It's training contract season, so here are our tips on securing a training contract - from finding the right firm for you, to crafting a successful application. 

I'm finishing my final year of a non-law degree. Is the application process for a vacation scheme or training contract more difficult or different for non-law students?

The ‘standard’ route to qualification that most Scottish solicitors take is to do a four-year undergraduate degree in Scots law, followed by a mandatory one-year course called the Diploma in Professional Legal Practice and finally a two-year ‘traineeship’ at a solicitors’ firm.

Law degrees are offered at Queen’s University Belfast and Ulster University in Northern Ireland. 

Junior lawyers can now defer compulsory Professional Skills Course modules for 12 months, as the Solicitors Regulation Authority responds to the pandemic and relaxes professional training rules.  

Trainees from DWF Group Limited, Shoosmiths and Squire Patton Boggs (UK) LLP share how they’re finding LawCareersNetLIVE – from speaking to students on the stand to reflecting on the value of the day. Some also look back on attending earlier in their legal journey as delegates, and the support it offered during the application process.

Herbert Smith Freehills LLP has confirmed that it will allow trainee solicitors from its London and Hong Kong offices to do an overseas secondment in Australia.

Magic Circle firm Clifford Chance is considering rolling out its trainee stress-reducing programme to staff throughout the firm.

Mishcon de Reya has confirmed that it will offer training contracts only to those attending its vacation scheme.

Leeds-based firm Walker Morris has announced it will award travel bursaries of £1,000 to three of its future trainees as part of a wider support programme.

A trainee solicitor has taken the well-trodden path from law to politics by becoming the mayor of Frodsham in Cheshire.

Following the encouraging retention figures released by several firms in January, more big names have disclosed their retention rates for March 2012.

A raft of UK top 50 firms have revealed their trainee retention rates for 2013.

The Law Society Gazette reports that this year, the proportion of trainees being retained at the top City firms has increased to an average of 83%.

A survey has found that the proportion of trainees who stay with their firms after qualifying has recovered to 80% in 2011, marking a 5% increase on the figures from 2009 and 2010.

How does agile working impact trainees who are beginning their careers in commercial law?

Both Shearman & Sterling LLP and K&L Gates have confirmed that they will take on more trainees in the upcoming recruitment cycles.

The 15-strong intake of trainee solicitors at Knights LLP have all been recruited from the firm’s paralegal workforce.

A US law firm which only acts for companies in the cannabis industry is set to launch a UK office, in a move which is bound to put some anti-marijuana campaigners’ noses out of joint.

The department for business, innovation and skills has published new assessment plans and standards for legal apprenticeships following ministerial approval.