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Meghan Markle is not your role model, and neither are lawfluencers
Online stars are everywhere in law now – but is that a good thing? Lucie Cruz investigates.
Vacation schemes
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Bird & Bird extends working from home to students
Bird & Bird is planning to significantly expand the range of its agile working policies by formalising mandatory remote days for its summer vacation scheme students. The move is an indication of the extent to which the firm believes agile working is now a permanent part of business life. It also indicates the belief among […]
The Lawyer Career Clinic Live: Keep your career alive while WFH
TL career clinic March 2021 from The Lawyer on Vimeo.
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The JLD blog: the work experience dilemma
We’ve all been there. You finish university, perhaps your LPC too, only to find that you cannot get any work experience (voluntary or paid) because you don’t have any experience. It’s a vicious circle which can be hard to break out from. In 2016, the Junior Lawyers Division (JLD) worked with the Law Society to […]
Linklaters to compensate virtual vac schemers with bonus week’s pay
Linklaters has revealed its plans for vacation schemes this year, and will run three online events each lasting a fortnight, instead of its usual month-long face-to-face ones. To compensate students for the loss of the in-person experience and the extra two weeks’ income, the magic circle firm will pay as if the scheme was three […]
Clifford Chance’s summer vacation scheme will go ahead – online
Clifford Chance will run its 2020 summer vacation scheme as a virtual event, in response to the current coronavirus pandemic. The virtual scheme will take place from Wednesday to Friday, 1-3 July and will comprise three days – instead of the traditional two weeks – of virtual learning by using external platform InsideSherpa, which was […]
The JLD blog: Applying for training contracts at a time of uncertainty
Suddenly, many of us are finding ourselves adapting our daily routines to the new ‘norm’ – at least for the foreseeable future. For those in the legal education world, this has meant coming to terms with new ways of learning and studying as we are all encouraged to socially distance ourselves to protect others. In […]
A broken cycle: How coronavirus is affecting the qualification of lawyers
The entire process of becoming a lawyer is time sensitive. Students progress through university and law school, taking exams in their due turn. Law firms hunt for new talent and offer jobs two years in advance. Trainees wheel through the rotation of seats and eventually apply for newly-qualified jobs. As the seasons turn so does […]
First firm postpones spring vacation scheme in bid to battle coronavirus pandemic
Law firms have begun to amend their graduate recruitment activities in response to the spread of coronavirus across the globe. More than 30 law firms run spring vacation schemes in which students from across the UK and beyond gather to experience life in the profession; however, these are now under threat. Shearman & Sterling was […]
Mills & Reeve adds “mini-hackathons” to training contract interviews
Mills & Reeve has tweaked its training contract and summer vac scheme interview process by trialing mini-hackathons in a bid to find “lawyers for the future.” In the early stages of the recruitment process in February, the firm held group exercises and design thinking workshops to test the problem-solving skills of candidates beyond legal knowledge. […]
Linklaters puts focus on legal ops with new graduate scheme
Linklaters has become the latest firm to set up a graduate scheme based solely around legal operations, as part of an overall rethink as to how it delivers services to clients. The magic circle firm is set to offer the graduate scheme to between five and 10 individuals from August/September 2020, who will undergo a […]
Clifford Chance offers ‘external vac schemes’ with other companies to boost future trainees’ commercial nous
The magic circle firm is also decreasing the number of places available on its vacation scheme as it focuses on different ways of spotting and developing talent.
Osborne Clarke debuts ‘legal tech vacation scheme’ with Bristol uni
Osborne Clarke has teamed up with the University of Bristol to debut a new vacation scheme around legal technology, as a number of firms seek the help of external providers to broaden their educational offerings. The scheme, dubbed ‘legal and emerging tech vacation scheme’, was conceived to give students working in the university’s science, technology, […]
A career in law: is it for you?
Our choice of career is an important decision which we are often asked to make before having sufficient opportunity to reach an informed opinion about the type of job that would suit our skills. To help decide if a career in law is for you, I have picked out five critical skills which, based on […]
Exeter Uni offers a year-long placement at Reed Smith as part of new law degree
Exeter University is to launch a innovation-focused placement year in a law firm as part of a new undergraduate law degree. The South West institution has partnered with US-headquartered Reed Smith to offer the course, which it is calling its LLB Legal Placement degree. Current first-year Exeter LLB students will be the first undergrads to […]
The JLD blog: five pieces of advice for vacation schemes
A few weeks ago, I was asked by a paralegal at my firm whether or not they should apply be applying for vacation schemes or if they should go straight to the training contract applications. To be frank, it stumped me, as it’s something I’d not given much thought to since qualifying. It brought to […]
Clifford Chance partners with start-up to offer ‘tech vac scheme’ to future trainees
Clifford Chance has launched an technology-focused internship for some of its future trainees, partnering with a lawtech start-up Lexoo, an online legal marketplace. The two-month internship, which began in June, has an initial cohort of two future trainees who have just finished their first year at university. Both were selected from the 2017 Springboard programme, Clifford Chance’s […]