Trowers & Hamlins is well known for its eclectic mix of specialisations combining sector leadership in the UK and across the Middle East. With offices in London, Birmingham, Exeter, Manchester, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Dubai, Oman and Malaysia, we're a full-service firm and advise a wide range of clients across a large number of arenas. No matter where our clients are, they have access to a connected network of lawyers across many disciplines, jurisdictions and sectors.

Our clients operate in diverse industry segments such as real estate, construction, transport and infrastructure, banking and financial services, distribution and logistics, education and health, hotels and leisure, defence, engineering and surveying, charities, government, retail, and energy and natural resources. We also act for many high-net worth individuals.

We are acknowledged for the breadth of our practice and deliver large, complex deals ranging from major commercial acquisitions to substantial regeneration initiatives, luxury leisure and retail premises and private and social housing. We are consistently ranked as one of the leading firms in the Middle East and were also the first foreign law firm to secure a qualified licence in Malaysia.

As a firm, our vision is to help businesses and governments change the way people live and work. We do this by providing commercial advice geared towards tackling the challenges our clients face. We are fascinated by the future of our towns and cities and, especially, the point where commerce, communities and culture intersect.

What sorts of people succeed here? Well, we are often described as pragmatic, approachable, and down-to-earth. We're told that we are experts who can manage projects, relationships and change, brilliantly. Most gratifyingly, we often hear that we are the sort of people that our clients want to work with time and time again.

We believe that the combination of how we think, as well as what we do and where we do it, make us different from other international law firms. We are growing, but you won't be anonymous. Combine all this with the excellent training that we offer, and we believe that we're an outstanding prospect for any future trainee.

Our UK summer vacation schemes are a good way of finding out what life's really like as a trainee at our firm.

We offer 48 places across our London, Birmingham, Exeter and Manchester offices every year. During your time with us, you will be treated as a trainee for all intent and purposes; be involved in real work (such as drafting, undertaking research and attending meetings); and interact with a range of employees from within the firm (from support staff to partners). In your departments, you will be designated a trainee mentor who will be on hand to offer you guidance where required. You will also be allocated a supervisor to offer you counsel on the various pieces of work that you undertake. At the end of the vacation scheme, you will be interviewed for a training contract.

The weekly remuneration that we provide to each candidate attending our programme is currently £400 in London and £300 in Birmingham, Exeter and Manchester.

If you're interested in applying for one of our summer vacation scheme places, please complete our online application form which can be found here: https://www.trowers.com/careers/students-and-graduates/summer-vac-schemes-and-winter-open-day

Our training contract is divided into four six-month seats and you can expect to experience a broad range of departments over the course of the two-year period. You will be allocated a supervisor and will be appraised every three months. This gives you a great opportunity to receive detailed feedback on your performance and allows us to see that you are developing at an appropriate pace.

We believe in learning by experience. Throughout your training contract, you will be given responsibility and you will be challenged. You will have the opportunity to develop your drafting and commercial negotiation skills, and will be able to enhance your communication skills – whether as a result of real client contact or simply through liaising with partners and other colleagues. Your legal skills will be developed through research and due diligence, and your presentation skills tested through giving talks and writing articles.

You will benefit from a strong network of support in addition to that provided departmentally. Our graduate recruitment and development team is always on hand, along with the training principal and the trainee solicitors' committee. The latter meets regularly and includes four trainee representatives (one from each intake).

You will receive a competitive salary and benefits package as our trainee, which includes five weeks' paid annual leave every year.

We are introducing our SQE programme from February 2024. If you are applying for a training contract to commence in 2025 you will need to complete SQE1 and 2 and two years' qualifying work experience. 

We have a network of groups and initiatives under TrowersIncludes including age, ethnicity, gender, work and family, LGBTQ+, social mobility, religion and belief, and physical and mental wellbeing. TrowersIncludes runs a fun calendar of events and highlights issues and initiatives across our internal networks and social media platforms.

We were awarded top marks twice over for the Diversity and Inclusion, and the Mental Health and Wellbeing Initiative Awards at the CILEx National Awards and have one of the lowest gender pay gaps in the UK’s top 50 law firms.

If you have been recruited by us to start in 2025, we will sponsor your preparation course and fees to sit the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE). If you have yet to undertake a law degree, we will also sponsor you to complete the conversion course. We will provide you with a maintenance grant of either £7,000 (London) or £6,500 (Birmingham, Exeter, Manchester) for each year of learning.

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