London

For information on the key credentials of our London office, click here.

UK training programme
Our two-year training programme provides you with an unparalleled opportunity to develop skills across a range of practice areas. These include our top tier corporate and dispute resolution practices (strength in both areas is something normally associated with leading New York firms), which provide a training environment of unique breadth and depth.

During your training contract you are likely to spend time in corporate and dispute resolution as well as finance or real estate. For those on the UK training contract, seats are also available in the firm’s specialist practice areas such as the advocacy unit, employment, competition, regulation and trade, intellectual property, pensions and incentives, and private wealth and charities.

Before you choose each of your four seats, you can express a preference as to which practice area or secondment you wish to undertake at that time. We take these preferences into account to ensure each trainee spends time in the seats they are most interested in. Shortly after joining, you’ll also have the chance to discuss your seat interests on a one-to-one basis with our HR team, so we are better placed to offer you a training contract tailored to your particular career aspirations. 

You may also take up one of the many opportunities for pro bono work, including secondments to Liberty – something we actively encourage.

Wherever you find yourself, as a Herbert Smith trainee you’ll be treated as one of the team, working and training alongside some of the world’s best lawyers. You’ll be contributing directly to the success of our clients, some of the best and biggest companies in the world.

We recruit from a wide variety of academic institutions worldwide and will be recruiting approximately 85 trainees for March 2014 and September 2014. If you can prove you have the desire to succeed today, and the potential to build on this in the future, we look forward to welcoming you to the firm. Applications will open for vacation schemes and training contracts in the autumn.