Job Title: Trainee Solicitor
Job Type: Fixed-Term Contract
Location: 10 Upper Bank Street, London
Salary: £50,000 (first year) / £55,000 (second year)
A Training Contract with Clifford Chance will give you the full breadth of experience you need to emerge as a confident solicitor. The contract comprises four six-month rotations, giving you the opportunity to explore our practice areas, client and international secondments, and our split-seat opportunities.
Clifford Chance is one of the world’s leading law firms, offering local and global clients expert advice on all aspects of commercial law. The firm has unrivalled scale and depth of legal resources across five continents and five core practice areas.
Give yourself the best start
As a Trainee at Clifford Chance, you will undertake seats in at least four practice areas. Three of your seats will be in our core areas of Global Financial Markets and Corporate. One seat could be an international secondment, a client secondment, or a split-seat. You will therefore gain wide exposure to our business, which will allow you to determine which area you would like to qualify into as an England & Wales qualified lawyer.
While your experience on each seat will be very different, in all of them you will develop your legal and business skills, gain insight into our high-profile clients, and enhance your commercial awareness. The tasks you undertake could include: drafting and proofing documents; conducting due diligence on a client’s acquisition target; attending client meetings; preparing documents for a court hearing; researching titles and leases on a real estate portfolio; or creating a data room ahead of a major transaction. You may even run some smaller transactions for our clients.
Unbeatable support and development
Underpinning this exposure to the best work available, you will receive learning and development support from the Clifford Chance Academy, arguably the legal sector’s leading in-house learning and development facility. At the start of each seat, you will be allocated a dedicated supervisor and receive specialised training in that sector.
Throughout your Training Contract, you will be closely supported, both informally and through formal mentoring, by the Graduate Development Team, your supervisor, your legal support manager, and your monitoring partner.
If you require adjustments and additional support, we will work with you to produce a tailored adjustment plan outlining how the Firm will support you throughout your Training Contract and beyond.
Am I eligible?
To apply to this vacancy, you must be eligible to start your Training Contract in 2026 and/or February 2027. If you are a first-year undergraduate law student, second-year undergraduate student of a four-year law degree, or penultimate-year non-law undergraduate student you can apply for our SPARK programme instead.
Required experience and skills
You don’t need prior legal experience or a law degree to apply to us, but we are looking for committed individuals with certain personal qualities. We expect you to be a problem-solver with strong communication skills and a basic awareness of how businesses function. You’ll have knowledge of the role and our Firm, with an understanding of how this aligns with your skillset. In addition, you’ll be someone who has the following qualities:
– Business awareness and problem solving with commercial insight
– Ability to identify legal vs business issues
– Knowledge of the role and Firm with an understanding of how this aligns with your skillset
– Strong communication skills (oral and written)
– Leading and managing oneself and others
– Relationship building and collaborating with colleagues and clients
Our Training Contract is open to law and non-law students.
If you are applying for our London Training Contract and you have not studied a law degree, then you will need to complete the PGDL prior to joining us as a Trainee. Please note that if you are a Scots or Irish Law student or graduate, you may be required to do elements of the PGDL.
All Future Trainees with a 2026 or 2027 start date will complete the SQE prep prior to joining us as a Trainee. All Future Trainees who have already completed the SQE will still need to complete the Clifford Chance Plus Programme, which is a bespoke experience designed by our lawyers in collaboration with the University of Law.
Both the PGDL and SQE are funded by Clifford Chance, and we will provide a maintenance grant to use during your studies. More details can be found on our website.
About the Firm
Whatever your area of expertise, you’ll find a range of career opportunities at Clifford Chance. And wherever you’re heading, Clifford Chance is where you can be true to your ambitions.
Our Firm, work, and people span jurisdictions, cultures, and languages. In a world where commercial success increasingly relies on globalisation, we offer clients a truly international perspective, and we offer our people a rewarding and stimulating career.
We’re proud of our approachable, friendly, and team-based way of working. Highly professional and self-assured, with an entrepreneurial streak, our people are more than happy to share their expertise and knowledge.
Equal Opportunities
At Clifford Chance we understand that our true asset is our people. Inclusion is good for our team and their families, our firm, and society.
We are committed to treating all employees and applicants fairly and equally, regardless of their gender, gender identity and expression, marital or civil partnership status, race, colour, national or ethnic origin, social or economic background, disability, religious belief, sexual orientation, or age. This applies to recruitment and selection, terms and conditions of employment, including pay, promotion, training, transfer, and every other aspect of employment.
Our goal is to deliver an equality of opportunity, an equality of aspiration, and an equality of experience to everyone who works in our Firm. Find out more here.
Apply now
Please remember, you may only make one application to a scheme or role (either London Training Contract, Middle East Training Contract, or SPARK). Multiple applications will not be considered.
Please also be aware that we only review your application form. If you upload your CV, this will pre-populate some of your application; however, your CV will not be reviewed. Please do NOT upload a covering letter, as this will not be reviewed.
Apply here.