1,400 apply to train at Cadwalader

With more than 1,400 people applying for six places, up from 600 applicants last year. Nickey Stringer, head of graduate recruitment in the London office, said the team had to whittle the grand total down to just 90 candidates, who were all interviewed during the space of a week.

A spokesperson for the firm said Cadwalader's increased popularity could be partly attributed to its new recruitment drives at universities in Scotland and Ireland.

The fact that the firm's London turnover has grown to £19.8m during a period of economic uncertainty could also have alerted students to the fact that as restructuring specialists, Cadwalader is capable of riding through rough periods, the spokesperson added.

Yet perhaps most attractive of all is the fact that trainees start on £30,000, rising to £33,600 during the second year and qualify on a whopping £65,000. This time last year, the firm slashed its summer placement scheme due to fears that students saw the month in New York as a free holiday. Students now get to shadow a trainee for a day in London.