Applying for Clifford Chance's Training Contract [2023] - WikiJob Durham has taken a slide too. The arrival in Northern California demonstrates Freshfields' rapidly-growing strength in the USA, fuelled by a significant expansion in the number of its partners through lateral hiring. Almost a third of lawyers at the UK's elite Magic Circle law firms attended Oxford or Cambridge universities, new data published today shows. The range of universities feeding the market grew by 14% in three years. 'You should be on track for, or have obtained, a 2:1 degree minimum.' As firms recruit on a case to case basis, and are keen to make entering law as accessible as possible, the . This study will point to issues about social mobility in the law. We interviewed a sample of 7000 (exactly!) The bottom line. At these firms, we spoke to graduates of58 universities. In this portion of the London market, we began to see a little more variety: fewer Oxbridge graduates, more from the remaining Russell Group members and a stronger showing from other UK universities. Slaughter and May. Oxbridge grads make up a quarter of London trainees and a fifth of all trainees. 806 8067 22 Registered Office: Imperial House, 2nd Floor, 40-42 Queens Road, Brighton, East Sussex, BN1 3XB, Taking a break or withdrawing from your course, http://www.chambersstudent.co.uk/where-to-start/newsletter/law-firms-preferred-universities, http://www.chambersstudent.co.uk/media/1067/what_is_a_good_university.pdf. But the highest salaries in the business and top-notch commercial work also demand stamina and an appetite for long hours and hard work, more than any other city. The data below is drawn from the entirety of our research in the years 2010, 2011 and 2012. The term was coined by legal reporters in the 1990s[1] and is generally considered to include the following five law firms: Allen & Overy; Clifford Chance; Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer; Linklaters; and Slaughter and May. 1. Best universities for magic circle law firms - The Student Room Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". Copyright 2023 Legal Cheek Ltd. All Rights Reserved. 76.5% of trainees at the leading 130+ firms are Oxbridge and Russell Group graduates, London universities topple Oxbridge for graduate earnings in law, Non-law graduates earn 6% more than law grads, Regional firms prefer regional universities. Another ray of hope: law firms are beginning to show that they're less obsessed with university name and grades. Out of all the Oxford and Cambridge graduates we interviewed, over 80% bagged a contract at a City firm. To work in a Silver/Magic Circle law firm, do you need to have - Quora This cookie is set by Facebook to display advertisements when either on Facebook or on a digital platform powered by Facebook advertising, after visiting the website. One of my distant relatives is a director at one of the Magic Circle Law Firms, however I am yet to contact them regarding it. from the 139 firms featured in our guide since 2010. Both Notts grads and Bristolians showed a pretty even split between city and non-city firms, but Durham grads showed an almost 75% preference for working in the city. You don't have to go to a top university (and by your definition the 'only top unis are Oxbridge') to work at a top law firm. Find out about the prestigious firms that make up this elite group below Key differences between Magic Circle Law firms - Bright Network But who are the Magic Circle law firms? Find more on our methodology, plus a few disclaimers at the bottom of this page. ", "UK 200: Record 11 firms join the 1m PEP club", "The long read: How the silver circle shattered", "Magic Circle Law Firms: The Ultimate Guide", "The magic circle: meet the City's top commercial law firms", "Guest post - The Magic Circle is doomed. We wouldnt recommend making life choices based only on these figures, though. The data collected including the number visitors, the source where they have come from, and the pages visted in an anonymous form. Linkedin - Used to track visitors on multiple websites, in order to present relevant advertisement based on the visitor's preferences. The lesser-used silver circle tag which has arguably been rendered almost meaningless by the multiple mergers of the last few years as a host of global megafirms have been created includes Herbert Smith Freehills, Ashurst, Berwin Leighton Paisner, King & Wood Mallesons, Macfarlanes and Travers Smith. London School of Economics and the School of Oriental and African Studies were next, with graduates earning an average of 86,885 and 80,972 respectively. Masaryk University; is it worth going as an international student? [12] These firms have a lower turnover than the members of the Magic Circle, but consistently have an average profits per equity partner (PEP) and average revenue per lawyer (RPL) far above the UK average[13][14][15] (and, in some instances, higher than members of the Magic Circle). The majority of our trainee interviewees 81.4% hailed from a Russell Group university. For most firms, a 2:1 is the standard academic expectation, but neither the degree title or the university you obtain the degree from is specified. Sign up for our newsletter to boost your commercial awareness. YouTube sets this cookie to store the video preferences of the user using embedded YouTube video. The cookie is used by cdn services like CloudFlare to identify individual clients behind a shared IP address and apply security settings on a per-client basis. Read our comprehensive guide on Training Contracts. LLM? Remember everyone, we depend on your tips to stay on top of important bonus updates, so when . It seems to be a term to describe the leading City firms and there is some truth in it. As firms recruit on a case to case basis, and are keen to make entering law as accessible as possible, the university you attend does not impact your application as long as you meet the rest of the criteria for that firm. Take our new Which Magic Circle Law Firm is Right For Me? We have only looked at undergraduate degrees for the purposes of this study. Although a rather old-fashioned term, the phrase the Magic Circle has only been used since the late 1990s; before then, the prestigious law firms were called the Club of Nine, and included Lovells (now Hogan Lovells), Norton Rose (now Norton Rose Fulbright), Herbert Smith (now Herbert Smith Freehills) and Stephenson Harwood. Our interviewees came from a total of 88 universities over the past three years. We interview the trainees to get the truth about life at the major employers. With this intriguing, informal nickname comes an increasingly high reputation; described by The Guardian writer Laura Paddison, theyre the firms that promise top graduates a glittering name on their CV, A-list corporate clients and excellent training. Don't get lazy and assume you've made it: the name of your university is not an elixir that will impel recruiters to hand you a training contract. US law firms in London drew 24.4 per cent of their trainees from Oxbridge, with 50 per cent coming from the rest of the Russell Group, 16.5 per cent coming from other UK institutions and nine per cent coming from overseas. So we cant conclude that the law firms have hired from a more diverse range of universities: whatever progress has happened beyond the Russell Group, its not significant. Quiz now! Exploring trainee secondments and career moves into the Asia market. The figures were compiled by the Chambers Student Guide from interviews with 2,500 trainee lawyers over the last three years. The London universities LSE, UCL and King's continued to perform well here, while Nottingham lost the dominance it maintained in the other London categories. This cookie is set by Youtube. Following a . These firmscompete to pay the top salaries, outstripping the magic circle firms, while the style of work is not miles away from the UK elite. Recruiters will overlook you in favour of those who've been on it and performed well no matter what university they've attended. And then the drop off after 2016 coincided with changes to student visas in the UK that made it more difficult to be an international student doing the LPC. Below is a chart of the top 20 most common universities that cropped up in our research over the past nine years. Those who argue that both university admissions and law firm hiring is meritocratic should take a look at our School Backgrounds of Trainees report, which showed that an undeniable bias towards privately educated graduates exists in the profession. London is a global legal hub only rivalled by New York. This allowed other Russell Group universities to ascend the charts: note Durham is no longer the top of the Russell Group outside the capital, giving way to Manchester. Trinity College Dublin was the most commonly attended university in this entire category (putting it in the same ballpark as St Andrews, UEA and UWE). Magic Circle Partnerships' Oxbridge and Private School Bias Exposed Axa warns burnout is burning a hole the economy, From cow herder to corporate chief meet the man who leads Axas City division. At the time, these firms were Allen & Overy; Clifford Chance; Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer; Linklaters; and Slaughter and May. Each trainee told us where they completed their undergraduate degrees. The Magic Circle is an informal term describing the five most prestigious London-headquartered multinational law firms, which generally outperform the rest of the London law firms on profitability.The term has also been used to describe the most prestigious barristers' chambers in London. 10. The cookie is set by the email marketing service MailChimp. The cookie is used to store information of how visitors use a website and helps in creating an analytics report of how the website is doing. Sheikh Jassim aims to win Manchester United takeover battle with extra $1bn, Printworks: London nightlife venue to become offices as new plans revealed, UK to avoid recession but inflation wont return to Bank of England target until end of next year, Bomb like devices planted in Englands legal heartland amid 1m court wrangle with a top lawyer, Russian tycoons ex criticised by London judge for costly and destructive divorce fight with 9m bill, Bitcoin inventor court proceedings dropped in London as judge says its no longer in public interest, No firms charged with failure to prevent tax evasion in 6 years heres why. All of the 'Magic Circle' law firms and barristers' chambers specialise primarily in corporate law. Considered the oldest international law firm in the world; Original partner Samuel Dodd was appointed solicitor to the Bank of England Freshfields have continued to be the legal advisor to the bank ever since; Appointed the first legal services provider to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. At national firms those with various offices throughout the UK a clear winner emerged: Manchester took centre stage, leaving Durham some way behind. For more detailed information about the cookies we use, see our. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The prestige, the career opportunities, the money and the city itself combine to attract the brightest, hungriest and most gumptious graduates. Revealed: the universities which give you the best chance of making it This feature was first published in February 2016, Read our True Picture review of 130 top law firms, The school background of trainee solicitors. The purpose of the cookie is to enable LinkedIn functionalities on the page. In 1920, Linklater & Co merged with Paines Plythe & Huxtable, a firm that had been founded by a descendent of one of the founding fathers of the United States, Thomas Paine. We rarely encountered overseas graduates at the regional firms we researched. See more. King's College London A102 GEM 2023 Entry. The term was coined by The Lawyer magazine in 2005 in response to the pre-existing term, Magic Circle. Want to impress interviewers with your commercial awareness prowess? Can you do anything with a 2:1 in Oxford law? Its important to remember that this line isnt people from overseas, its just people who conducted their undergrad not in the UK. This information is used to compile report and improve site. For example, Leicester runs a very well-regarded law degree, and so has a strong showing. PDF What counts as a 'good' university if I want to be a solicitor? It's the full package that recruiters are after: the more you prove you can offer that, the less your university will matter. Law firms' preferred universities 2019 - Chambers Student Guide "[6][7] Nonetheless, other commentators still consider Slaughter and May to be a member of the Magic Circle. How suitable are you and what do recruiters want? I don't know where the term came from or who founded it. Since employability is a factor in a universitys status and funding, this is a convenient relationship for both the firms and the universities, so its hard to break. The Russell Group dominates the market at 81.4%. Youve heard of the Magic Circle, but did you know that theres also a Silver Circle? Copyright The Student Room 2023 all rights reserved. It merged with Bruckhaus Westrick Heller Lober and Deringer Tessin Herrmann & Sedemund in 2000; Relevant experience in one or more of their practice areas. Does it matter which university you go to for law? This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. In three years the number of Oxbridge grads taken on by City firms has dipped by 2.5%. Read more: Slaughter and May boosts pay packet for newly qualified solicitors to 100,000 as Magic Circle pay war rages. So dont fret if youre at a uni outside the RG there were fewer training contract applicants. . Thankfully many of the most elite firms are focusing much energy on addressing this bias, with programmes like contextual recruiting, and unconscious bias and diversity training. The other vital ingredient is to make good decisions at every stage, and that where we come in: use our guidance and market intelligence to help you understand where youd find your niche in this giant profession. Masaryk University; is it worth going as an international student? With this mass of responses we crunched the numbers to reveal which universities funnel the most trainees into the market and what segment of the market. If you have a look at the Law section there are several official lists based on reputation, partnership prospects, relationship success and salary expectations compiled by experts with their fingers on the pulse of the MC. Definitions of firm types: City (above including the magic circle and US firms): firms focused on City business sectors, such as finance, . Could someone read this and share their thoughts and corrections? The sudden jump in numbers between 2015 and 2016 may be due to sponsored work visas being given changes that made it easier for businesses to take on international juniors. Conducted over a period of three years, the survey data was based on 2,300 interviews with trainees at 124 law firms. The Magic Circle is an informal term describing the five most prestigious London-headquartered multinational law firms, which generally outperform the rest of the London law firms on profitability. US is pretty obvious except in cases where there was a transatlantic merger; wed still consider Hogan Lovells, NRF and BCLP City firms because of their strong London origins. As readers will of course know, the magic circle comprises Linklaters, Slaughter and May, Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance and Freshfields. US firms in London had the highest percentage of Oxbridge and overseas graduates in the entire survey. Barristers from it worked on 64 matters for the Magic Circle law firms since 2015. But even these firms do not specify a particular university. A list of the universities attended by partners at top City of London law firms has been published. We found that universities like Northumbria, Kent, Reading, UEA and UWE played a much greater role in supplying trainees to national and regional firms. Got questions about the SQE? 80 universities were mentioned by non-City trainees compared to just 67 mentioned by their City counterparts. Magic circle law firm Clifford Chance has appointed The University of Law (ULaw) to help prepare its future trainees to sit the Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE), it confirmed today. Could someone read this and share their thoughts and corrections? To put it in the same category as Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Linklaters would be inaccurate, and to say it is in a class of its own is frankly showing the firm too much deference. This cookie, set by Cloudflare, is used to support Cloudflare Bot Management. For instance, Freshfields and Allen & Overy now enjoy local rankings in California, a fiercely contested market traditionally dominated by homegrown firms. We know that anyone can become a lawyer, regardless of where they completed their undergraduate degree. It is worth doing some research to see if this is an option for you. The Magic Circle includes Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Linklaters and Slaughter and May. E.g. Follow us for breaking news and latest updates, The Trend Micro Cybersecurity Knowledge Hub, 10 services and companies to help grow your business, Slaughter and May boosts pay packet for newly qualified solicitors to 100,000 as Magic Circle pay war rages, Freshfields increases partner pay to 1.84m. It shows that a whopping 44% of partners at firms in the magic and silver circle attended Oxbridge, while 34% went to one of the 22 other Russell Group universities, and 22% graduated from a non-Russell Group uni. Quiz now! This cookie is used to store the language preferences of a user to serve up content in that stored language the next time user visit the website. A natural target for go-getters London may be, but theres a mutual attraction going on. The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. During my nine weeks of legal experience, I had the opportunity to experience seven different practice areas, which helped me understand which seats I would be most interested in upon starting a training contract . These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. Top unis=Top law firms? : r/6thForm - Reddit If they did it, why can't you? TSR Decisions Drop In 17th April - 5th May. [1] The Club of Nine was an informal group of law firms that comprised Allen & Overy; Clifford Chance; Freshfields (now Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer); Herbert Smith (now Herbert Smith Freehills); Linklaters; Lovells (now Hogan Lovells); Norton Rose (now Norton Rose Fulbright); Slaughter and May; and Stephenson Harwood. Before we launch into the results, a few points to bear in mind: We haven't interviewed every trainee that's passed through the system over the last three years: for our research we contacted a sample from each firm. Clifford Chance appoints ULaw as exclusive SQE prep course provider On our D&I platform we'll be taking a thorough look at legal industry issues. Solicitor Apprenticeships are one such example, and are an alternative to attending university, meaning that you can get started with a legal career without even attending university. Amlaw 100 Amlaw 200 Global 200 NLJ 500 A-List Diversity Scorecard Go-to Law Schools . The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". If your university doesnt rank highly in our report, should you be concerned? The range of universities feeding the market grew by 14% in three years. Out of these, Oxford and Cambridge came out on top, together accounting for almost a fifth of trainees surveyed. It may be time to reconsider the way we define and consider the so-called Magic Circle of elite U.K. firms. Top UK law firms | Prospects.ac.uk War for talent among lawyers as US 'white shoe' firms step up presence Submit. In nine years, law firms appetite for Oxbridge and Russell Group students has remained pretty much constant. This is a analytic and behavioural cookie used for improving the visitor experience on the website. Arguably for this reason, it was not included in the initial Magic Circle. Initially, the Magic Circle's membership was described by commentators as comprising the UK firms with strong corporate practices or international work. TSR Decisions Drop In 17th April - 5th May. What do they look for in Freshfields training contract candidates? The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". A second group comprising Bristol, Nottingham and Durham made up 16% of all trainees in our research. It sets a unique ID to embed videos to the website. and "At the end of the day we see ourselves as one of the leading global law firms, not one of the leading Magic Circle firms". ORW. Who has been hit hardest by 21bn of pandemic fraud, and will the taxpayer EVER get it back? Clifford Chance, headquartered in London, is one of the world's largest law firms, both by size and revenue. The further down you go, the more erratic it becomes. What sets them apart from other firms? All some of the top lawyers working for their respective law firms. Non-city firms are pulling in trainees from a wider array of universities. (Part 2), Shared bathrooms student accommodation Southampton. In 2013, The Lawyer argued that the term Magic Circle would lose its relevance, becoming "outmoded": "It will remain an easy shorthand to denote the UK-heritage firms with the biggest revenues, the most international work and which consistently outperform the rest of the [UK] market on profitability." Regardless of which university you're at, concentrate on trying to tick all of the boxes. Make sure you've been consistently on track for that 2:1 (minimum); get yourself some relevant work experience, ideally at a firm; keep yourself abreast of what's happening in the wider world and how that may affect the industry; and build up your interpersonal charm those vital soft skills that are required in order to build rapport with clients and generate business. Sign up to our regular updates! BTEC Business Unit 6 (Principles or Management) May 2nd Resit (2023), Which poems from love and relationships should i memorise? Organisations are beginning to recognise that talent is found everywhere not just in the most prestigious universities, which struggle themselves with a bias towards the privileged.

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