This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Instead they're becoming more interested in simply sourcing candidates with the right qualities to make them a great lawyer. The prestige, the career opportunities, the money and the city itself combine to attract the brightest, hungriest and most gumptious graduates. Masaryk University; is it worth going as an international student? Our graph below makes no distinction between UK and non-UK citizens. This survey doesnt account for the numbers graduating from each institution. US law firms in London drew 24.4 per cent of their trainees from Oxbridge, with 50 per cent coming from the rest of the Russell Group, 16.5 per cent coming from other UK institutions and nine per cent coming from overseas. These results mostly relate to the larger commercial firms that take part in our guide. These firms are some of the most prestigious in the . These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. Used by Google DoubleClick and stores information about how the user uses the website and any other advertisement before visiting the website. Read more: Freshfields increases partner pay to 1.84m. But that doesn't mean, say, an Imperial chemistry graduate would be less likely to get a training contract than a Nottingham geography graduate. Firms are increasingly employing a more holistic approach to each application, meaning that they will consider applications from a range of candidates on an individual basis. Get on a law firm work experience programme. London is a global legal hub only rivalled by New York. [22], Impact of globalisation and relevance of the term, List of largest United Kingdom-based law firms, "One Essex Court is the 'go-to' set for litigation heavyweights", "Is this the end of the 'Magic Circle' brand? Although Oxbridge students make up less than 1% of each years graduating class, they made up a whopping 15.4% of all our trainee lawyer interviewees. If youre wondering whether to do an LLB or a non-law degree then GDL, your answer may lie below. If you mill about for three years, get poor grades and put no thought into your future legal career, then don't expect a flood of training contract offers. Slaughter and May. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. 806 8067 22 Registered Office: Imperial House, 2nd Floor, 40-42 Queens Road, Brighton, East Sussex, BN1 3XB, Taking a break or withdrawing from your course, http://www.chambersstudent.co.uk/where-to-start/newsletter/law-firms-preferred-universities, http://www.chambersstudent.co.uk/media/1067/what_is_a_good_university.pdf. Any universities missing didn't produce strong enough data. And the mix was refreshingly eclectic: one of our interviewees had originally trained as a vet at the Royal Veterinary College; another was a musician who'd earned a degree at Trinity College of Music; and a couple had explored their artistic interests at the Courtauld Institute. The cookie is set by embedded Microsoft scripts. InvestmentBankin. This cookies is installed by Google Universal Analytics to throttle the request rate to limit the colllection of data on high traffic sites. The research shows 76 per cent of trainee lawyers at the UKs leading 139 law firms are Oxbridge and Russell Group graduates. But who are the Magic Circle law firms? This cookie is used to store the language preferences of a user to serve up content in that stored language the next time user visit the website. Lse Law magical circle I take. The trope explained above that in the eyes of the more prestige-obsessed graduate, London is the be-all and end-all is visible here. Read more: Slaughter and May boosts pay packet for newly qualified solicitors to 100,000 as Magic Circle pay war rages. Overseas students were the top earners, according to the research, with an average newly qualified salary of 88,384. Regardless of which university you're at, concentrate on trying to tick all of the boxes. In the past three years we've asked 2,300 trainees at 124 firms which university they went to. NQuids inThe university you attend does determine your employability and earning power, but prestige isnt everything, as a glance at this table below will show. But otherwise, the best advice we can give is to study a subject you care about career success is about passion, not playing a numbers game. Following a . There is a 25% difference with regard to Revenue Per Lawyer. Copyright The Student Room 2023 all rights reserved. Magic Circle Interview Tips: Things to Be Aware of . TSR Decisions Drop In 17th April - 5th May. If youre an aspiring solicitor, youve almost certainly heard of the Magic Circle law firms. Could someone read this and share their thoughts and corrections? Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. At some of the biggest and most prestigious firms in London seemingly the preserve of the university elite we encountered trainees with degrees from non-traditional institutions like Brunel, Keele and Hertfordshire. Arguably for this reason, it was not included in the initial Magic Circle. The purpose of the cookie is to determine if the user's browser supports cookies. 1. . "[1] Then corporate partner at Herbert Smith Freehills and former investment banker Henry Raine said: "The phrase was coined by a legal magazine and referred to firms which were very strong in corporate or international work. The more that firms adopt techniques like CV blind interviewing, the more pressure there'll be across the industry to broaden recruitment and adhere to new standards. The short answer is no. Even the top law firms do not specify attending a particular university, or particular group of universities in their application process. At these firms, we spoke to graduates of46 different universities. The term has also been used to describe the most prestigious barristers' chambers in London. A commitment to a career in international commercial law; A commitment to and clear articulation of why you want to work at Allen & Overy; Commercial awareness of both the law and business; Genuine interest and a motivation towards a career in commercial law; The name Freshfields was introduced by James William Freshfield. Solicitor Apprenticeships are one such example, and are an alternative to attending university, meaning that you can get started with a legal career without even attending university. King's College London A102 GEM 2023 Entry. The remaining Russell Group universities were also represented strongly, while interviewees from other UK universities were comparatively low. While that's a small portion of the overall number of interviewees, the point is that graduates from these universities were still able to get training contracts. Part of the Dukes Education family Together we're extraordinary. [4][5] In 2017 The Lawyer magazine stated that it no longer considers Slaughter and May to form part of the Magic Circle due to its lower revenues and UK domestic focus. Guys, do you prefer to be called hot or handsome? Want regular information and advice on how to get into law? Want to impress interviewers with your commercial awareness prowess? It may be time to reconsider the way we define and consider the so-called Magic Circle of elite U.K. firms. Also, at the time the term was coined, the corporate practice at Herbert Smith (as it was known pre-merger) was focused on privatisation work, which had dried up. In his career, he has practiced with the largest law firm (with an international affiliation) in Indonesia and one of the magic circle law firms in Singapore, with a stint at the firm's headquarter . Used to track the information of the embedded YouTube videos on a website. LPC? Oxford and Cambridge feature considerably lower outside London. Linklaters. According to the data, 31.4 per cent of trainee lawyers at Londons elite Magic Circle firms Linkaters, Slaughter and May, Clifford Chance, Allen & Overy and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer went to Oxbridge. Sign up to our regular updates! However, almost 30% of our overseas sources gained their degree in the Republic of Ireland. This might reassure the non-law grads that theyre not starting their careers on the back foot, and should certainly encourage wavering GDL applicants. Furthermore, given some suggestions that Clifford Chance and Linklaters will follow their compatriots' lead in stateside expansion, alongside the novel options for local hiring and remote work in the post-pandemic world, it appears that this trend will only continue going forwards. Prestigious law firms lock their gaze on graduates from these prestigious universities, knowing they dont have to look far for the brightest and most driven candidates. Out of these, Oxford and Cambridge came out on top, together accounting for almost a fifth of trainees surveyed. I also emphasise neal95's post on choice of unis too. With this intriguing, informal nickname comes an increasingly high reputation; described by The Guardian writer Laura Paddison, theyre the firms that promise top graduates a glittering name on their CV, A-list corporate clients and excellent training. Amlaw 100 Amlaw 200 Global 200 NLJ 500 A-List Diversity Scorecard Go-to Law Schools . On our D&I platform we'll be taking a thorough look at legal industry issues. This survey gives the real story on entry requirements. Another ray of hope: law firms are beginning to show that they're less obsessed with university name and grades. Here are the 55 universities in the UK and the Republic of Ireland which came up in our sample outside of our top 30, in alphabetical order: Together, trainees from these universities represented 3.1% of the sample. The West Coast office launches, which mark the first venture into California by a member of the Magic Circle since Clifford Chance shuttered its 5-year old offices in 2007, reversed a recent trend in the London market, where expansive US-headquartered firms . Quiz, 12 Pro Interview Tips from a Magic Circle Partner, Clifford Chance Interview: From Trainee to Associate, Freshfields training contract recruiter interview, Why You Should Choose a Regional Office Training Contract, Five days of paid work experience to SPARK your law career, Interview with a STEM Trainee Associate at Herbert Smith Freehills, Students currently in their penultimate year of study, finalists and graduates of all degree disciplines, 2021/2022/2023 (March & September intakes), Penultimate or final year students; graduates, 1987, by merger of Clifford Turner and Coward Chance, 8000 (London), 7000 (outside of London), Weeks commencing 13 January and 27 January 2020, You can only apply for SPARK if you are in your first year or the second year of a four year course, Penultimate and final year law students; law graduates; GDL graduates, Winter Training Contract (Law and Non-Law), Final year law students; law graduates; final year non-law students; non-law graduates, 8000 (in London), 7000 (outside of London), Penultimate and final year law or non-law students; law or non-law graduates; law or non-law postgraduates, 1889, by William Capel Slaughter and William May, BPP University, London Waterloo + GDL Extra Programme, Law students in the penultimate year of their undergraduate degree and law students in the second year of a four year course who will be going abroad in their third year. The firm has taken on a number of student-related initiatives including Spark, a five-day scheme that provides first-year students with an inside view of the firm, and which this year opened its . [1] Generally, the Magic Circle firms have among the highest earnings-per-partner and earnings-per-lawyer of UK-headquartered law firms. If you have a look at the Law section there are several official lists based on reputation, partnership prospects, relationship success and salary expectations compiled by experts with their fingers on the pulse of the MC. Do I need a law degree to get into the magic circle? And is it necessary to attend one to stand a chance of securing a job at one of these firms? This cookie is to identify the source of a visit and store user action information about it in a cookies. Rather than instantly concluding Russell Group unis are better for getting a training contract, its worth noting top unis are often the ones pumping out larger numbers of law students. How likely is a UK property market crash and what IS happening with house prices? You'll notice that the Midlands and Northern-based Russell Group universities did particularly well here. PGDL? ", "Freshfields in the US: Don't call us magic circle", "Linklaters' Simon Davies: "The magic circle isn't what it used to be", "Revealed: The magic circle's barristers chambers of choice", "An obituary for the term 'Big 6' law firms in Australia", "Elite 'red circle' firms Zhong Lun and Jun He plot merger as consolidation grips China legal market", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Magic_Circle_(law_firms)&oldid=1134664562. The further down you go, the more erratic it becomes. magic circle law firms, I was surprised to see LSE placed quite low. That said, some US firms are more comfortably positioned here, so they hire less aggressively and are less closed off to students outside of the Russell Group: our trainee interviewees in this category had attended universities such as Kingston, Leeds Beckett*, Aberystwyth and Bangor. Although Russell Group candidates currently dominate the universities which lawyers at Magic Circle firms recruit from, you do not need to attend one of these universities to secure a position at a Magic Circle Firm. Find out how they work - and how you can get one. The firm was swiftly joined on the Pacific Coast by Magic Circle rival Allen & Overy, which burnished its signature credentials in complex financing work through the addition of a renewables-focused project finance team from Akin Gump in Los Angeles, including ranked partners Daniel Sinaiko, Matthew Nesburn and Andrea Wang Lucan, as well as adding the highly-rated John Marciano in Washington, DC. Participating firms represent the more competitive half of the market: combined their trainee vacancies amount to over 2,500, which is over half all trainee positions going each year. Almost a third of lawyers at the UKs elite Magic Circle law firms attended Oxford or Cambridge universities, new data published today shows. Remember everyone, we depend on your tips to stay on top of important bonus updates, so when . This group fragmented at the beginning of the 2000s, and now comprises the five that now make up the Magic Circle, a term coined by legal journalists. That seems big and it is but its down 5% from our previous survey of the years 2013-2015, although over nine years weve witnessed a 3% drop in the Russell Groups dominance. The cookie is used by cdn services like CloudFlare to identify individual clients behind a shared IP address and apply security settings on a per-client basis. Its encouraging, but as we can see from nine years of tracking this data, progress is happening slowly. According to Bloomberg . It argued that Clifford Chances profitability does not match the other Magic Circle firms, and that Slaughter and May operates a different (UK-focused) model, with revenue less than half of the other Magic Circle firms. The sudden jump in numbers between 2015 and 2016 may be due to sponsored work visas being given changes that made it easier for businesses to take on international juniors. Our interviewees came from a total of 88 universities over the past three years. The coloured arrows indicate rises or falls compared to our 2012 survey. Oxbridge, Durham and LSE dominate the US/Magic circle so that's hardly a surprise but Bristol, Exeter, UCL and Warwick also put up a good show. Choosing a University Other Things to Consider. At these firms, we spoke to graduates of 36 universities. The cookie is used to calculate visitor, session, campaign data and keep track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The firm has 570 partners and over 6,000 staff. The purpose of the cookie is to enable LinkedIn functionalities on the page. I am sharing my experience in the hopes that I can aid aspiring lawyers and support others in taking advantage of similar opportunities. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. The most noticeable change in the chart saw Manchester elevated to fourth place as opposed to tenth in London overall. In the past three years we've asked 2,300 trainees at 124 firms which university they went to. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. Initially, the Magic Circle's membership was described by commentators as comprising the UK firms with strong corporate practices or international work. Magic circle if you havent heard this term before, welcome to the UK legal market, heres a primer. Quiz now! What do they look for in Freshfields training contract candidates? Considered the oldest international law firm in the world; Original partner Samuel Dodd was appointed solicitor to the Bank of England Freshfields have continued to be the legal advisor to the bank ever since; Appointed the first legal services provider to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. What universities have lawyers at the top firms attended? Also worth mentioning are Southampton, Edinburgh and Cardiff, which appear almost every year too. This cookie is used by vimeo to collect tracking information. We also found that London attracted the highest proportion of overseas graduates. 76.5% of trainees at the leading 130+ firms are Oxbridge and Russell Group graduates, London universities topple Oxbridge for graduate earnings in law, Non-law graduates earn 6% more than law grads, Regional firms prefer regional universities. This is despite Oxbridge students making up less than one per cent of each years graduating class. As readers will of course know, the magic circle comprises Linklaters, Slaughter and May, Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance and Freshfields. Compared to our regional breakdowns, we saw a greater percentage of Russell Group-educated trainees, and fewer from other UK universities. London is at about $900,000 and New York's RPL is about $1.1 million. Oxford supplied the most trainee lawyers in 2016-18, with Cambridge in second place, followed by Bristol, Durham, Nottingham, Exeter and Warwick. This page was last edited on 19 January 2023, at 22:04. It is worth doing some research to see if this is an option for you. However, this doesnt mean that they exclusively hire local candidates. The lesser-used silver circle tag which has arguably been rendered almost meaningless by the multiple mergers of the last few years as a host of global megafirms have been created includes Herbert Smith Freehills, Ashurst, Berwin Leighton Paisner, King & Wood Mallesons, Macfarlanes and Travers Smith. They are the five UK-based firms considered to be amongst the most prestigious in the world. They are the five UK-based firms considered to be amongst the most prestigious in the world. As firms recruit on a case to case basis, and are keen to make entering law as accessible as possible, the university you attend does not impact your application as long as you meet the rest of the criteria for that firm. Official: Aston University A100 2023 Entry Applicant and Offer Holder thread, Close to a thousand experts unite behind statement that rejects zealotry of plant-b, Official University of the Arts London 2023 Applicants Thread, Official King's College London 2023 Applicants Thread, Official Oxford 2023 Postgraduate Applicants Thread, will university find out in future if someone uses CHATGPT, Parents are upset I've not found a bf and had a baby yet at 19. Russel Group universities were strongly represented, accounting for 81.4% of trainee interviewees, with 5.3% having studied at the University of Bristol . I assume this is because the stats didn't take into account the yearly law intake for each uni, which is quite low for LSE. Prestigious law firms lock their gaze on graduates from these prestigious universities, knowing they dont have to look far for the brightest and most driven candidates. (Flip to the next page to read the full memo from Linklaters.) A firm that has a high regional strength, for example, may be more inclined to hire a graduate from a local university and most of the applicants to that firm may, inevitably, be from the local area and may have attended a local university. They are way more likely to make it to the top of such firms than graduates of Newcastle, Liverpool, Cardiff, Queens Belfast and Queen Mary University of London, which each account for just 1% of Russell Group partners. Youve heard of the Magic Circle, but did you know that theres also a Silver Circle? The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". Oxford, Cambridge and definitely Durham dont have big legal markets. Universities outside of the Russell Group came to the fore, particularly Northumbria in the North East; Lancaster in the North West; Nottingham Trent in the Midlands; UWE and Plymouth in the South West; and Kent, UEA and Reading in the South/Thames Valley. A breeze from overseasThe fortunes of overseas undergrads in our survey is interesting, in particular how they beat every UK university in the salaries table. Thankfully many of the most elite firms are focusing much energy on addressing this bias, with programmes like contextual recruiting, and unconscious bias and diversity training. Is Clifford Chance the law firm for you? Clifford Chance. While Magic Circle firms have long been considered fixtures of the US legal market since opening their doors in New York almost half a century ago, the recent glut of hiring and lateral expansion can be seen as an acceleration of these firms' attempts to crack the US market in a much bigger and more eye-catching way. Linkedin - Used to track visitors on multiple websites, in order to present relevant advertisement based on the visitor's preferences. In all, 83 UK universities were represented in our sample an encouraging 14% increase on the total in ourprevious 2012 report, signalling attempts to attract more diverse candidates. For those in their first-year of uni, now is the time to start thinking about getting . How many we interview depends on the size of the firm - we might talk to every trainee a smaller firm has, and maybe as many as 20 in the magic circle firms. Between 2013 and 2015 we interviewed over 2,300 trainees for our True Picture reviews. There are grads from Oxbridge, Durham, Nottingham, Brum, Cardiff, Bristol, Leeds, UCL, LSE, Kings, Sheffield, York, Newcastle, Exeter and tons more from different universities within the UK working at top law firms. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". During my Year 13 work experience, I spoke to trainee solicitors at LinkLaters & Clifford Chance; both people seemed very normal, in fact they actually appeared to be fairly shy when I was talking to them. Linklaters lawyers and graduate recruiters share their advice. This allowed other Russell Group universities to ascend the charts: note Durham is no longer the top of the Russell Group outside the capital, giving way to Manchester. When we look at what replaces Doxbridge, we see universities in big cities with legal markets significant enough to keep graduates hanging around. Statistically speaking, lawyers at the top firms are most commonly from Oxbridge and other Russell Group universities. In nine years, law firms appetite for Oxbridge and Russell Group students has remained pretty much constant. If you're considering where to complete your undergraduate degree, do not let the results of this report override key considerations: a particular course youre passionate about; doors open to you by pursuing a certain course; a locations appeal and the accompanying cost of living; how close by your parents should be; the social life and your general happiness. The cookie is used to store information of how visitors use a website and helps in creating an analytics report of how the website is doing. We interview a random selection of trainees at 125 law firms. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. Those winning a hotly contested training contract at a Magic Circle firm can expect to be richly rewarded, with all five firms increasing compensation for newly qualified lawyers to over 100,000 this summer. When I heard that my university was holding an exclusive lecture by a former Magic Circle firm partner on how to impress at a legal interview, . The grades you have achieved and your overall academic standard is more important than the university you attend. So this analysis isnt definitive, but our sample size is significant and indicative of broad recruitment trends. Almost half a century since crossing the Atlantic and opening in New York in 1977, leading law firm Freshfields announced the launch of its first California office in late 2020, hiring a multidisciplinary team from local firms and transferring two attorneys from Brussels and New York. The data collected including the number visitors, the source where they have come from, and the pages visted in an anonymous form. Sheikh Jassim aims to win Manchester United takeover battle with extra $1bn, Printworks: London nightlife venue to become offices as new plans revealed, UK to avoid recession but inflation wont return to Bank of England target until end of next year, Bomb like devices planted in Englands legal heartland amid 1m court wrangle with a top lawyer, Russian tycoons ex criticised by London judge for costly and destructive divorce fight with 9m bill, Bitcoin inventor court proceedings dropped in London as judge says its no longer in public interest, No firms charged with failure to prevent tax evasion in 6 years heres why. Since employability is a factor in a universitys status and funding, this is a convenient relationship for both the firms and the universities, so its hard to break.. If you're currently studying at a non-Russell Group university, do not be discouraged by this report. If, for example, you have mitigating circumstances which have affected your academic performance, a firm will take these into consideration during the application process. The Russell Group dominates the market at 81.4%. Career change to Law contemplationwill I be too old at 33?