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Opportunities

Training Contract - London

Your training contract is where your journey to becoming an exceptional lawyer really begins. Over two years you’ll be working at the forefront of the global legal sector.

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ABOUT THE PROGRAMME

Your training contract is where your journey to becoming an exceptional lawyer really begins. Over two years you’ll be work at the forefront of the global legal sector.

Every trainee’s journey is different but you can be confident you’ll be playing a meaningful role on some of the most exciting cases in the world as you learn from the top legal minds in every sector. After your training contract, you’ll have the technical skills, industry-recognised qualifications and the experience to become an exceptional lawyer.

During your two-year training contract, you’ll rotate through four seats across different practice groups. This, in laymen’s terms, means you’ll move around our business to experience different areas of law and work alongside new colleagues every six months as you find the area you want to pursue. Our training contract is structured so you can be immersed in our work almost immediately and develop your skills in the only way that really matters: on live projects for real clients taking real responsibility.

Apply Now (all students)

Structure

Programme details

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Hogan Lovells has all I wanted in a law firm. A combination of global prestige, fantastic work, an international practice, and so much more.

Bodunde Ajenifuja, Trainee at Hogan Lovells

Support

Support structures

From day one, we’ll give you plenty of responsibility, challenges and opportunities to push yourself – but you’ll never be without our support. We see our supportive culture as a fundamental element of your personal and professional growth. That’s why we’ll always be there to answer your questions and advise you on the next step to take. 

At Hogan Lovells, support comes from every direction. As a trainee, you’ll be working closely with our Trainee Development team, you’ll be encouraged to discuss your progress with them as they guide you from induction to qualification. 

Over 50% of our London partners were trainees at the firm, so they understand everything you’re facing and can help you find a clear path to success. Our supervisors have been trained how to coach, motivate and delegate effectively, which means you can count on them in every situation.

You’ll also have an experienced senior mentor. They’ll be with you through every challenge and always on hand to offer invaluable insight and support for every aspect of your working life.

Even though we’ve been successfully running our training contracts for many decades, we never want to settle into a routine and we always want our trainees to have a voice. That’s why two trainees from each intake are elected to meet regularly with our Trainee Development team to share ideas and collaborate. The committee also promote social events and informal meetups, which is critical in giving you the opportunity to build a strong network and provide support to each other.

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What we are looking for

The key traits of every Hogan Lovells lawyer

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    Intellect and intellectual curiosity

    We challenge conventional thinking and that often means doing work with little precedent. You’ll need to be ambitious and able to look beyond the obvious to deliver something unique and exceptional. We also look for a strong academic record from GCSE onwards up to a 2.i across your degree and above (or equivalent).

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    Commercial awareness

    Clients need us to be their trusted advisors across their business. You’ll need to be comfortable speaking their language and interested in how business works. 

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    Communication and interpersonal skills

    When working with clients it’s important to be able to communicate in both a clear and concise way. Good verbal and written communication skills are a big part of being a successful lawyer. 

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    Team working & building relationships

    No one can do what we do alone. You’ll need to relish being part of a team, where everyone pitches in and achieves great things as a collective.

     

     

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    Resilience

    You’ll have a rigorous attention to detail, be calm in the face of complexity and deadlines and happy to put in extra hours if that’s what it takes to deliver exceptional work. You’ll need to be comfortable adapting to new surroundings, respond to cultural nuances and tackle the unpredictable with confidence.

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    Career development

    Training

    Our Trainee Development programme is given very high priority within the firm because we understand that formal training is an important way of enhancing on-the-job learning. 

    As well as making sure that trainees know how to use all the tools and resources (whether tech-based or otherwise) that they need to do their jobs, we provide training in a range of skills that are crucial to their rounded development as lawyers, from building resilience to communication and time management. They also attend technical legal training in their practice areas. 

    We provide long-term pro bono legal support for social enterprises via our bespoke HL BaSE programme that develops our trainee and junior lawyers’ commercial acumen and understanding of social impact in business. 

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    Career development

    Training

    After receiving two days of mini-MBA style training, during which you’ll learn about business fundamentals, hear from inspirational business leaders and embed the ideals of social entrepreneurship into the way they think about business, you’ll then join teams of our trainee and junior lawyers to provide ongoing pro bono support to their social enterprise clients under senior lawyer supervision.

    See more information on HL BaSE here.

  • The best thing about working at Hogan Lovells is that I can see how the firm has invested in and continued to support me in my development as a lawyer. It’s a great feeling knowing that I'm still learning and being challenged in my work.
    Nikki Ogun, Associate at Hogan Lovells

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Graduate brochure

We’ve put together a concise brochure that includes everything you need to know, so you can learn all about life inside Hogan Lovells.

APPLICATION PROCESS

How to apply

  1. Online application form

    1. Read it through before you start to complete it. Print off a copy and draft answers first.

    2. Use legal placements, law fairs, open days, networking events, workshops and skills sessions to show how you’ve researched – and understood – the law and a legal career. 

    3. Be engaging and interesting – think what will make you stand out from the other applicants by showing us your personality and what you are passionate about.

    4. Don’t undersell yourself. If you match what you’ve achieved to what you know we’re looking for and give examples of when you’ve used your skills, you won’t come across as big-headed.

    5. Check your spelling and grammar. The law is a detailed field and good communication skills are vital. Make sure yours are up to the mark.

    6. Bring variety. When you’re answering questions, provide a variety of examples from all aspects of your life. Keep your examples recent, interesting and engaging.

    7. Use any work placements (legal or non-legal) to show you understand business, time management and how to work with people and meet deadlines.

    8. Read the questions carefully and make sure you answer every part of them. Provide evidence of what we’re asking for, clearly linking it to the question.

    9. Our online application form includes a section where you can tell us of any modifications you need to our recruitment process because of a disability or a long-term health condition. Be sure to use it if you need to.

     

  2. Online critical thinking test

    Critical thinking tests assess how well you can absorb and analyse information. They measure your ability to evaluate assumptions, arguments, deductions, inferences and conclusions. They’re good predictors of success in roles where you need to see things clearly from many angles and separate facts from assumptions.

    To get a feel for the intellectual demands you’ll experience from day one, take our sample test now. We use the Watson-Glaser critical thinking test. Each question takes around five minutes. These are just practice questions and your answers are not part of our selection process.

    Be sure to read the feedback that follows the test. It will help you with the formal assessments you’ll take if you apply for one of our opportunities.

     

  3. Assessment day

    If you are successful in passing the application stage and critical thinking test, you will be invited to attend an assessment day. The assessment day is intended to be a two-way process to allow candidates to find out about us, and for us to find out about them. Assessment days for either a summer or winter vacation scheme will take place virtually later in 2021 and in the early part of 2022. Our training contract interviews for non-law students take place in March and April and for law students in August and September of 2022. Our campus ambassador interviews are in May and June 2022. These will be conducted through a platform called TopScore with full information provided in advance to all candidates involved.

    The assessment days consist of the following: 

    •    An interview with two partners or a partner and a senior associate to assess your motivations, understanding of and interest in commercial law and the business world

    •    A situational interview with a senior associate and a member of the Graduate Recruitment team to assess your ability to respond to common situations that trainee solicitors deal with

    •    A group exercise that tests how you work as part of a team, your commercial awareness, and how you form and express your ideas to others

    •    A virtual networking session with trainee solicitors.
     

     

Application process

Your application

Find out what to expect from our graduate application process. Hear from one of our trainee solicitors, and pick up some top tips from our senior graduate recruitment manager and graduate recruitment partner about how to prepare and bring out your best.

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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS