Cooley lawyers solve legal issues for entrepreneurs, investors, financial institutions and established companies, with a significant emphasis on technology, life sciences and other high-growth industries. Clients partner with Cooley on transformative deals, complex IP and regulatory matters and high-stakes litigation, often where innovation meets the law. The firm has 1,300 lawyers across 19 offices in the US, Asia and Europe. Cooley took home the US Law Firm of the Year award at the Legal Business Awards in 2022 and the London office was recognised by The Legal 500's 2022 Future Lawyer's trainee solicitor survey as a winning firm across a number of categories.

Cooley goes to great lengths to maintain a culture of teamwork, collaboration, respect and excellence. Many leading industry organisations say Cooley is a special place, including repeat recognition from Diversity Lab, Working Mother, the Women in Law Empowerment Forum and more. The firm strives to maintain a diverse, equitable and inclusive environment and to create opportunities for professional growth. Cooley considers its commitment to the communities in which it operates to be one of its highest priorities and each year performs thousands of hours of pro bono legal services and other forms of community service.

Cooley’s London office has been named London Office of the Year at the British Legal Awards twice since opening in 2015. The office provides corporate legal advice on domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, capital markets transactions, debt finance, and private equity and venture capital financings. The firm has deep experience in advising high-growth disruptive technology and life sciences companies as general corporate counsel at all stages of a company’s life cycle. Additionally, the London office has teams advising on technology transactions, cyber/data/privacy, competition, intellectual property, compensation and benefits, employment, and tax matters.

Who should apply

If you want to consider joining Cooley you will need to be stimulated by solving business and legal challenges. Academic excellence; requirements are a minimum 2.1 at degree level for any discipline and ABB at A level (128 UCAS points or equivalent not to include points from AS levels or general studies), great analytical skills and a rigorous approach are essential. You should be able to demonstrate plenty of energy, drive and determination. Your understanding of business and commercial considerations should be of a good standard. You will also be adaptable and capable of thinking on your feet. You should have developed great communication and interpersonal skills from a variety of situations. Understanding teamwork, evidence of leadership and seeking responsibilities are vital. Interesting achievements and making the most of non-academic and work experience (not necessarily all legal) opportunities will help applicants stand out.

Applications welcome from both law and non-law disciplines.

Our spring and summer programmes (vacation schemes) are the gateway to becoming a trainee at Cooley and designed for those who want to build a legal career and gain early exposure to legal practice.

Designed to give you a genuine insight into life at a US law firm, these programmes combine meaningful work experience, professional development and opportunities to build connections across the firm.

Working alongside our lawyers on real client matters, you’ll gain exposure to the innovative companies, investors and founder-led companies that Cooley is known for advising. Depending on the work taking place during your programme, you may attend meetings, join conference calls, assist on transactions, conduct legal research, support litigation matters or contribute to wider client and business projects.

What you’ll experience:

• Two weeks of work experience, receiving £550 per week in compensation.
• Real work within one of our key practice areas.
• Direct exposure to clients and high-quality work.
• A range of skills‑based training, workshops presentations and networking events that will help you develop your commercial awareness, legal skills and understanding of Cooley’s culture.
• Continual feedback and coaching from your supervisor.

With approximately seven participants on each programme, you’ll benefit from a highly personalised experience. You'll be supported throughout by a supervisor, a trainee buddy and our graduate recruitment team, who will help you make the most of every opportunity and provide guidance as you explore a career with us.

Our goal is simple: to give you meaningful exposure to our work, our people and our culture, while providing a platform for you to demonstrate your potential.

By the end of the programme, you’ll have a clearer understanding of what it means to be a Cooley trainee and whether a career with us is right for you. Offers to successful scheme participants will be for training contracts commencing in 2029.

Dates:

• Spring: Monday 5 April to Friday 16 April 2027
• Summer: Monday 28 June to Friday 9 July 2027

Our two-year training programme is divided into four six-month seats. It is designed to provide experience across contentious and transactional practices and help you develop the technical, commercial and interpersonal skills needed for a successful legal career.

One compulsory seat is within general corporate, which includes mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, private equity and venture capital. A second compulsory seat is within business litigation and may involve commercial disputes, investigations, international arbitration, employment or product compliance and litigation.

Other seat choice may include life sciences, debt finance, technology transactions, cyber, data and privacy, compensation and benefits or financial regulation. Options evolve with client demand and business needs, and the firm works with trainees to understand their interests and career ambitions.

Alongside on-the-job learning, trainees take part in a comprehensive development programme delivered by partners, associates and the professional development team. Training covers practice-specific knowledge as well as skills such as building professional relationships, communicating with impact and collaborating effectively in a hybrid environment.

Every trainee has an extensive support network, including an assigned supervisor, a trainee buddy in the year above, a partner mentor, the legal talent team, the professional development team and the training principal. This support is designed to help you ask questions, act on feedback and take ownership of your progress.

Additionally, trainees are heavily involved in the firm’s pro bono work, community initiatives and sustainability projects. These opportunities allow them to use their skills for causes that matter while building relationships across the firm.

Cooley has fully transitioned to the SQE for all future trainees.

Cooley’s commitment to attracting, mentoring and retaining an exceptional team of lawyers from as many backgrounds as possible is embedded in our culture. We are dedicated to maintaining a truly diverse workplace that values and celebrates differences – from the way we relate to and support each other to the way we work together to meet our clients’ needs.

We’re proud of our annual commitment to Pathways to Law, which provides legal work experience to academically able, A-level students from underrepresented backgrounds. In addition, we review summer programme applications on a name-blind basis and conduct behavioural interviewer and unconscious bias training for all our lawyers, directors and managers. We also implement the Rare Contextual Recruitment System as part of our application system. We are excited about what lies ahead in continuing to attract, develop and retain diverse talent at Cooley. Learn more about diversity, equity and inclusion and Cooley’s DEI action plan: www.cooley.com/about/diversity.

Qualifying work experience 

Cooley pays for the PGDL/SQE course(s) and assessment fees, and provides £20,000 maintenance grants for each course.

PGDL/SQE fees funding plus living allowance of £20,000 per year, per course.

UK Diversity Fellowship

UK Diversity Fellowship award recipients will receive a paid summer programme position and a bursary of up to £12,000 to assist with university/law school tuition. The bursary will be paid in three instalments: £4,000 upon completion of the first UK summer programme with the firm; £4,000 upon completion of the second UK summer programme with the firm; and the remaining £4,000 upon joining the firm as a full-time trainee solicitor.

• General corporate (M&A/PE/VC)
• Capital markets
• Technology transactions
• Cyber data privacy
• Life sciences
• Business litigation
• Product compliance & product litigation
• Antitrust
• Compensation & benefits
• Employment

• Corporate & Commercial
• General Commercial

• London
• Boston
• Chicago
• Colorado
• New York
• Reston
• Palo Alto
• San Diego
• San Francisco
• Santa Monica
• Seattle
• Washington DC
• Chicago
• Shanghai
• Beijing
• Hong Kong
• Singapore
• Brussels
• Miami

• London

• Afghan Pro Bono Initiative
• Asylum Aid UK
• Business in the Community
• Citizens Advice Bureau
• Court of Appeal scheme
• Fair Trials International
• Fenix
• Free Representation Unit
• Kids in Need of Defense (KIND)
• LawWorks (the Solicitors Pro Bono Group)
• Liberty
• London Legal Support Trust (LLST)
• National Deaf Children Society
• Outright International
• Own It
• Plan International
• Prisoners’ Advice Service
• Queen Mary Legal Advice Centre
• RCJ Advice
• The Access to Justice Foundation
• The RCJ Citizens Advice & Law Centre
• TrustLaw
• UnLtd
• Whitechapel Mission
• Zacchaeus 2000 Trust

• Afro-Caribbean Network
• Aspiring Solicitors
• BITC
• Black Counsel Forum
• Bright Network
• Cooley UK Diversity Fellowship
• GROW Mentoring
• InterLaw Diversity Forum
• Mindful Business Charter
• MyPlus Consulting
• Rare Recruitment
• Social Mobility Foundation
• Sutton Trust
• The 93% Club