The training contract

You will complete a comprehensive firm induction during the first two weeks of your training contract. This will help you get to grips with our departments in detail as well as our IT systems, library and other resources. You will also begin the Professional Skills Course and skills training that will continue throughout the next two years and beyond qualification.  However good your academic understanding of the law, your training contract will demand that you get to grips with a great deal more. In addition to the more obvious practical applications of law, you will develop the skills required to become a shrewd negotiator, while also learning general business skills. You will develop a deep understanding of specific industries and much more besides. You will complete four seats of six months each. One will be in our corporate department and another in our finance department. The other two seats can be in any of our broad range of practice areas. You could choose a seat in an area in which you have a particular interest, join an international office or go on secondment to a client. We will work hard to accommodate your wishes and ask you to let us know early if your ambition lies in a particular direction.

Firm culture

From the start, our lawyers are encouraged to take ownership of the transactions, clients and business or social development responsibilities that they are involved in. That ownership means that our lawyers genuinely want everything they do to succeed and in the transactions-based environment in which we work, teamwork is crucial for success. Every team requires people with varying skills and our trainees are immediately aware that everyone who works at Ashurst is part of the team. The respect for others and appreciation for the roles we all perform when working together makes us a more open and friendly place to work – however, that is never at the expense of technical expertise and determination to obtain the best results for our clients. In short, although we wouldn't describe life at Ashurst as easy, it is rewarding. We ask a lot of ourselves, and that includes long hours and exceptional results; there will be challenges to last throughout your training contract and beyond. But you will also find colleagues you will quickly call friends and a working environment that will transform you from a talented trainee into one of the leading figures in your field.

Who we're looking for

Firstly, you will need to be absolutely driven to succeed.  There will be late nights where you will be in the office, facing tight deadlines and real pressure to perform. A love for the law will only carry you so far. You need to be totally committed to delivering for your clients, and for the firm as a whole. After that, we look for everything you would expect to see in us: common sense, discipline, professionalism, good judgement, dextrous thinking, creative ideas, an intelligent, international, commercial perspective – and the confidence to express yourself on paper, within teams and to a boardroom of your peers.

You will need to be on track for a strong 2:1 (or equivalent) in your undergraduate degree. We will support you through the Graduate Diploma in Law (where applicable) and the Legal Practice Course before you officially start your training contract. With our commitment to strong relationships, we will be looking for examples in your own history of building strong links, whether in teams or with customers. And with our work stretching so far around the globe, foreign languages will certainly weigh in your favour.

How to apply

Applications for both placement schemes and Training Contracts should be made using our on-line application system, accessed via the London graduate recruitment pages of our website.