THERE are a record 11 international law firms featured in the latest edition of The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers. Legal firms are now second only to public sector recruiters in dominating the league table of Employers of Choice for new graduates. But the perceived specialist nature of the jobs on offer mean that in the seven years since the Top 100 was first published no law firm has yet been ranked among the top 20 UK employers.

The top-rated legal firm for graduates in 2005 was Clifford Chance, the largest of the so-called “magic circle” firms headquartered in the City of London. Like all the major UK law firms, it recruits graduates more than two years before they actually start work as trainee lawyers, so is currently seeking applications for its 2009 graduate intake.

The training and study regime to become a professional lawyer is not for the faint-hearted. Law students need to apply by the end of January in their penultimate year for an Easter or summer vacation placement with the firm. Full training contracts are awarded at the start of the final year but after completing their undergraduate degree, trainees spend a further year of study completing the Legal Practice Course (LPC), supported by the firm. Non-law students need an additional year on a law-conversion course, the Graduate Diploma in Law, directly after their first degree and before starting the LPC. When new recruits finally join the firm, there are a further two years’ of training and work experience before becoming a qualified lawyer.

At Clifford Chance this training often includes at least six months at an overseas office in the firm’s international network, and three other placements, known as seats, in different areas of legal work. The rewards for those who succeed at the firm are considerable — newly qualified lawyers join one of the six main practice areas and typically earn twice the national average salary for graduates who are three years out of university.

Martin Birchall is editor of The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers

NUMBER 40: Clifford Chance

What does it do? Clifford Chance is a global law firm with 28 offices in 19 countries in the Americas, Asia, Europe and the Middle East that together generate an annual turnover of almost £1 billion. Its clients include well-known financial institutions, commercial companies, governments and regulatory authorities.

What does it employ graduates for? As trainee lawyers for six practice areas: banking and finance; corporate; capital markets; litigation and dispute resolution; property; and tax, pensions and employment.

Where are the jobs and what are the salaries like? There are about 120 vacancies a year at the firm’s London offices where first-year trainees earn £29,000 and newly qualified lawyers earn £51,000.

What’s the competition like? Typically about 40 applications for each training contract.

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