We are looking for 100 trainees to start training with us in London in 2014, split between two intakes in February and August. Our training programme is vital to us, because today’s trainees are where most of tomorrow’s associates and partners will come from.

You have the option of doing eight seats

Our lawyers work in eight practice areas:

• Antitrust, competition & trade 
• Corporate 
• Dispute resolution 
• Employment, pensions & benefits 
• Finance 
• Intellectual property/information technology 
• Real estate 
• Tax 

You will experience at least three different practice areas. But unlike other firms, we offer you the option of doing up to eight seats. (A seat just means a spell in a particular practice area). This gives you a broader understanding of the different areas of law. It's also a much fairer system as it means you have a better chance of doing three months in a popular seat.

The corporate and finance practices are the core of the firm, so we recommend that you spend at least three months in both of these practice areas.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority also requires that every trainee has some contentious experience. But for those who do not want to do a seat in dispute resolution, there is the option to complete a litigation course.

We have a pretty good idea of which types of personality suit which area of law, so we'll guide you if you're unsure.

The choice is wider than you think

Within many of the practice areas are a number of specialist groups. For instance, within finance there are four teams:

• Banking 
• Energy and infrastructure 
• Structured and asset finance 
• Restructuring and insolvency 

So if you are interested in finance you could apply to do three months in banking and three months in structured and asset finance.

With 27 offices you have a good chance of doing a spell overseas

You may also have the opportunity to do a seat in one of our other offices. Last year 60 trainees spent time overseas in one of our 27 offices. And you can also do a seat with one of our clients. Last year, 75 trainees were seconded to a UK or overseas client such as Barclays, Goldman Sachs, Sony Computer Entertainment and Tesco: and nine trainees were seconded to pro bono clients Liberty, Tower Hamlets Law Centre, and Oxfam.

We monitor your progress

During each seat, you have constant feedback from your supervisor. And at the end of every three months you have a formal appraisal with a partner in your team

At the end of your training contract you can take unpaid leave

At the end of your training contract we offer you the option of taking 20 days unpaid holiday before you start work as a qualified lawyer.

Go to www.freshfields.com/uktrainees for more details

When and how to apply for a training contract

You can apply any time between 1 November 2011 and 31 July 2012 for a training contract to begin in 2014. If you are an undergraduate, the earliest you can apply is the summer before you start your final year.

Apply online for a place on one of our vacation schemes or for a training contract.

We'll then send you an email and ask you to take an online verbal reasoning test. The test should take you about 20 minutes.

If we don't hear from you within 7 days, we'll assume you don't want to continue with your application. You can take a practice test before you complete the real thing. Find out more about the verbal reasoning test.

If you have a disability, which makes taking the test difficult, contact the Trainee Recruitment team on +44(0) 207 785 5554.