When it comes to graduate trainees, the top five UK law firms, known as the “magic circle”, are every bit as picky and pushy as the Big Four in accounting. The sad story of the bright but stressed City lawyer who fell to his death at Tate Modern recently is a cautionary one.

You might excel at law at university, but for corporate work you need a strong constitution to survive the long working hours and continuing study requirements. You also need a burning passion for business.

Law in the City covers the whole gamut of business and finance. You might, for example, advise investment banks and private equity firms on corporate deals such as mergers and acquisitions and asset stripping. If your clients are huge pension funds, you and your team need to know every detail about the relevant legislation and regulation.

Alternatively you might advise the pension scheme members in a class action group, like the lawyers who took the Government to the European Court of Justice recently for letting down thousands of workers who lost their pensions when their employers went bust. “Whether you win or lose you have to be dispassionate; thick skinned, if you like,” says one graduate trainee at a City firm.

Employment law is very demanding, according to a graduate who chose to specialise in this field recently. “The most challenging case I was involved in was when one of the City’s most prominent asset managers asked us to break his golden handcuffs.” Golden handcuffs are the complex employment contracts that prevent high-flyers from defecting to a rival company and starting work immediately, taking their best clients with them. “Our job is to unravel the contract and to ensure that the client gets out as quickly and cleanly as possible, taking what’s due in terms of long-term performance-related bonuses and share rights.”

Career wise, law offers an excellent trajectory and, once qualified, you can choose your next job from a wide range of financial institutions and plcs. The major consultancies seek to bring in-house specialist legal expertise, so you could end up in the corporate tax practice of an accountancy firm, for example. Although US law firms are unlikely to offer you your first job, they will be keen to see you when you have completed your training at a leading UK firm, particularly if it is within the magic circle (Allen & Overy; Clifford Chance; Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer; Linklaters; and Slaughter & May).

The money’s good at the top — you can earn up to £40,000 as a starting salary — but ideally you will secure a training contract with a top firm during your second year at university.

Sarah Lister, London director of the recruitment company Michael Page Legal, says graduates will require “at least a 2:1 from a top university and [will need] to be ready to continue studying for several years. Employers look for ambitious students who show initiative and take responsibility”.

The lowdown

About one student jobseeker in ten applied to law firms last year

The 11 law firms in The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers offer more than 1,000 graduate vacancies a year

Law is the highest paid graduate destination after investment banking, with average starting salaries of £31,000 a year

Source: High Fliers Research

Debbie Harrison is a senior visiting Fellow at Cass Business School. Read previous articles in the series at www.cass.city.ac.uk/thetimes.

Next week: What it’s like working in the insurance and risk business

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