Trainee Solicitor

During the two-year Training Contract, you will experience the challenging high-performance world of commercial law and gain the breadth of experience you need to emerge as a confident solicitor in England and Wales. You will have four six-month rotations, giving you the opportunity to explore the firms Global Product Groups. You will complete at least one of your seats in one of the following five Global Product Groups: Capital Markets, Debt Finance, Project Development & Finance, Restructuring & Insolvency, or Structured Finance. You may have the opportunity to undertake an international secondment, a client secondment or a split seat secondment with our Disputes team and our Pro Bono clients. Trainees receive a salary of £56,000 in their first year, £61,000 in their second year, and £150,000 as a newly qualified lawyer.

Our Training Contract is open to penultimate year law students, final year law and non-law students and graduates. You must be eligible to start your Training Contract in August 2029 and/or February 2030. Your intake may be decided by the recruitment team. For further information on eligibility, please refer to our FAQs on our website. You must have achieved or be on track to achieve a 2:1 or above in your undergraduate degree.

If you are applying for our London Training Contract and you have not studied an England and Wales qualifying law degree, then you will need to complete the PGDL prior to joining us as a Trainee. Please note that if you are a Scots or Irish law student or graduate you may be required to do elements of the PGDL. All Future Trainees will also need to complete the SQE prior to joining us as a Trainee, this is irrespective of whether you have already completed the LPC. All Future Trainees who have already completed the SQE will still need to complete the Clifford Chance Plus Programme, which is a bespoke course designed by our lawyers in collaboration with the University of Law. Both the PGDL and SQE are funded by Clifford Chance and we will provide a maintenance grant to use during your studies. More details can be found on our website here. If you have already completed the PGDL, you need to have achieved a commendation (60% or more) overall and achieved a completion (a pass or better) on all modules at first attempt. If you have already completed the SQE, you need to have passed all modules on first attempt.