Willkie is an international law firm of approximately 850 lawyers spread over thirteen offices in six countries. We represent companies across a wide spectrum of business areas and industries, most particularly financial services. Our core practices are M&A, private equity, asset management, bankruptcy and restructuring, complex litigation, and competition and antitrust. The firm comprises lawyers who are individually and as a group recognised as some of the world’s foremost subject-matter advisors in their respective areas of practice. We are committed to continuing our 130-year history of excellence and service to our clients.

Established in 1988, our London office provides English and US legal advice to UK, US and international market-leading public and private companies, investors and financial services institutions.

Our principal areas of work in London are: asset management, business reorganization & restructuring, capital markets, competition & antitrust, compliance, investigations & enforcement, corporate insurance, finance, financial services regulatory, litigation, mergers & acquisitions, private equity, and tax.

Our training contract provides an environment where junior lawyers can excel and be challenged, in a supportive environment. You will sit in four different practice areas, with a mix of partners and associates. 

We take your training seriously, and you will work alongside our partners and associates in small teams on real matters from day one.  Our people work in small, nimble teams on high quality matters, so it is important that you are motivated, collaborative and able to pick things up quickly as you will receive a great breadth of work from the outset.  

Willkie London has grown considerably over the past five years, and over 50 per cent from 2017 alone. With this in mind, we are looking for self-starters who want to contribute to a dynamic, growing workplace, and who have a genuine interest in Willkie and our clients. 

In 2022, we will have up to ten people in total on our spring and summer vacation schemes.   

You will sit in two different teams, with both a partner and an associate and gain hands-on experience, giving you the opportunity to undertake real, meaningful work and showcase your potential.  

We hope that by the end of the two weeks, you will have met most of our people at our vacation scheme-specific workshops, seminars and social events. You will be supported throughout your time with us, both by a partner mentor, a trainee or an associate buddy and our graduate recruitment team.  

You will be paid £500 per week. 

Year one: £50,000 

Year two: £55,000 

Newly qualified: £130,000

For those who have accepted a training contract with us, we offer full sponsorship of both the GDL and LPC and/or SQE, which covers your course fees in full, as well as a £10,000 maintenance grant per academic year.

Our benefits include: 25 days’ annual leave, Cycle to Work scheme, employee assistance programme for employees and their families, employer pension contribution, eye test, health & well-being allowance, income protection, interest-free season ticket loan, life assurance, private dental insurance, private medical insurance and technology programme. 

We hold a retreat every two years for all European lawyers.  In 2019, this was held in Portugal over several days.  Socially, in London the firm is very active, with monthly informal gatherings, Friday treats, a summer and a Christmas party, plus an annual ski trip (contributory).   Additionally, we have regular fund-raising events with our annual charities (chosen by our staff), which includes bake offs, a pub quiz, Tour de Law and the Square Mile Run.  We also hold regular in-office yoga and a weekly tennis group.

We welcome applicants from all universities and degree disciplines. We are looking for consistently strong academic achievement, with a 2.1 at undergraduate level. 

Willkie is proud to use Rare’s Contextual Recruitment System. Partnering with Rare means social mobility measures and educational data are embedded into our recruitment process. This means we will better understand your academic achievements.

From autumn 2021, we are looking for those who can start their training contract in September 2024.  We recruit solely from our vacation schemes, held in spring and summer.  In 2022, we will have up to ten people in total on our spring and summer vacation schemes.  

The application deadline is 20 December 2021 and we recruit on a rolling basis.  Our application process has four stages: online application form, video interview, virtual written analytical exercise and partner interview.  At all stages, applicants will be informed of their outcome by email, in a timely manner.   

Please go to https://www.willkie.com/careers/london/graduate-recruitment for more information and to apply.  For any questions, please connect with Gemma Baker, Graduate Recruitment Manager, at graduaterecruitment@willkie.com