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Training in London
Join the global private client law firm in London
For the past 125 years, we have supported some of the world’s most remarkable individuals and organizations.
Join an ambitious, collaborative international law firm where individuals are valued and voices are heard. A truly flexible working culture that puts people first.
We’re helping our clients to shape the future.
Can we help shape yours too?
Key dates - Training Contract (2028) application
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Applications open: Wednesday, 1 October 2025
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Applications close: Friday, 27 February 2026
Join us
Applications for our 2028 Training Contracts are now open! All applications must be made via our online careers portal.
VISIT CAREERS PORTAL
What can you expect from us?
A training contract/period of qualifying work experience lasts two years. As a trainee, you will rotate through four different teams around the firm – we call these ‘seats’ and each seat lasts six months. We will work with you to understand the areas of law that you are particularly interested, and will try to help you get the seats that best match your career aspirations.At the start of each seat, you’ll be assigned a supervisor who, as well as giving you work, is responsible for mentoring you, and for providing training and feedback on how you're doing. You will have two appraisals with your supervisor in each seat in addition to regular informal catchups, where you have opportunity to discuss your objectives and what is expected of you. You will also be assigned a trainee buddy for each seat, and you will have a partner mentor for the duration of your training contract. As well as technical legal training, we also provide you with the skills you need to succeed commercially. This includes presenting, negotiating, workload management, business development, client relationship management and networking.
The interview process
The first stage in the process is to complete the online application form. Please note that you are only able to apply to either the vacation scheme or training contract each year. We do not accept duplicate applications and your first application is the one that will be considered. Please ensure that you complete your application in full including all your academic record.
We are proud to use the Rare Contextual Recruitment (CRS). We encourage you to complete the Rare form as this allows us to understand each candidate's achievements in the context in which they have been gained. The CRS is a screen-in not screen-out tool.
Following submission of your online application it will be reviewed by a member of our team. Please note that we do not use AI to screen applications.
Successful candidates will then be invited to take our online Cappfinity strengths based assessment. This comprises situational judgment, critical thinking and numerical reasoning questions. The scenarios have been designed to give you an insight into the type of work we undertake at Withers. The assessment is untimed. You will have one week to complete the assessment from the date and time that you receive the invite. Please check your junk/spam email regularly as we are unable to extend the deadline.
Following the online assessment, applications will be reviewed again, and successful candidates will be invited to complete a proof-reading assessment.
Interviews for the training contract take place online via Teams. The interview consists of a 50-minute interview with HR and a partner.
Candidates who speak a foreign language fluently may be asked to demonstrate this skill at interview.
Whilst we appreciate that you will have used online resources to prepare for the interview, we want to get to know you during the interview and therefore we discourage you from reading notes or using AI during the interview. We value authenticity and there are no trick questions, we are interested in how you think.
Successful candidates following the online interview will be offered a place on the assessment centre.
The assessment centre will consist of a group exercise, an interactive (role-play) exercise and an interview with two partners which will include a 10 minute presentation – you’ll be given options to choose from but this is usually on current affairs.
What are we looking for?
We are proud of the successful clients we work with. We’ve worked with over 60% of the Top 50 charities in the UK, 78% of The Sunday Times rich list and the leaders of major FTSE and City of London institutions. Much of our work in the UK has an international component and collaboration is critical to successful delivery for our clients. Everything we do centres around providing great service to these people.
To join us, you’ll have a strong academic record but beyond that you will have the diversity of interests and confidence to work with our client base. We are the largest law firm in the world focused on the needs of successful individuals and their business interests, and have spent the last decade growing this international platform – the ability to work globally with all sorts of different people is vital. Languages aren’t essential but they are very useful here. In particular Italian, French, Spanish, Arabic, Mandarin and Japanese are useful.
Our requirements
In terms of specific requirements, we welcome applications from all degree disciplines and from applicants at all stages of their careers – in fact, previous roles help bring the maturity required to work with our clients. You’ll have, or be on track to have, a 2:1 degree or higher and a minimum of AAB at A-Level (or the equivalent if educated outside the UK). Please note that undergraduate applicants must be in their penultimate or final year of a qualifying law degree or their final year of a non-law degree or have completed their undergraduate studies.Your career success
We work hard to make sure we operate in the same markets that our clients do. We now have 15 offices globally, and launch new services whenever we spot something our clients need. We want all our lawyers to have the same entrepreneurial spirit and determination to keep moving and developing.
There are lots of opportunities for you to develop your career at the firm, during training and beyond. This might be an international secondment, pro-bono work or joining a firm wide group that keeps everyone up to date on legal developments or non-legal topics like diversity.
Another key way to develop your career is via our global market groups. These teams of lawyers sit across our areas of legal specialism, and develop deep knowledge of the sector that our clients work in. This might mean, for example, developing a particular immigration solution for entrepreneurs or exploring the use of arbitration in trust structures. So many of our lawyers naturally link this with something they are personally passionate about like sport, art, luxury brands, philanthropy, family businesses or a particular jurisdiction they love. We have over 100 lawyers here who love everything Italian, for example, and who spend as much of their time helping Italian clients as possible!
Candidate centre
To make an application or to continue an application already in progress, register with or log in to our careers centre here.
SPEAK TO ME
Jaya Louvre
Hi. I'm Jaya, global head of talent acquisition and diversity, and I'm on hand to help you with any questions you may have.
EMAIL JAYA