endurance running, cycling, hockey and break-dancing — unhesitatingly says ‘yes’. “It’s a fun and exciting world, with so many creative people. Being part of it for six months, feeling that you’ve made a real contribution to the team and the company’s work, was a brilliant experience.”

And there will be plenty more where that came from. Glowacki has just accepted an offer of a newly qualified position with Reed Smith’s Entertainment and Media team.

Reed Smith’s training contract application deadline is on 30 June. Find out more here.

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£1,000 basic salary increase

Linklaters has announced it’s increasing base pay for newly-qualified lawyers (NQs) by a grand, moving it from £77,500 to £78,500. This means top-performing associates at the magic circle firm could earn in excess of £90,000, when basic salary and performance-dependent bonus are combined.

Linklaters’ categorises most of its NQs as either “high performers” or “median performers”. The former typically pull in over £90,000 annually with bonuses, while the latter take home over the £80,000 mark. Given Links’ £1,000 increase, assuming bonuses remain the same, Legal Cheek understands the firm’s NQs will now earn £82,000-£92,000.

Having chatted to a spokesperson for the firm this afternoon, Legal Cheek understands trainee pay remains unchanged (£43,000 in year one; £49,000 in year two). A spokesperson for Linklaters said:

We closely monitor salaries and bonuses to ensure that our reward levels remain extremely competitive. We are committed to maintaining a performance culture and rewarding high performing employees with a bonus system that appropriately recognises their contribution.

The firm — which recently added a rainbow-coloured lighting scheme to its plush City HQ reception in celebration of Pride Month — declined to comment on whether it had upped the pay packets of its more experienced associates.

Linklaters was a strong performer in the Legal Cheek Trainee and Junior Lawyer Survey. The firm — which offers 110 City training contracts a year — scored A*s and As for eight of the ten categories, including training, social life, office, perks and canteen. Its full scorecard can be viewed here.

The One Silk Street player is not the only firm whose pay has hit the headlines this month. On Friday, Legal Cheek reported magic circle rival Slaughter and May had frozen the pay packets of its London-based lawyers. NQs will therefore continue to earn £78,000, though a Slaughters spokesperson did confirm it intends to keep pay scales “under review”.

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Number of items taken from low cost support hub for further examination

The Belfast office of international heavyweight Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) has been searched by police in connection with a drugs investigation.

According to a report in the Irish Times, members of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) carried out a search of HSF’s low cost support hub at Cromac Quay in Belfast. The search was part of an enquiry following the discovery of drugs in the west of the city.

A spokesperson for the PSNI confirmed that detectives from the Organised Crime Branch had removed a “number of items” from the office “for further examination.” Continuing, the spokesperson said:

[The search was] in connection with the arrest of a 30-year-old man in the Ladybrook area of west Belfast on suspicion of possession of Class A drugs.

The report reveals that the man, who isn’t named, was interviewed and released on police bail pending further enquiries.

Speaking to Legal Cheek, a spokesperson for HSF said:

We can confirm the police are investigating an incident in our Belfast office. We are not able to comment further at this point due to the ongoing investigation.

HSF’s Belfast hub opened in 2011 and is currently home to around 240 lawyers, paralegals and support staff.

Comments on this article are closed for legal reasons.

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Days after Leigh Day lawyers cleared on 19 misconduct charges

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has said using a criminal standard of proof in lawyer disciplinary hearings is “costly”, “unfair” and “burdensome”, and that the standard should be lowered in cases involving both solicitors and barristers.

In May the barrister regulator, the Bar Standards Board (BSB), launched a consultation into the standard of proof it adopts in disciplinary matters. At present, the BSB and the Bar Tribunal and Adjudication Service (BTAS) use the criminal standard of proof (beyond reasonable doubt). The consultation floats the idea of lowering this to the civil standard (on the balance of probabilities), which will make it easier for barristers to be disciplined.

While the SRA itself adopts a civil standard of proof, it has limited powers and must refer more serious cases to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT), which adopts the criminal standard. On Friday, the SDT ruled that embattled law firm Leigh Day and three of its lawyers — who were accused of pursuing false claims against British troops, among other things — should be cleared of misconduct. The case was the longest, and is forecasted to be the most expensive, in SDT history.

Today, the SRA has formally given the thumbs up to the BSB/SDT standard being lowered from criminal to civil. Responding to the BSB’s consultation, the SRA said:

We agree that the BSB should change its regulatory arrangements to allow for the civil standard to be applied to allegations of professional misconduct.

As for the SDT’s position, the SRA said: “We have, since 2010, consistently called upon the SDT to move to the civil standard of proof so that the public interest can be better served… The criminal standard of proof means that the interests of individual solicitors or barristers always be put above those of the public. The use of the criminal standard of proof in regulatory decisions is costly, burdensome, unfair to the users of legal services and undermines confidence in the profession.”

The BSB consultation closes on 21 July.

Read the SRA’s consultation response in full here:

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Dominic Raab MP made a Justice Minister, as fellow commercial solicitor made Work and Pensions Secretary

A former City lawyer who claimed many foodbank users are not “languishing in poverty” but merely have “cash flow problems” is the Ministry of Justice’s (MoJ) new Minister of State.

Dominic Raab, a Conservative MP for Esher and Walton since 2010, returns to the MoJ having spent a year as its Minister for Human Rights in 2015. Raab replaces former Fenners Chambers barrister Sir Oliver Heald QC as Minister of State, and will work directly under the new Justice Secretary David Lidington.

Raab, who studied law at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, hit headlines last month when he appeared on Victoria Derbyshire’s BBC election debate programme. Referencing data produced by the Trussell Trust — a charity that operates over 400 foodbanks across the United Kingdom — Raab said:

What they [Trussell Trust] tend to find is the typical user of a foodbank is not someone that’s languishing in poverty, it’s someone who has a cash flow problem episodically.

His comments were widely criticised. Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron, for example, called them “stupid and deeply offensive”.

Having completed his masters at Jesus College, Cambridge, Raab went on to become a lawyer at magic circle outfit Linklaters, specialising in project finance, international litigation and competition law. Keen to make the move into politics, he ditched his legal career and joined the Foreign Office in 2000.

So how are lawyers feeling about Raab’s latest move? We think these tweets speak for themselves:

Dominic Raab has a proud record of supporting legal aid cuts and denying the problems caused by unrepresented litigants in the courts: pic.twitter.com/vI8R1jcUXc

— The Secret Barrister (@BarristerSecret) June 12, 2017

I look forward to meeting with Dominic Raab to discuss why his sanitised view of the crisis facing the family courts is entirely misguided. https://t.co/aC7bVcwE2a

— PJM QC (@pjm1kbw) June 12, 2017

Raab, a solicitor, spent his year at @MoJGovUK working on a UK Bill of Rights paper that was never published. Perhaps he still has a copy.

— Joshua Rozenberg (@JoshuaRozenberg) June 12, 2017

Raab isn’t the only lawyer to land a new role as part of Theresa May’s ministerial reshuffle. David Gauke, MP for South West Hertfordshire and now Work and Pensions Secretary, spent six years in the financial services group at City outfit Macfarlanes.

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Official go-live date remains unknown

A merger between global giant Norton Rose Fulbright and Australian outfit Henry Davis York has been given the green light.

In a joint statement released today, the duo revealed that partners on both sides of the equator had voted “overwhelming” in favour of the combination. The new outfit — which will become the second largest global law firm in Australia by partner headcount (160) — will be known as *drum roll* Norton Rose Fulbright. An official tie-up date remains unknown but is likely to be sometime later this year.

Today’s announcement marks Norton Rose Fulbright’s third merger deal in under a year. Rapidly expanding its global footprint, the firm swallowed up Canadian outfit Bull Housser back in September. Several months later and it agreed to merge with US law firm Chadbourne & Parke. Legal Cheek understand this is due to go live in the coming months.

Commenting on its latest tie-up, Norton Rose Fulbright’s global chief executive, Peter Martyr, said:

The addition of Henry Davis York will give us the critical mass we need in Australia to take full advantage of the steps already underway, at a global level, to modernise our business through the implementation of our 2020 business transformation strategy. This combination will allow us to bring the benefits of this transformation to more clients.

Norton Rose Fulbright is the larger of the two outfits by quite some margin. Legal Cheek’s Most List shows that the firm — which offers around 50 London training contracts annually — has over 3,500 lawyers and support staff across 54 offices in 29 different countries, including four in Australia. It scored well in our Trainee and Junior Lawyer Survey, bagging A*s for office environment and international secondment opportunities. Its full scorecard can be viewed here.

Down under, Henry Davis York — which has just 45 partners, 71 senior associates and 63 lawyers — is considered a full service law firm with offices in Canberra, Brisbane and Sydney. The firm’s managing partner, Michael Greene, commented:

The partners and I have been considering for some time how we could take a proud and respected Australian law firm and re-engineer it for the future. After consulting with our clients, we felt the time was right to look to join forces with an elite global law firm to continue to provide them with an even greater level of service and industry expertise.

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Exclusive: Regulator backs ‘lengthy transition period’, as lawyers speculate advocacy’s place on SQE

The solicitor super-exam’s transition period could run into the 2030s, Legal Cheek understands.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) announced in April it would be replacing traditional routes to qualification — i.e. the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) and Legal Practice Course (LPC) — with a centralised exam called the Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE).

The plan is to roll the SQE out in September 2020, from which point all new graduates planning on qualifying will have to take this exam. However, aspiring solicitors who have begun their legal education, but have not finished it, prior to this date will have a choice about which qualification route to go down for some time after this. This will mainly impact part-time LPC students and GDL students. In an initial SQE document, the SRA said:

The transition of the SQE will take place in a gradual and inclusive way, which enables candidates to choose between qualifying under the current system or the SQE for a number of years.

Now, we’ve been told by sources that the SRA’s “number of years” isn’t just two or three. Legal Cheek understands this transition period may be over a decade, meaning aspiring solicitors part-way through the traditional route to qualification can continue with this route into the 2030s. Brannan seemed to confirm our sources’ sentiments today at the Westminster Legal Policy Forum Keynote Seminar in Whitehall, where she too mentioned the 2030 cut-off point.

When we put this to the SRA, a spokesperson told us:

We have not made a decision on the exact timings of transitional arrangements. We will consult on this later in the year. However, we have been clear that there will be a period where there will be two systems operating in parallel. Our preference is for a lengthy transition period. We want to make sure that anyone who has started the qualification process, before the SQE is implemented, will have plenty of time to complete their training, subject to courses being available in the market.

In other SQE news, Legal Cheek has also been told the fate of the advocacy module may not be as first expected. When the SRA’s plans to push ahead with the SQE were first revealed, a “possible structure” of the super-exam was unveiled.

As can be seen in the picture above, the first part of the SQE, which students sit pre-training contract, mainly consists of substantive legal knowledge tests; the more hands-on, practical skills are reserved for part two. It’s understood this structure is to keep costs down for training contract-less students, as it’s more expensive to put on practical exams.

However, Legal Cheek sources tell us advocacy may, in fact, feature in SQE1, which could potentially push up the cost of this first stage. An SRA spokesperson said:

We have said that we wanted to look again at the approach to an advocacy assessment. We have not taken a decision yet. We will begin working through this detail, making sure we get input from across the sector, once we have appointed an assessment organisation. We plan to have made that appointment early next year.

Watch our exclusive super-exam interview with SRA director of education and training Julie Brannan:

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Comments come in response to suggestion by Hogan Lovells chief that scrapping LPC may not have major impact

The growing consensus that the new solicitor qualification exam (SQE) won’t have much impact on big City law firms was challenged today by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA).

With big firms mostly recruiting trainees two years in advance on the basis of university module grades, and then sponsoring the cost of their vocational training, it has been noted that scrapping the LPC in favour of the SQE super-exam will have only a minor impact on those who come through this route.

Speaking yesterday at the Westminster Legal Policy Forum on legal education, Ruth Grant, Hogan Lovells partner and board member of the City of London Law Society Training Committee, acknowledged this precise point as she told the audience:

Student performance in part one of the SQE [taken after graduation from university] will mostly not play a part in trainee recruitment.

Grant then went further to state that trainees’ score in the second part of the SQE, which is to be sat at the end of the training contract, “is unlikely to be a major determinant in whether they are taken on as a newly qualified solicitor.” She added that her firm tests internally on a host of other skills.

Legal Cheek understands that many other City law firms feel the same way, and are basically more confident in their internal training than the externally assessed regime that will be imposed on them by the SRA via the new super-exam format from 2020.

But SRA training boss Julie Brannan, who is one of the driving forces behind the SQE, sees it a different way. She is keen to focus instead on the “large amount of new data” that a centrally assessed super-exam will create. In particular, Brannan notes the ability that the SRA will have to create league tables of how students from each university in the country perform in the new test. Speaking to Legal Cheek she explained:

It may be that graduates of some unfashionable universities do very well on the SQE, which would in turn force law firms to ask themselves why they are not recruiting from these institutions in the same numbers as from elsewhere. That’s where you may see the changes.

Earlier on at the conference Grant had spoken about how her firm and others were broadening their trainee recruitment through diversity initiatives such as PRIME, the City law work experience scheme.

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Solicitors from Herbert Smith Freehills, Hogan Lovells and Mayer Brown join experts from BPP University Law School, NOTICED and PRIME to help prep students — for free — ahead of the training contract application deadline

With exams over, and law students’ attention turning once more to training contract applications, Legal Cheek is bringing together a host of leading City lawyers, legal educators and diversity organisations for an evening of careers advice and networking. 

‘How to make it as a City lawyer’ takes place on the evening of Thursday 6 July at BPP University Law School in Holborn, central London. It kicks off at 6pm with a panel discussion featuring Hogan Lovells partner Chris Hutton, Herbert Smith Freehills associate Siddhartha Shukla and Mayer Brown associate Emma Sturt.

They will be joined by BPP University LPC lecturer Charlie Radcliffe in a Q&A chaired by Legal Cheek features editor Katie King. Students — who can apply to attend the free event below — will be able to ask the speakers any questions they like during the Question Time-style session.

Afterwards there will be drinks and networking with the speakers, trainees from their firms and representatives from NOTICED and PRIME, two high profile City law diversity networks.

The lawyers on the panel each entered the profession from very different backgrounds. State school-educated Chris Hutton secured his training contract after studying law at Cambridge. He is now an active member of Hogan Lovells’ PRIDE Committee. Sid Shukla made it to Herbert Smith Freehills’ London office after growing up in a small town in one of India’s poorest states. He is now the co-chair of NOTICED. And Emma Sturt got her start at Mayer Brown having previously worked as a civil engineer. Look out for articles about their career stories on Legal Cheek over the next few weeks.

Apply to attend here. You’ll be asked to submit a CV and two questions for the panel. The CVs of those offered places will be shared with the graduate recruitment teams of the organisations on the panel.

Students of all levels are welcome, but places are limited.

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Legal profession offers pro bono support to blaze victims

Grenfell Tower’s residents tried to obtain legal advice over safety concerns but were prevented from doing so due to devastating cuts to legal aid.

Pilgrim Tucker, who has worked with the local campaign organisation Grenfell Action Group, made the damning claim yesterday evening during an emotionally-charged Newsnight.

Having cited a number of alleged structural and maintenance issues with the Kensington tower block, Tucker (pictured bottom right) said: “They [residents] can’t afford lawyers. They tried to get lawyers but because of the legal aid cuts they couldn’t get lawyers.”

Those saying that the #GrenfellTower fire had nothing to do with politics need to see this clip pic.twitter.com/NKWTTlhCu8

— The Pileus (@thepileus) June 14, 2017

Her point resonated on Twitter. Daphne Romney QC, a barrister at Cloisters specialising in employment law, tweeted:

People in #GrenfellTower wanted to take on the landlords re fears about fire but they couldn;t afford it and there's no legal aid #newsnight

— Daphne Romney QC (@DaphneRomneyQC) June 14, 2017

Elsewhere, Laura Clenshaw — editorial manager at the Solicitors Regulation Authority — wrote:

I am so ashamed to be part of a society that has actively ignored + refused to engage w its most vulnerable again and again.

— Laura Clenshaw (@L_Clenshaw) June 14, 2017

Meanwhile, Tom, an ex-lawyer according to his Twitter bio, said:

The legal aid cuts meant the #GrenfellTower action group couldn't use the courts to force improvements. This just gets worse. #Newsnight

— Tom (@tomtq6) June 14, 2017

In an attempt to save around £350 million a year, the government introduced a series of significant changes to civil legal aid in England and Wales. This meant certain types of cases — including divorce, welfare, employment and housing (except in limited circumstances) — were no longer eligible for free legal support. The cuts, introduced back in April 2013, were strongly opposed by professional legal bodies and lawyers alike.

Grenfell Tower, home to around 600 people, caught fire during the early hours of Wednesday morning. Hundreds of firefighters and 45 fire engines were involved in efforts to control the blaze as it ripped through the 27-storey building. At the time of publication, 17 people have been confirmed dead and dozens more injured.

Clearly moved by the disaster and keen to help in anyway they can, lawyers are now offering free legal assistance to those affected. Jolyon Maugham QC, a tax specialist at Devereux Chambers, instigated the appeal, tweeting:

If residents of Grenfell Tower want legal help with compensation and responsibility many lawyers will be happy to help. For free. I will.

— Jo Maugham QC (@JolyonMaugham) June 15, 2017

A flood of other solicitors and barristers quickly followed:

Housing not my field, but plenty of commercial contract/tort experience if you need a baby junior.

— Ben Woolgar (@benjywoolgar) June 15, 2017

I'm retired but happy to help with any support I can.

— Hilary Hendy (@hilaryhendy) June 15, 2017

Me too."@JolyonMaugham: If residents of Grenfell Tower want legal help with …..many lawyers will be happy to help. For free. I will."

— GRSC (@BarristerGRSC) June 15, 2017

Lawyers willing to act for clients on a pro bono basis should contact North Kensington Law Centre on 020 8969 7473 or email here.

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Want to get paid to take the SQE?

Julie Brannan, director of education and training at the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), told a legal education conference this week that students may be needed to test the new Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE), and that they might be paid to do this.

The solicitor regulator says it will need to ensure that the finished prototype of the new SQE, which is due to come in from September 2020, is “fit for purpose” and this will inevitably mean trying it out on “real, live people”.

Though the SRA is keen to stress that no decision has yet been made, it says payment may be an option. The SRA will also have to work out whether or not those students who did pilot the exam would, in fact, be able to make it count towards their qualification or whether it would just be a “trial run” for them.

The main focus for the regulator is on ensuring that the guinea pigs for the new exam will be “representative”. Brannan told Legal Cheek: “we want to ensure as broad a range of people as possible in any pilot.”

Under the new solicitor training rules, the two-part SQE is one of the four elements which will be required to become a solicitor alongside a degree or equivalent qualification, a suitable period of work experience and, at the point of admission, meeting the character and suitability requirements.

SQE part one tests legal knowledge and practical legal research and writing, part two focuses further on legal skills such as drafting and client interviewing.

The super-exam, a return to a centralised assessment for all future solicitors last seen in the 1980s, will be run by a central assessor, though no one yet knows who that assessor will be.

There is still considerable uncertainty surrounding the exam which is intended to “introduce transparency and competitive pressures to drive up standards and reduce cost”, according to the SRA.

However, earlier this week, Legal Cheek reported that there is divided opinion on how much impact the new SQE will actually have in terms of recruitment to law firms.

Watch our exclusive super-exam interview with SRA director of education and training Julie Brannan:

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Corporate law firm tackles the big dilemma of coming out at work

Halfway into Pride Month, Travers Smith has launched a new LGBT+ student mentoring scheme in partnership with sexual orientation charity Just Like Us. It’s the corporate outfit’s most recent initiative to help develop the next generation of LGBT+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) leaders.

The new programme will take the form of one-to-one mentoring sessions that aim to encourage students to be confident in their identity and openly LGBT+ at work.

Travers notes that many LGBT+ students come out at university, but a staggering 60% go back to concealing their sexual orientation when they start work. To tackle this, the firm has selected 25 mentors with diverse professional backgrounds to support LGBT+ students across the country in their transition from university to employment. They include Travers Smith partner Daniel Gerring and head of HR Carly Hubbard. Gerring, commenting on the project, said:

This initiative is a great example of Travers Smith adding value by sharing our insight and expertise and working in partnership to empower a generation of emerging LGBT+ talent. The addition of this programme to our extensive portfolio of LGBT+ projects underlines the firm’s continued support of diversity and inclusion in the workplace and wider community.

Other mentors include former Royal Air Force pilot Ayla Holdom and Amy Lamé, Night Czar for London.

Though the focus here is on supporting future LGBT+ leaders, there also seems to be a business incentive. Studies led by equality charity Stonewall — which has engaged with tens of thousands of LGBT+ students — establish that supporting LGBT+ staff can significantly enhance their effectiveness in the workplace. Its Peak Performance research states:

Staff who can be open about their sexuality at work are more likely to enjoy going to work, feel able to be themselves, form honest relationships with their colleagues, are more confident, and ultimately more productive. Lesbian and gay equality at work evidently makes good business sense.

Agreeing, Labour politician and Just like Us ally Lord Peter Mandelson voiced his support:

I’m delighted to be launching the Just Like Us mentoring scheme today. I believe that what happens to us when we’re young can have life-long impact on our ability to realise our potential. This mentoring programme offers LGBT+ young people the support and guidance needed to help them start their first job confident in their identity and sexuality and openly LGBT+.

Travers Smith also supports Freebar, an LGBT+ networking group for barristers, and has a corporate social responsibility (CSR) art programme that this year showcases work promoting LGBT+ inclusion. As Mandelson continued:

When people are able to be themselves, they are able to be their best.

Earlier this Pride Month, Linklaters signalled its commitment to LGBT+ equality by installing rainbow-coloured lights in its reception area. It seems that law firms are beginning to take a more active role in encouraging staff not to hold back — gender identity and sexual orientation shouldn’t be hindering career potential.

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Combination to go live on 1 September

Global law firm Hogan Lovells and US outfit Collora have agreed to join forces.

The tie-up will see Collora’s 25 lawyers (including 15 partners) join the Hogan Lovells ranks. Collora, which has just one office in Boston, Massachusetts, is a litigation and investigations specialist with a strong focus on life sciences and healthcare.

According to Hogan Lovells, its new Boston bolt-on will strengthen its position within the US market while facilitating access to the city’s elite academic and research institutions and world-class medical organisations. The combination is scheduled to go live on 1 September.

Commenting on the deal, Hogan Lovells CEO Steve Immelt said: “Collora is a firm that shares our values, our culture and our approach. We have worked with them for many clients over the years. It has highly regarded practices in litigation and investigations, with a particular focus in life sciences, which fits very well with our own practices.”

Immelt, who has been at the global outfit for almost 30 years, continued:

We also intend to focus on the financial services, technology industries and education sectors, where we already have strong practices in other markets. We are delighted to welcome the Collora team and look forward to working with them for the benefit of our clients.

Hogan Lovells is the larger of the two outfits by a country mile. Legal Cheek’s Most List shows that the firm — which dishes out around 60 London training contracts annually — has 49 offices across 26 countries. It boasts a latest profit per equity (PEP) figure of £870,000, and has over 2,500 lawyers at its disposal. Hogan Lovells scored well in our Trainee and Junior Lawyer Survey, bagging As for seven of the ten categories, including training, quality of work, office and partner approachability. Its full scorecard can be viewed here.

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Ahead of Legal Cheek and Macfarlanes’ deal-themed Commercial Awareness Question Time event next week, partner Nicholas Barclay offers future solicitors some advice

Often students claim to be drawn to the law because they love to argue. But for the transactional lawyers that account for a high proportion of the legal profession in the City, law is frequently about consensus and compromise.

“Every M&A lawyer has their own style, but what they have in common is a shared goal to help clients reach an agreement,” says Macfarlanes’ Nicholas Barclay, a partner specialising in all aspects of company law, including public and private mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, corporate reorganisations and equity capital markets.

This is easier said than done on the highly complex, global deals that Barclay and his colleagues specialise in. Which is why it is so important for corporate lawyers to understand the wider context of transactions, and the specific drivers motivating their clients. That requires heaps of commercial awareness, but also a quality that many training contract applicants don’t always dwell upon enough: an ability to listen.

“Lawyers are natural problem solvers,” says Barclay, “which can mean that if we are not careful we can be too quick to rush in with a solution that may miss something important. Sometimes it is better to stand back and take some time to listen.”

Those who are able to do that, and then put themselves in their client’s shoes, inevitably do better in the negotiations that are a central part of an M&A lawyer’s role. Barclay, 41, who has been a partner since 2012, continues:

You are unlikely to win every point in a negotiation so you have to be strategic. It’s no good fighting tooth and nail over something if your client doesn’t need it and it angers the other side. Instead, focus on what matters.

Students preparing to enter the profession can console themselves with the knowledge that today’s partners have learnt such pearls of wisdom the hard way, cutting their teeth working on hundreds of smaller transactions under many different mentors across a host of different jurisdictions. Barclay’s own experience includes a three and half year secondment working for one of the leading law firms in Doha and Dubai — particularly important given that around 70% of Macfarlanes’ corporate work has an international element.

A commitment to giving its rookies a breadth of experience is one of the reasons that Macfarlanes — which scored an A* for training in the Legal Cheek Trainee and Junior Lawyer Survey — runs its deals using relatively small teams. “Keeping it lean allows the junior team members to know everything that is happening on a transaction,” says Barclay.

Visa Inc.’s $18.375bn (£14.23bn) acquisition of Visa Europe, one of the biggest M&A deals of last year, which Barclay co-led, was no exception. One of the trainees on the deal, Alex Evans, described the experience as “a great thrill (occasionally bordering on scary)” that was “invaluable” to his development. Writing for Legal Cheek last week, Evans added that “the support of your more senior team members is always there for you when you need it!”

Of Visa Europe — an incredibly complicated coming together of Visa’s global business to integrate the organisation’s member-owned European arm — Barclay reflects: “It’s years of coming into the office and having all sorts of different things come across your desk that enable you to handle this sort of transaction.”

The deal was memorable partly because of the product itself; Visa cards are of course ubiquitous, and this was the process that unified the whole company. But perhaps more important was the deal’s unusual structure. With Visa Europe owned by thousands of different financial institutions, and the rest of the organisation listed in the US, Barclay and his colleagues grappled with a host of issues to create and implement an unusual and innovative acquisition structure.

Certainly it’s a long way from Barclay’s days as a law student at Bristol University, from where he went on to do an LLM at the University of Chicago before training at Clifford Chance. “If you had presented my trainee self with all the different issues that we had to grapple with on Visa I probably would have fainted!” he quips.

Looking back on the early days of his career, Barclay remembers “large teams camped out for days in data rooms” and late nights as a trainee searching company details on microfiche machines. These days such tasks are handled far more swiftly online, and Barclay expects machine learning to bring similarly dramatic improvements to tasks like contract review. “The winners in this environment will be the firms that focus on the high-end, value added work, rather than try to make money with huge teams of people,” he predicts.

For future lawyers with both technical legal ability and softer human skills, this is an exciting time to be entering the profession.

Nicholas Barclay will be speaking at ‘Commercial Awareness Question Time: Inside the acquisition of Visa Europe – with Macfarlanes’ on Wednesday 21 June. Apply to attend here.

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Career mistakes: Legal Cheek meets a soon-to-be NQ, a paralegal and an LPC student

Studying law is a safe bet. An intellectually stimulating degree is hard currency, and God knows adoring relatives will adore you even more if you so much as entertain a legal career.

The magic circle is the gold standard of this — big money, big deals and unparalleled prestige. Yet, at least one current trainee’s experience was more mistake than magic. He explains:

There are parts of it I don’t regret — I’ve appreciated obtaining a legal education and some of the bits of work I’ve done on the training contract have been interesting. But my two biggest regrets are i) not pursuing something with more of a positive social impact (I’ve done work for some pretty unsavoury companies and it can be very soul destroying at times) and ii) doing something that requires such a huge sacrifice of everything else in my life.

Take stock and consider the word ‘regret’. Personally, it’s not a word that I would use lightly. Did I enjoy my law degree? At times no, at other times not at all, but I wouldn’t go as far as to file it away under ‘mistakes’. Our training contract regretter, on the other hand, would. He is now moving to the United States to pursue more social welfare-oriented things; “I wish I’d done this sooner,” he concludes.

But how did our miffed magic circle trainee — who we will call Sam — even end up on this track to millionaire partner greatness? “Quite honestly, I kind of fell into it,” he says. After studying a humanities degree at university, he began to apply for internships and before long vac scheme interview turned into vac scheme, and vac scheme turned into training contract. Then: “Without really thinking about what I really wanted to do, I accepted the offer as it was a ‘good’ job (i.e. one that my parents would understand and respect…).”

Other once-aspiring lawyers have been more considered in their career choice, yet have still been caught by the regret net. For Rob (again a pseudonym), the overwhelming ‘I shouldn’t have done this’ feeling came when he was just months into an ill-suited paralegal job.

Rob was attracted to legal practice thanks to his lawyer sister. “She warned me that a career in law would be very competitive,” Rob reflects, but that didn’t stop him.

The doubts came early:

I realised I made a mistake when I started to fail a number of exams on the Legal Practice Course (LPC). I spent money on a number of resit examinations and on private tuition.

Passing the LPC and securing a fee-earning paralegal position did little to quell Rob’s reluctance. “I did not enjoy the work I was doing and my chances of securing a training contract were very low,” and that was the end of that.

The LPC scuppered Laura’s chances of legal profession glory, too. It was smooth sailing during her LLB, an “excellent” experience, but then:

The first notable point of regret for me was during work experience with [a high-profile personal injury firm], it really did not interest me at all. I shrugged that off though and just assumed it was due to the fact it was not in the area I wanted to practice.

But the unease persisted. Once enamoured with the law, Laura — again a false name — tells us that just weeks into her LPC: “I quickly discovered that I actually just hate the way in which the legal career operated. As someone who believes everyone deserves the law to be accessible it didn’t sit well.”

The sacrificial nature of a legal career began to dawn; realising how difficult it’d be to settle down and start a family was the final nail in the coffin. Miserable, Laura dropped out after her first term, but assures Legal Cheek she’s much happier as a result.

Law is paraded as the safest, most lucrative degree of all — but it’s far from regret-proof. Sam, Rob and Laura were just three of many who got in touch with Legal Cheek to share their stories — it’s not even the first article we’ve done on the topic.

• Interview: The Linklaters solicitor and the 5 Paper Building barrister who swapped cases for cakes
• Cardiff student goes public with LLB regrets and says law school is a quicker way to kill yourself than smoking

Are you too living with a law-shaped regret? We’d love to hear from you.

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‘He’s the kind of person we want at the firm’

A law student who jumped in to help a Baker McKenzie partner during a train station assault has now started work experience at the firm.

In May, we reported top lawyer John Rowley, 62, had been attacked at the Gallery Place Metro, Washington, allegedly by a group of teenagers. The white-collar crime expert — who works at the global firm’s Washington office — suffered a broken hand during the assault, but realised things could have been far worse had an onlooker not jumped in to help.

Unfortunately, Rowley didn’t catch the have-a-go hero’s name, but did notice he was carrying a book entitled ‘The Law’. At first Rowley assumed his knight in shining armour was a lawyer, but then discovered he was a law student at George Washington University. The law school, ranked 30th in the United States is about a 25-minute walk from the station where the attack took place.

Rowley launched a hunt for the good Samaritan, stating: “I just want to thank him and to let people know that there are really good people out there.” At the time, we speculated:

Legal Cheek understands Rowley is yet to track down his aspiring lawyer saviour. But if he does… odds on Rowley offering him a spot of work experience?

Now guess what’s happened? Rowley was reunited with his saviour, 23-year-old Andrew Miller, and has now offered him a summer associate position at Baker McKenzie’s Washington office. Akin to a vac scheme, the programme gives budding lawyers an introduction to legal practice.

On this, Rowley told The American Lawyer:

I practised law for quite a while now and, frankly, natural leaders are hard to find. When I met [Miller] and I got to know him a little bit, reflecting back on the courage of jumping in, he was the kind of person that we wanted to have here at the firm this summer.

Miller — who suffered a slight concussion after being punched by the train station assailants — was reportedly surprised when he was offered the position. He’s been at the firm since 12 June and seems to be having a good time. “I’m sure I’ll tell my grandkids about it,” he said of the experience.

Two people have been arrested in relation to the assault. A trial is set for 11 July.

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MoJ and Inner Temple also recognised for their endeavours to help disadvantaged young people

A plethora of City law firms have featured on what is believed to be the first ever social mobility index.

The new top 50 list is produced by the Social Mobility Foundation and the Social Mobility Commission. It ranks UK employers in accordance with the practices and procedures they are implementing to ensure they are open to accessing employee talent from all backgrounds.

Unveiled this morning, the inaugural 2017 index features a host of big legal players.

Finishing in eighth position, the accolade of highest ranking law firm went to Berwin Leighton Paisner. Other outfits to make the top 20 were Baker McKenzie (11th), Pinsent Masons (15th), Burges Salmon (17th) and magic circle duo Clifford Chance (19th) and Linklaters (20th).

Elsewhere on this year’s list, Herbert Smith Freehills secured 25th position, while Hogan Lovells and Simmons & Simmons finished 26th and 27th respectively. Sitting just below them was Eversheds Sutherland (29th) and national outfit Freeths (32nd).

The other firms recognised for their social mobility endeavours were Scottish outfit Brodies (39th), Holman Fenwick Willan (43rd), DLA Piper (46th), Charles Russell Speechlys (48th) and Stephenson Harwood (50th).

Two legal institutions that are not law firms also made the cut. The Ministry of Justice — now headed up by new Lord Chancellor David Lidington — finished an impressive 14th, while The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple landed 35th.

Rankings aside, the charity-backed study included some interesting statistics.

For example, 96% of the nearly 100 organisations who were considered for the rankings said that as part of their recruitment policy they would accept degrees from any university. However, 61% of successful applicants attended a Russell Group institution (despite making up just 42% of applications). Meanwhile, Oxford and Cambridge — popular among the City law elite — are visited more often by graduate recruiters than 118 other UK universities combined.

David Johnston, chief executive of the Social Mobility Foundation, said:

All the top 50 firms in the Social Mobility Employer Index should be applauded for the progress they are making towards ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to get in and get on — regardless of their background. While no one firm has cracked the issue and there is still progress to be made, they should be congratulated both for having prioritised social mobility and for being prepared to have their processes and practices independently scrutinised.

Accounting and consultancy specialists Grant Thornton was named social mobility employer of the year.

Social Mobility Employer Index 2017 (Firms and law-related organisations only)

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As Ashurst’s training contract deadline looms, we talk to banking law specialist Nick Wong about his career to date

The deadline for submission of applications for training contracts with City heavyweight Ashurst is 31 July. That’s just around the corner, so it’s high time to get cracking and do what the firm suggests — apply via a covering letter sent to its graduate recruitment partner. But what, if you were to make the grade, would life with the silver circle firm be like? And what tips and advice does it offer to would-be trainees?

Nick Wong is just the man to ask: having been a partner with Ashurst since 2015, he recently became its graduate recruitment partner. It’s a role the banking lawyer enjoys tremendously:

The people we see at interview are of such high quality that they could, in reality, get jobs in almost any profession or industry. It’s great meeting them, seeing what makes them tick, and seeing if they’re the kind of person to enjoy life at Ashurst.

What, then, is that kind of person?

Wong doesn’t need to think through his answer. “There’s no such thing as an ‘Ashurst type’, because we’re an open-minded firm, and we actively involve and include a broad range of minds with a broad range of backgrounds, all united by a common set of strengths or competencies,” he says. “But we’re also a very collaborative and collegiate firm, and people here can expect to do work with an international flavour.”

With over 1,500 lawyers working in 25 offices around the world, internationalism comes with the territory at Ashurst. Wong adds:

Cross-border work permeates everything we do, from the work of partners and associates to that of trainees and paralegals. Trainees will find themselves dealing with lawyers from other jurisdictions, and will experience different kinds of deals in countries across the globe. Overseas secondments can also constitute one of a trainee’s four seats.

Wong himself enjoyed a secondment in Hong Kong during his trainee years, which were at Clifford Chance. Prior to that, the London-bred Manchester United supporter took A-levels at Westminster School in English, History, Maths and Economics. He went on to study law at King’s College, London, before leaving the capital to complete his LPC at Nottingham Law School. Wong, who started his training contract in 2002, says that showing a genuine interest in the law is crucial when applying for training contracts:

You’ve got to come across as wanting a legal career because you like the law. You can demonstrate this in a number of ways, and which is best will depend on what kind of law firm you’re gunning for. But across the board, it’s vital to read the quality press and know about contemporary legal, commercial and business issues. That doesn’t mean just reading the FT on the day of your interview, but regularly reading it and also reading things like The Times law section on a Thursday.

Putting in the hours on vacation schemes is also important, says Wong: “We do have trainees who haven’t been on vacation schemes but it’s fairly uncommon. The schemes equip people well, and give a great insight into what day-to-day life in a law firm is like.”

Wong completed vacation schemes with Stephenson Harwood, Travers Smith, Clifford Chance, CMS Cameron McKenna and Eversheds. Undoubtedly, completing five schemes with leading firms helped him, but so too did knowing that he wanted to be a lawyer from an early age. “Some people drift into the law but I wasn’t one of them. I knew I wanted to be a lawyer from my teenage years on,” he recalls.

Upon qualifying with Clifford Chance in 2004, Wong spent a further eight years with the firm, before joining Ashurst in 2012. He relishes life at Boardwalk House, working as a banking lawyer, not least because of the firm’s ethos of making sure clients’ welfare is always uppermost in its lawyers’ minds. “The secret to success as a lawyer is putting your clients first,” he says. “Try to work with clients you like, with whom you enjoy working, and in whose business you have a real interest. That’s what we strive to do at Ashurst. If you can do this, you’ll find that life is less stressful.”

Equally, though, prospective Ashurst trainees shouldn’t be under any illusions: there will be stressful moments. Wong explains:

It’s par for the course that you’ll have to work long hours doing due diligence, or work round the clock at key junctures on major matters. You shouldn’t kid yourself: the work is serious, and you’ll be working very hard. But it’s also very rewarding — you forge bonds with colleagues that can last a lifetime. There’s also the satisfaction of completing the deal or securing a win for your client.

And Wong has one last tip: “The interview process is key to both the firm’s wellbeing and the applicant’s — we share a mutual interest in making sure the fit is right. So do your research, and prepare, and do all the things that can help you build a legal career, but most importantly, in the interview, be yourself.”

There is more information here about applying for training contracts at Ashurst ahead of the firm’s 31 July deadline.

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