Our placement schemes give a taster to would-be trainees. They show
you what it is like to work at Ashurst and help you decide whether
you are suited to our culture and particular working environment.
They also enable us to meet talented people who might go on to
become our future trainees.
About the schemes
There are three schemes a year. At Easter, we have one intake of
primarily final year nonlaw undergraduates and all graduates.
This lasts for two weeks. The summer scheme has two intakes of
primarily second year law undergraduates. Both last for three
weeks. However, you are welcome to apply for whichever scheme is
most convenient for you. If you are offered a place, you will spend
each week in a different department, shadowing a solicitor and
becoming fully involved with his or her daily work. The aim is for
you to get as broad and comprehensive a view as possible, over a
short period of time, of life as a City solicitor.
During the placement, we give a number of talks relating to the
firm and its various areas of practice. We also arrange a variety
of trips and, in the summer, you will have the chance to visit one
of our European offices. But it's not all non-stop work. We
organise several social events where you can informally meet
Ashurst solicitors of different levels of seniority and from
different departments. At these events, you can ask them any
questions you may have about life as a trainee - and beyond. There
are other social events too, such as softball matches or touch
rugby, as well as nights out with our trainees.
By the end of the placement, you will have had the chance to get to
know many of the people who work at Ashurst. You will have
experienced first hand the wide cross-section of the work we
undertake. And, most importantly, you will have gained a real feel
for Ashurst's unique culture.
We make sure that you get to know our trainees when you are on your
placement. Many of them were once on a placement at Ashurst
themselves. With that in mind, the schemes are largely administered
by a committee of trainees. You will work normal office hours
during your placement and, of course, you will be expected to
participate in the daily life of the office. We do not pay a
salary, but we do give a generous subsistence allowance, currently
£275 per week, towards the cost of living in, or commuting to,
London.
Timing and the application process
Dates for the 2010 intakes:
Easter scheme
Monday 12 April to Friday 23 April
Summer scheme (intake 1)
Monday 21 June to Friday 9 July
Summer scheme (intake 2)
Monday 26 July to Friday 13 August
How and when to apply
Applications for our placement schemes are considered between 1
December 2009 and 31 January 2010. Places on the placement
schemes are offered periodically throughout the application period
and it is therefore possible that the schemes may be full before
the application deadline. We have now filled all of the
places on our 2010 placement schemes and have therefore closed the
application process.