Your partner in success

Hear from former trainee, now associate, Anthony about life at Willkie:

From 1 September 2024, we will be recruiting trainee solicitors who can start their training contract in September 2027. We recruit our future trainee solicitors from our spring and summer vacation schemes only.

Our training contract provides an environment where junior lawyers can excel and be challenged, in a supportive environment. You will sit in four different practice areas, with a mix of partners and associates. You will spend six months in Litigation, Compliance, Investigations & Enforcement and six months in Private Equity or Insurance M&A.

In addition to the full programme of formal training, you will work alongside our partners and associates in small teams on real matters from day one. Our people work in small, nimble teams on high-quality matters, so it is important that you are motivated, collaborative and able to pick things up quickly as you will receive a great breadth of work from the outset.

We were delighted to be named winner of ‘Best law firm for quality of work’ at The Legal Cheek Awards 2022. We were also finalists in the following categories in 2024: Best Law Firm for Training, Best Law Firm for Quality of Work and Best Law Firm for Partner Approachability. We believe that this is due to our focus of fully integrating our vacation scheme participants and trainee solicitors into our teams. 

Salary and benefits

Our trainees will be paid £55,000 in their first year and £60,000 in the second year. Our qualification salary is £165,000 per annum. We offer a full suite of benefits.

Learn about our approach to graduate recruitment from our Training Principal, Jane Scobie.

We are proud of our vacation scheme, which fully integrates candidates into working life in the London office.  

We have up to 20 places (in total) on our paid spring and summer schemes. During your two weeks with us, you will share an office with a partner and an associate. You will undertake real, meaningful work and we will provide training that will enable you to showcase your potential. We hope that by the end of the two weeks, you will have met most of our people at our vacation scheme-specific workshops, seminars and social events.

You will be supported throughout your time with us, both by a partner mentor, your supervisors, a trainee buddy and our graduate recruitment team. You will be paid £750 per week.

Our 2025 vacation scheme dates will take place from Monday 31 March to Friday 11 April 2025 and Monday 23 June to Friday 4 July 2025. We offer places on both schemes to penultimate year Law undergraduates, all final year undergraduates (both Law and non-Law), all graduates, post-graduates and career changers.

Application information

We recruit our trainee solicitors via our vacation schemes only.  Applications are open from 1 September 2024 to midday on 20 December 2024.

You will hear from us within ten to fifteen working days as to the outcome of your application. We will not fill up places before the deadline and it is our strong recommendation that you only submit your application when you feel it is ready rather than submitting it as early as possible.

Our application process takes place in four stages.  Please note only those successful at each stage go forward to the subsequent stage:

• Online application form;
• Video interview;
• Written analytical exercise: to ensure fairness, the written exercise is marked by at least two different people (associates/partners) from Willkie’s London office.  Neither ‘marker’ would have seen, and will not see, any applications or video interviews and each exercise is marked on a name-blind basis; and
• CV-blind interview with partners and/or senior associates: our interviews are conducted on a CV-blind basis.

We welcome applicants from all universities and degree disciplines. We are looking for consistently strong academic achievement, with a 2.1 at undergraduate level. Willkie is proud to use Rare’s Contextual Recruitment System. Partnering with Rare means social mobility measures and educational data are embedded into our recruitment process. This means we will better understand your academic achievements.

Our people work in small, nimble teams on high quality matters, so it is important that you are motivated, collaborative and able to pick things up quickly as you will receive a great breadth of work from the outset. Willkie London has grown by 161% since 2017, and over 51 per cent from 2020 alone. With this in mind, we are looking for self-starters who want to contribute to a dynamic, growing workplace, and who have a genuine interest in Willkie and our clients.

To make an application, please click here.

Should you have any further questions, please contact Gemma Baker, graduate recruitment manager, at graduaterecruitment@willkie.com

• All About Law: in autumn 2024, we are holding events with All About Law on the following dates.  Please see the sign up links below:
  • Monday 21 October, Introduction to Becoming a Solicitor
  • Tuesday 22 October, Life at Willkie: Demystifying US law firms
  • Thursday 31 October, Plans for Private Equity: Fintech, ESG and AI in the world of PE
  • Wednesday 6 November, First Year Law Fair: Mastering the Application Process
  • Monday 18 November, Private Equity Workshop 
  • Tuesday 19 November, US Law Firms: The Inside Scoop
  • Wednesday 27 November, Life at Willkie: Unmasking US law firms 
• Cambridge University Law Society
• Durham Law Society 
• Legal Cheek Law Fairs
• LSE On the Case Podcast 
• Oxford Society for Commercial Law
• QMUL Law Society 
• UCL Law Society 
• University of Law
  
• TCLA: in autumn 2024, we are holding two events with TCLA.  Please see the sign up links below: 
  • Tuesday 29 October, What makes Willkie different? 
  • Tuesday 10 December, How to stand out in law firm interviews 
• York Law Society
  
   

Pro Bono & Community Work at Willkie London

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) is at the heart of Willkie’s values, in our London office and at the firm generally. 2023 saw the re-launch of our DEI Working Group in London and the appointment of partner Kirsty Maclean to lead our DEI initiatives in London, supported by a working group which represents partners, associates, trainees, paralegals and business professional staff. This re-invigoration represents a step-up in energy and support of our DEI strategy and goals.

London initiatives include:

Affinity Groups

We have several active affinity groups, aimed at promoting inclusiveness and community in London. Groups include members representing the LGBTQI+ community, parents, the Jewish community and those with minority ethnic heritage. We also have the London Chapter of the Women’s Professional Development Committee (WPDC). The WPDC was established more than a decade ago to offer professional development programmes and guidance to ensure that Willkie provides a rewarding and empowering experience to women at the firm.

Mentoring

Trainees, paralegals and associates benefit from our mentoring programme. Trainees are assigned one partner and two associate mentors each year, with mentor pairing rotating each year until associates reach 6PQE. Our mentoring programme provides the opportunity for our people to enhance their visibility and benefit from career guidance and practical advice from other professionals across several practice areas.

Rare Recruitment & Vantage

Willkie is proud to partner with Rare Recruitment on two initiatives: Rare’s Contextual Recruitment System and Vantage. Partnering with Rare means social mobility measures and educational data are embedded into our recruitment process. This means we will better understand your academic achievements.

GROW

Willkie London is delighted to work with GROW, a registered charity which works with aspiring lawyers (67% of whom are socially mobile and 51% from an ethic minority background) through one-to-one mentoring. Some 20 per cent of our London partners, associates and trainees have volunteered to mentor one or two GROW candidates.

Our lawyers and business service staff are also members of Willkie’s firm-wide Diversity and Inclusion Committee, established approximately thirty years ago. The Diversity and Inclusion Committee continues to host its highly successful Diversity Speaker Series, with external speakers including Dr Angela Neal-Barnett and Dr Tyrone Howard. Topics covered have included strategies for handling the impact of racism, trauma, stress, and anxiety; inclusion and anti-racism (including rules of equity, allyship and building an inclusive workplace); and race and immigration in the UK.

Pro Bono

Willkie regularly partners with a number of clients to support myriad nonprofit organisations. These organisations are dedicated to a wide array of causes, including education, immigration and providing support to underprivileged communities. Our London office encourages our lawyers to introduce new pro bono matters to the firm. Partnerships include:

• Rainbow Migration;
• Imperial College/Bloomberg Cleantech Accelerator Programme, for which Willkie was shortlisted in the “Most Effective Pro Bono Partnership” category for the LawWorks 2021 UK Pro Bono Awards;
• Stop Hate UK; A4ID; and
• The QMUL Legal Advice Centre.

Sustainability

Our London graduate recruitment team partners with Willkie Green, our firm-wide social impact group for all things sustainable, to look for new ways to both reduce our environmental impact and improve our graduate recruitment process sustainably. Our efforts were recognised at the TargetJob Awards 2022 as the winner of the Sustainability in Early Talent Recruitment Award.

In London, we rethought each stage of our graduate recruitment strategy, developing transformative changes that align with Willkie’s sustainability commitment and create a better experience for applicants.

Informal Work Experience for students in Years 12 and 13

The London office offers work experience placements of one week in duration in the summer school holidays to those in Year 12 or 13 (or equivalent) aspiring to a career in the legal profession. The work experience candidate will sit with a partner or an associate and obtain experience of day-to-day life within a busy international law firm. Travel and other expenses are paid.

If you would like to apply for work experience in 2025, please email a copy of your CV and a covering letter to Gemma Baker at londonworkexperience@willkie.com. Applications will close on 31 January 2025.

Please note that Informal Work Experience placements operate separately to our graduate recruitment process and we do not have any informal work experience or placements for undergraduates or postgraduates outside of our graduate recruitment process.

Willkie is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from candidates from all backgrounds. In particular, we encourage applications from candidates who do not have existing connections within the legal community.

Applications

How do I make an application for a vacation scheme and a training contract?
The application process will open on 1 September each year and the deadline for both our spring and summer scheme is midday on 20 December 2024. We do not accept any applications after the deadline. Please note that we only recruit via our vacation schemes and do not accept direct training contract applications.

Do you recruit on a rolling basis? 
Yes and no.  We review applications and video interviews as they arrive, meaning you will hear from us within ten to fifteen working days as to the outcome of your application. However, two of our application stages will not take place until after the deadline, meaning we won't make any offers at all until after the deadline and will not fill up places before the deadline. 

It is our strong recommendation that you only submit your application when you feel it is ready rather than submitting it as early as possible. 

Yes, we run virtual open days and webinars. Please see our Meet Us! tab for information.

What are your academic criteria?
We welcome applicants from all universities and degree disciplines. We do not have an A Level (or equivalent) grade requirement, but we are looking for consistently strong academic achievement, with a 2.1 at undergraduate level. Willkie is proud to use Rare’s Contextual Recruitment System. Partnering with Rare means social mobility measures and educational data are embedded into our recruitment process. This means we will better understand your academic achievements.

I studied a non-Law degree, does this put me at a disadvantage?
Not at all. We welcome applications from all degree disciplines.

What adjustments can be made to the application process if I have a disability or long term health condition?
We are happy to make adjustments to a candidate’s individual requirements, in regards to any part of our application process. Please contact Gemma Baker, our Graduate Recruitment Manager at graduaterecruitment@willkie.com to discuss, in confidence, your individual circumstances.

I have mitigating circumstances. Where can I include them?
There is a mitigating circumstances section on the application form. If you prefer, you can email Gemma Baker, our Graduate Recruitment Manager at graduaterecruitment@willkie.com instead.

Interviews and assessment centres

What is your application process?
Our application process takes place in four stages. Please note only those successful at each stage go forward to the subsequent stage:

• Online application form
• Video interview
• Written analytical exercise: to ensure fairness, the written exercise is marked by at least two different people (associates/partners) from Willkie’s London office.  Neither ‘marker’ would have seen, and will not see, any applications or video interviews and each exercise is marked on a name-blind basis; and
• Interview with partners and/or senior associates: our interviews are conducted on a CV-blind basis.

What is CV-blind interviewing? It means that during the interview, you are assessed solely on your performance on the day. Interviewers will not know anything about you, other than your name. This includes which university or school you attended, or the subject of your degree.

Will you reimburse my expenses for travelling to an interview? Yes, we will send you details of reimbursement claims once you’ve been invited.

Vacation Schemes

What are the dates of your spring and summer schemes?
Our 2025 vacation scheme dates will take place from Monday 31 March to Friday 11 April 2025 and Monday 23 June to Friday 4 July 2025. We offer places on both schemes to penultimate year Law undergraduates, all final year undergraduates (both Law and non-Law), all graduates, post-graduates and career changers.

How much will I be paid on the vacation scheme?
You will be paid £750 per week. We can provide additional funds if there is a financial need.

Do you offer any other work experience, other than the vacation schemes?
We run informal work experience to those in Years 12 or 13. Please see the Work Experience tab for details.

The Training Contract

SQE/LPC/GDL

For those who have accepted a training contract with us, we offer full sponsorship of the GDL and SQE (as appropriate) which covers course fees in full and a £20,000 maintenance grant, pro-rated.

We will ask future trainees onwards to complete the SQE (if they have not already completed the LPC). We are partnering with University of Law to deliver market-leading qualifications that we believe will prepare our future trainees for practice. All future trainees will study the LLM Legal Practice, which incorporates preparation for SQE 1 & 2 as well as the SQE Plus, an enhanced programmed designed to go beyond the standard SQE syllabus to ensure our trainees can be confident in their ability to hit the ground running.

Future trainees who have not studied law in England and Wales will take the nine-month Postgraduate Diploma in Law, before the LLM Legal Practice, to ensure they have a solid academic foundation in law.  

Do you provide a maintenance grant for the GDL or SQE?
Yes, if you accept an offer of a training contact with us, we will pay for your course fees in full and provide a maintenance grant of £17,500 per annum (pro-rated) in each year of study.  

How many trainees are in each intake? When do they start?
We take up to six trainees each year and our trainees start in September of each year.

Can I contact the graduate recruitment team?
Yes, please email Gemma Baker, our Graduate Recruitment Manager at graduaterecruitment@willkie.com.

Will I be able to go on secondment to client or to another Willkie office?
We currently do not offer international or client secondments.  

Can I get involved with pro bono work?
Yes, absolutely! There are many ways to get involved, please see the DEI section for more details.