Firms clamour for roles as CSET summer school is oversubscribed

The ;City ;Solicitors' Educational Trust (CSET) summer school scheme has received 923 applications from 94 UK universities - four times the anticipated number of applications.

In addition to the 12 firms that initially committed to the scheme, another nine large firms have now signed up to support the CSET project, which aims to encourage applications from students studying at ;non-Russell ;Group universities. Russell Group universities make up the traditional pool of City applicants.

Ashurst partner Roger Finbow, who has been closely involved in the programme, said: "We've been pretty amazed by the number of applications, which really does, I think, reflect the real need that there's been for an initiative like this."

The summer school is an intensive week-long residential course at London's Imperial College. Students will study commercial law as a context to building knowledge, skills and confidence.

Now that the applications are over the difficult process of selecting 100 summer students from the pool begins, but a third-party consultancy will assist in the task.