Students in India

Herbert Smith is committed to recruiting the most ambitious and high-achieving graduates from a multitude of backgrounds. With that in mind we’ve worked to build links with top schools in India to be able to offer the opportunity for several penultimate year law students to come and work in our London office during their semester break.

Applications
We are looking for exceptional Indian students who are performing at the highest academic level at their university. Students are encouraged to apply in their penultimate year for a two-week internship to take place next year.

Applications for the 2011 internship are open and will close on 31 July 2010.
If your application is successful, you will be interviewed in India by two partners during September 2010. You will be asked to take part in a series of assessments, including a review of a short business case study and an interview that will be based on both your analysis of this exercise and the key competencies we feel make successful solicitors.

The internship
Once you have been offered a place, you can let us know your preference as to which of the four main divisions or specialist departments you would like to sit in. You will do two placements, each lasting one week. We will fund your flights to and from the UK, help organise your working visa and accommodation, covering all the costs and also pay you a salary of £350 at the end of each week of the internship.

During the programme you will sit in the same room as a partner or senior associate and be given real work for real clients. In addition, you will be involved in workshops and presentations that provide an insight into the breadth of practice areas in the firm.

Formal and informal social events are arranged for you to meet others on the scheme, partners, associates and trainees as well as to help you to get to know London. By the end, you should have a good idea of whether law is the career for you - and whether that career might be at Herbert Smith.

The training programme
During your internship you will have the opportunity to apply for an interview for a place on the training programme. If you decide to apply and are successful, you would then complete your degree and take the Qualified Lawyers Transfer Test (QLTT). It is possible to take this course at the College of Law in India if you wish to sit the exams prior to starting with us.

On accepting your training contract you will be paired up with a trainee buddy who can offer you any advice they have on working at Herbert Smith and relocating to London. In addition you have a dedicated contact in the graduate recruitment team and the firm provides a flexible relocation package to ensure your move is as smooth as possible.

Once you join you'll be one of the team, working directly on deals and cases for some of the biggest companies in the world. And you'll be working and training alongside some of the world's best lawyers.

The breadth of experience offered on our training contract is the hallmark of our two-year programme, providing you with an unparalleled opportunity to develop skills across a range of practice areas. You will rotate around four seats of six months each, spending time in corporate and dispute resolution as well as more specialist areas.

Throughout your training, you will find that we recognise and encourage individuality and originality within our practice groups. You will be given opportunities to evaluate your strengths, development needs, likes and dislikes - both informally and through formal reviews with your supervisors.
 
Your first two weeks are devoted to a comprehensive induction programme covering an introduction to the firm's people and practice areas, client care and professional standards, finance and business skills, legal writing and research.

Many of our trainees also take advantage of the numerous client secondment opportunities available in companies like Coca-Cola, Credit Suisse or BSkyB, where you would work as a resident lawyer, gaining an invaluable insight into the client's business. There are also opportunities to gain international experience through secondments to our network of offices in locations such as Paris, Brussels, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo and Moscow.

In additional to the on-the-job training, we also offer:

• professional skills courses
• a personal development programme, including a residential two-day development centre
• participating in training and know how groups for all major practice areas language