The most memorable part of my role so far was when I made our most recent offers to our qualifying trainees. I’d seen this group of trainees' progress from the summer vacation scheme to completing their training contract. It was a real pleasure to see this journey and to know I was a key part of this process was extremely rewarding.

We run two two-week schemes in June and July each year. Our schemes will be in-person across our UK offices for 48 students in total. Candidates can apply for our schemes if they’re a penultimate-year law student, final-year law or non-law student, or graduate. It’s a great way to find out more about the firm’s culture and to experience the work of a trainee. They’ll also be assessed for a training contract during the end of the scheme.

Candidates will work within one department and experience a range of real work tasks. This ranges from research tasks and drafting documents to attending meetings. Previous candidates have attended client events and socials so there are lots of opportunities to get involved in and become a real part of the department. We want to ensure that our candidates have as much access to support and guidance as possible so each candidate will have a supervisor and trainee buddy to provide support over the scheme. We also hold sessions and workshops to build their key skills. In recent years, we have held a Legal Hackathon where candidates designed and built a solution to streamline legal operations and improve our service to clients. This allowed the candidates to really get creative and focus on delivering client solutions through legal technology and innovation. The winning candidates won an award!

At Trowers, we’re looking for candidates who are enthusiastic, motivated and driven, and who have great communication skills. There’s no one size fits all trait for a trainee, and we look for a range of people, each with their own skills and knowledge.

We’ll be transitioning to the SQE route from 2024. Our future trainees will study their SQE preparation course and exams in the year prior to starting their qualifying work experience at the firm. This is an exciting time for us as it allows us to redesign the programme we offer to future and current trainees.

D&I is incredibly important to us and we have a real commitment to this. We want to be as diverse and inclusive as possible across our business and make sure we retain our diversity. In graduate recruitment, we’re dedicated to improving D&I throughout the recruitment process. For instance, we use the Rare Contextual Recruitment System to allow us to see an applicant's unique personal circumstances alongside their application to understand their potential. Our internal networks, called TrowersIncludes, are open to every member of the firm, and hold events and initiatives throughout the year creating a space to celebrate differences. Working with the networks, we recently published a D&I strategy that outlines our actions to deliver change and to be transparent on reporting our progress. We also celebrate key events throughout the year such as Black History Month, International Women's Day and Pride. While we’re very proud of our culture, we recognise that we can do more to ensure that everyone has equality of opportunity.

Candidates let themselves down by not making their application specific to Trowers & Hamlins. We want to see that candidates are passionate about not only a career in law, but a career at Trowers. We’re very interested in applicants’ achievements and extra-curricular activities, but they must try to make sure they’re relevant to their application form.

Yes, absolutely. Many of the key skills we look for in a trainee can be developed in a non-legal environment. Candidates should take the time to consider their experiences, the transferable skills gained and include this in their application forms. We also understand that it might have been very difficult to gain legal work experience over the past few years!

It’s very important for us to be able to see that candidates want to train at Trowers specifically. By showing your research and understanding of what we do and who we work with, you’re showing this interest and commitment. Candidates can do this by researching our practice areas and culture. Quality is so much more important than quantity.

We look for good commercial awareness from the application stage as it's a very important skill for lawyers to have. This is because lawyers need to provide the best advice possible on their client's legal issues and to add value to their business. We want to see that candidates understand how we operate as a business, the areas we work within and what may affect our clients. There are quick and easy ways of staying up to date with current affairs and our business, for example by looking at the recent news on our website or across our social media platforms. Candidates can also show good commercial awareness through their previous work experience or positions of responsibility. For example, you might have seen how budgets were managed or how businesses were run.

At law fairs and events, candidates will have the opportunity to interact directly with graduate recruiters, trainee solicitors and other members of the firm. This is a great chance to find out information that you can't see on the website and to gain a feel for our culture. Candidates should show genuine interest in the firm and come prepared with a few questions they would like to ask. We’re very friendly and love to interact with students at these events!

Try to get to know us in advance of submitting your application. We hold open days and events with universities that will allow you to understand more about our practice areas and culture and give you the opportunity to meet lots of different people! They’ll give you a real insight into whether the firm is a fit for you before you decide where you want to apply.

Nicki Minaj’s ‘Moment 4 Life’.