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Satisfaction with Work

• "The firm is very meritocratic; once you prove yourself to superiors good work will come your way. Client contact is frequent but seldom face-to-face in the department I am in. The partners are very approachable (unless they're really busy) and I work closely with one or two of them on a regular basis. The deals we do are second to none; if there's a big deal out there we are probably on it, at least in a small way and trainees are brought right into the heart of even the biggest, most high-profile transactions from the outset." -- First year trainee
• "As expected, great international deals with good opportunities to interact directly with clients. Partners are on the whole approachable and willing to take the time to explain the transaction and your role within it. Responsibility in any given deal will vary but partners and associates are willing to give you more responsibility if you demonstrate that you can handle it. Some of the work can be tedious but it is important to get this right to show that you are competent." -- First year trainee
• "Responsibility is given as it is earned – as I have improved I have been asked to do more and more. If you show you are able, you are given tasks and left to your own devices, but there is always someone who you can ask if you feel overwhelmed or stuck. Transactions and deals are fantastic, mostly very exciting, and the work is so varied that it's hard to get bored. Client contact depends very much on the department, but I have certainly had a degree of exposure to clients throughout my training contract." -- Second year trainee
• "Work satisfaction depends on which department you are in. Some of the law-based departments are very satisfying, but you always have work such as preparing bundles of documents and paginating documents which is time-consuming, often urgent, and unrewarding." -- Second year trainee
• "Trainees tend to get much better work in smaller departments or during overseas seats as the teams are smaller and the responsibility afforded to trainees is therefore much greater." -- Second year trainee

• "The quality of work is very good in most cases but it does depend on the department. If you show that you're keen for more responsibility you are usually given the opportunity. Generally there is very little interaction with clients." -- First year trainee
• "I am very happy with the quality of work and level of responsibility. Clients and deals are usually the most prestigious ones and the level of work depends on the trainee's prior experience and department (with smaller departments offering more responsibility). Support services are very good and ensure that trainees get to do legal work rather than mundane proofing or copying, etc." -- First year trainee
• "Departments, people and deals vary immensely and typical trainee tasks such as proofreading are unavoidable. However, I have had quite a bit of client contact and worked directly with many partners. Our deals can be headline deals, but there is a fair mix of smaller work that allows trainees to take a very active position." -- Second year trainee
• "Quality of work varies between groups. The work in larger, transactional departments can be mundane. Similarly, a lot of the work in litigation is document intensive and often boring. The work in groups such as tax is far more academic, and more interesting. You get more contact with partners in this sort of group too. You have more client contact in transactional groups, but the work you do may be less technical, and more about transaction management." -- Second year trainee
• "The amount of responsibility you get and client interaction really depends on who you work for, the partner who's running the deal, and the nature of the deal itself. Even if you're competent and can be placed in front of clients, quite a lot of the time you're just helping out with transaction management." -- Second year trainee

What does your typical day at work involve?

• "I arrive at around 9:30am, deal with e-mails. Speak to my supervisor about the main goals for the day then get to work. I might be preparing a first draft of a settlement agreement or researching and writing an advice note on a point of law or I might be reviewing the client's contracts and preparing guidance on interpretation. The work is quite varied and there isn't really a typical day. I usually leave around 7:30pm but I have been known to work later when required." -- First year trainee
• "Drafting documents, proof-reading, commenting on documents from other firms, researching points of law, communicating with clients and other counsel." -- First year trainee
• "Unfortunately lots of repetitive work, e.g. proof-reading." -- First year trainee
• "Checking mail, acting on work requests depending on capacity, doing some research or minor drafting under supervision, feedback from seniors after review, incorporating changes suggested. While this is more or less a structure/sequence, no two days have been alike and a day varies depending on the nature of deal, stage of the deal, and timelines fixed." -- First year trainee
• "At the moment, a fair bit of legal research, occasional attendance at conference calls and meetings, and lots of checking emails!" -- Second year trainee
• "My day involves some drafting, some proofreading, some research, some thinking, and some socialising." -- Second year trainee

• "Reviewing documents, discussion with team members on progress and plans, responding to emails, research, training and HR/pro-bono activities." -- First year trainee
• "I can be involved in anything from doing ad hoc pieces of research and then tailoring them to the requirements of the particular client, to drafting ancillary agreements and documents. Trainees are often also involved in managing the paperwork generated by deals, which means you get a great insight into how the deal works and the different aspects of it." -- First year trainee
• "No two days are ever the same. Even when you are doing a big piece of ongoing work, there are always things coming in from clients and what you are doing by lunchtime is not always what you had planned at 9 o'clock. It is not rare for me to do drafting, due diligence, client care and research tasks in the same day, sometimes in the same half hour." -- First year trainee
• "Creating a first draft of a document for someone else to review, filling out court forms, organising meetings, writing up meeting notes, researching points of law, admin." -- Second year trainee
• "Creating and maintaining conditions precedent checklists. Telephone calls to chase clients or the other side for original documents. Companies register and winding up searches. Proofreading. Managing local counsel if the transaction is cross-border. Drafting low level documents. Commenting on conditions precedent documents." -- Second year trainee

Culture

• "The firm's culture is friendly and supportive. Trainees do support each other as much as possible and they often get together to discuss the best approach to dealing with issues. There is a fair bit of socialising but your ability to get involved in this varies depending on the transactions you are working on and how busy you are." -- First year trainee
• "The firm is very open and friendly. There is a lot of support amongst trainees and this extends into the ranks of the associates too. Departmental socials tend to take place every couple of months and trainee events around once a month to once every six weeks. Less formal socialising is always going on, whether it be drinks in the bar or heading out of the office for something more adventurous." -- First year trainee
• "There are lots of organised events either for trainees, for the wider department, or sub-group. People treat each other kindly and with respect. There is a bit of a face-time culture but not extending past 7.30pm." -- First year trainee
• "...Trainees often meet for lunch and coffee in the office or in Canary Wharf, and also meet at the internal gym or at sport events like cricket practice at Lords. There is a bar indoors known as the Budgie, which is abuzz on Thursdays and Fridays. There are also many social events organised by the firm like beginning and end of seat drinks, departmental Christmas parties and retreats, event specific drinks, etc. Plus trainees have separate parties sponsored by the firm apart from departmental drinks." -- First year trainee
• "Contrary to most people's expectations, the firm (or at least certain departments) have a much more easy going approach. There is little or no concept of face-time – in fact my supervisor has often asked me why I am still in the office at 6.30. All partners and associates that I have worked for have been very approachable and willing to answer questions. Obviously you are expected to use your own initiative to try and solve any problems yourself first, but people are more than happy for you to wander into their office and check your understanding. As trainees do the LPC together, you will generally know the people you are starting work with and this is very helpful when you need to ask straightforward questions on how the office works, etc. There are regular department drinks and trainee drinks, and you will most likely find someone you know in the bar in the office on any given evening to socialise with." -- First year trainee

• "The trainee group is very friendly and quite a few trainees socialise outside work and even live together. The bespoke LPC means that nearly all of the trainees in that intake know each other, which can be very helpful. It is normal practice for trainees to contact each other for help on legal or general work matters. There is a trainee committee which organises social events such as winter and summer parties and drinks at the start and end of seats." -- First year trainee
• "Obviously it depends to some degree on the mix of trainees within the department you are sitting in. Generally, you get to know them a bit better during inductions and training and it's easy to ask for help and support from other trainees when it's needed. Everyone is really supportive and friendly because they know that you'd help them if the situation was reversed. I don't think trainees socialise together as much as I might have expected, but there's always the bar which is open in the firm on a Thursday and Friday night and generally it's easy to go down and find a group of trainees for a drink and a chat if you feel like it." -- Second year trainee
• "The firm culture is very open and friendly. Trainees spend a lot of time together from the LPC onwards and everyone is supportive and kind. The trainees lunch together, have organised social events, as well as events we plan ourselves at the weekend. Trainees are also very willing to help one another when work loads are tough, e.g. staying late to help another trainee." -- First year trainee
• "Clifford Chance is a pretty structured working environment – you have a supervisor (who you sit with) and a monitoring partner. You will get some of your work from your supervisor and the rest from other lawyers in the department. The hours can be long but your supervisor will often notice if you are working particularly hard and let other associates know that you are not available to assist with their matters. The trainees tend to all get on well with each other and I think the CC LPC helps to create a supportive environment as you will know quite a few people well before you start." -- Second year trainee
• "It is pretty collegiate and for a large organisation the fee earners are mostly quite friendly and approachable. There are a few lawyers who will completely take advantage of trainees but they get sussed out very early on by both trainees and senior lawyers. Trainees do tend to support each other and hang out outside of work. There's not as much infighting or one-upmanship as there is in other firms." -- Second year trainee

Seats during the Training Contract

• "Each trainee completes four seats. You are able to suggest preferences for seats but you must satisfy law society and Clifford Chance guidelines. An international seat is an option and you can express your preferences as to where you would like to go quite early in your training contract." -- First year trainee
• "All departments take trainees – but you have to take at least one finance and one corporate seat, and (unless you opt out) one litigation/contentious seat. HR is very helpful – if they can't satisfy your seat preferences in one seat, you will generally be able to negotiate a competitive/glamorous seat later. Most trainees do at least one seat abroad, but some choose to do two. Often, if you have language skills that are required in certain seats (e.g. Frankfurt, Paris, Milan) you can use that to bargain with HR and get a more exciting seat (e.g. Hong Kong, Dubai, New York) as well." -- First year trainee
• "...There is a lot of choice as to departments, as within each department there are sub-groups e.g. the Funds group within Corporate. HR does usually try to accommodate trainees' preferences but obviously not everyone will get what they want in each seat. However, if you are realistic about your choices and make clear which departments you particularly want to gain experience in, HR will usually be able to accommodate this. Seats abroad are encouraged with about 80%+ of trainees doing a seat in one of the offices abroad. Trainees can do seats abroad in any of their second, third, or fourth seats with some trainees given the opportunity to do two seats abroad. However the process for choosing seats abroad has recently been front-loaded so you make your choices within the first three to four months of joining, even if you are then allocated to go abroad in your final seat. This requires a lot of advanced planning and may cause issues if your circumstances later change or after gaining more experience you find that a seat at a different office may have been more appropriate." -- First year trainee
• "Majority of available seats are in finance, corporate, capital markets or real estate. There is plenty of choice and you’re usually able to get the seats you want. Plenty of options to go abroad, although naturally some seats (Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore) are very competitive and are a bit harder to get." -- Second year trainee
• "Trainees do four seats. You're meant to be able to do a seat in any department you like as long as you fulfil the requirement to complete a transactional seat and a contentious seat, but allocation is quite arbitrary. You can do a seat abroad but if you speak Arabic you'll definitely be sent to the Middle East and if you speak German it's off to Frankfurt with you, never mind that you wanted to go somewhere else." -- Second year trainee

• "Trainees do four seats in total. Finance, Corporate and Litigious seats must be done (though there is an option to do Litigation through pro bono or summer courses). You can sit in any department at the firm and there is a lot of choice and dialogue to discuss where you want to go. Going abroad is an option and is positively encouraged." -- First year trainee
• "Four seats of six months each (some seats can be split into three months in the seat and three months doing a secondment e.g. with a client; overseas secondments are for a full seat of six months). There are six main practice areas (with departments within areas): corporate (private equity, public M&A, private M&A, etc.), finance (general banking, structured finance, project and asset finance, etc.), capital markets (debt, equity, structured solutions, etc.), tax pensions employment (taxation, pensions, employment), real estate, and dispute resolution (with various departments). In lieu of a contentious seat, trainees who do not wish to qualify in dispute resolution may meet SRA's contentious experience requirement by doing a trainee litigation program at the College of Law or a legal aid program called FreeLaw. Choice is pretty much varied, as the list above indicates." -- First year trainee
• "...First seat trainees do not have much choice but as the training contract goes on you have more say in which department you sit in. Everyone who wants to do a seat abroad appears to have the choice; some people even do two seats abroad." -- First year trainee
• "Trainees do the usual four seats – there are some opportunities to do spilt seats in the litigation department, with half the seat being spent somewhere like Law for All or Liberty. In my experience most people get the seats that they want, although it is probably unrealistic to request four "niche" seats. Many trainees do a seat (or two) abroad." -- Second year trainee
• "...Choice depends on what seats you want to do – there is an official rule that says you have to do two out of corporate/capital markets/finance but this is not strictly enforced. The firm does not have enough contentious seats for all trainees and you are strictly limited to one contentious seat if you choose to get your contentious experience this way. "Niche" seats such as tax are in short supply. You have to be relatively lucky to get this sort of seat – and are unlikely to do more than one seat in this sort of department, although it is possible. You can do a seat abroad – again, it may be difficult to do both a "niche" seat and an overseas secondment. You have more choice if you don't do an overseas seat." -- Second year trainee

Formal Training

• "Many of the trainee solicitor training courses are mandatory at Clifford Chance and I have not had any problems finding time to attend as my supervisor is aware of how important these are. There are also a number of less formal lecture sessions that serve to introduce the trainees to new topics and provide guidance on best practice. I have improved my drafting and communication skills through structured training and have built confidence in my approach." -- First year trainee
• "We have excellent training resources with a specialist team constantly updating the courses. We are also trained in skills such as business communication and presentation to ensure that we can communicate effectively with clients and colleagues." -- First year trainee
• "There are firm-wide trainee inductions, departmental training courses, and plenty of knowledge sessions. All in all there is a good mix of department-specific training and plenty of sessions to keep up-to-date with current legal developments." -- Second year trainee
• "Training programmes are very comprehensive and extensive. We are greatly encouraged to attend training sessions and in the rare event we have to pull out, there will usually be another session we can attend. Legal skills are kept very up to the minute and training occurs throughout our seat." -- Second year trainee
• "There are inductions at the beginning of most seats for several days, then a few training days dotted around during the seat. Occasionally people are asked to skip them to do important work, but only very rarely and I have never been asked to, most people take them seriously and make sure you can attend. Lots of skills picked up; obviously the obligatory law society required ones, but also things like networking, which is useful." -- Second year trainee

• "The firm has its own academy, which provides huge amounts of ongoing professional development. Departmental courses are run at least once a week. The training ranges from lectures to fully interactive discussion groups and includes occasional overnight off-sites. Legal, technical and 'soft' skills (such as communication, networking, and client care) are all covered in the programme. There are also frequent lectures and seminars on non-work-related topics, such as regular guided tours of new art exhibitions." -- First year trainee
• "Training is exceptionally good and formally organised. Supervisors are very supportive and rarely does one have to miss training for work. If that happens, alternate training is arranged. Training is taken very seriously and while the training sessions are relaxing, even if some of them are rigorous with formal evaluation, it is mostly a great experience where the aim is to help trainees pick up skills and encourage them to evolve. Skills picked up include practice area specific skills; e.g. for corporate, one has shelf company conversion training, signing and completion training, share purchase agreements negotiation training, competition law training, etc. Soft skills training like legal writing, networking, etc. are also arranged from time to time, regardless of the seat one is doing..." -- First year trainee
• "Attendance is taken at all training lectures and workshops. For certain courses, attendance is emphasised and it is generally frowned upon if you miss too many of them. Training is excellent and well-structured. There are plenty of legal knowledge talks to keep you updated on the latest developments in finance and law." -- Second year trainee
• "There are a lot of good talks on offer, but I have more often than not had to miss these because of work requirements." -- Second year trainee

Informal Training & Mentoring

• "Time pressure can often prevent full explanations of tasks at the time they are given, but generally senior lawyers are happy to go over issues and will give constructive feedback. I've learned a lot about how to present documents, interactions with clients and the commercial imperatives of clients." -- First year trainee
• "The informal training delivered is strong and I have received detailed guidance and feedback from my supervisor throughout my seat. I have found the team, from junior associate to partner, to be very accessible and I have been able to learn quickly from them." -- First year trainee
• "Supervisors are usually willing to help you develop your skills and give you work that will help you do this. Although you often get feedback on your work, you may need to ask for it, but you can be pro-active and take on board changes that people have made to documents you initially drafted to get an idea of what things you would improve." -- First year trainee
• "Mostly everyone I've worked for has been really open and happy to explain the whole of a deal and the reasons for things, and answer questions as we're going along to make sure that I know what's going on. Everyone is very accessible and lovely." -- Second year trainee
• "Some people take on the mentoring role to a much greater degree. All of my supervisors have been very good at training and looking after you." -- Second year trainee

• "Pretty easy to get feedback on your work and people are always willing to help – there is always someone who has time. The partners and associates make very good mentors and clearly have been in our position themselves. I have learnt how to deal with clients and general drafting preferences plus general deal etiquette." -- First year trainee
• "Supervisors and partners are always happy to answer trainees' questions and there seems to be a very good programme for training them to be good trainers. The attitude is that you should always try to work something out for yourself but, if that fails or takes too long, there is always someone to explain it or to confirm your own thoughts." -- First year trainee
• "The open door policy is very useful – everyone is accessible and willing to help. You can ask any question once and people are happy to inform you." -- First year trainee
• "Lawyers and partners are very accessible and most of the time anyone you work with will try to make sure you learn from a task." -- Second year trainee
• "It depends on the department, and the individual people. All my supervisors have been very accessible and willing to help. Most of the solicitors (including partners) in my current group are very willing to sit down and explain things to you." -- Second year trainee

Diversity (women, minorities & LGBT)

• "The firm is constantly reviewing its diversity policy, looking to promote more women to the partnership, etc. However, I like the fact that diversity is not hammered away at all the time; people are left to get on with their work, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, race, etc." -- First year trainee
• "It is not as bad as other law firms." -- First year trainee
• "There are lots of women at junior level, but this hasn't quite filtered up to the partnership. The firm has a dedicated India group and recruits a lot of Asian people (including many trainees from India). There are not many black employees at the firm at all. There's an LGBT group. I'm not sure how many LGBT people actually attend. I know several out people at work (including myself) – and have not experienced any problems, but am aware of other employees who keep their sexual orientation private." -- Second year trainee
• "I am not English and we have people from many different countries and socioeconomic backgrounds. We have a good LGBT group and promotion is on merit. There are plenty of women of all levels with children, although I imagine it must be a challenge." -- Second year trainee

• "Easily one of the most diverse places to work. The motto seems to be diversity, possibly because of the firm's international reach." -- First year trainee
• "Diversity is mostly a non-issue. Clifford Chance lawyers in London are recruited from all parts of the world. While the gender ratio appears to be 50:50 amongst the associates, there are fewer female partners than men and partnership in some departments have never seen a female partner. However this is a trend faced by large organisations, not necessarily Clifford Chance alone." -- Second year trainee
• "I think they're quite good on this. They have events and talks for various groups of people (minorities, women...), although it wasn't really something that I was aware of until I came to the firm. They are very flexible when it comes to personal circumstances around child care etc., so long as you don't take the p*** – obviously you have to work hard and do long hours, but if you need to work from home or leave early for a sick child or because your arrangements have fallen through, that's usually not a problem." -- Second year trainee

Offices & Dress Code

• "Excellent modern facilities. All mod-cons. Very clean. Canary Wharf is not the most convenient location but not so bad either. The dress code varies – corporate wear ties, finance wear suits without ties." -- First year trainee
• "The office is fantastic. Being in Canary Wharf it is very modern and has everything you could need: a gym, squash courts, swimming pool, a hair salon, a post office, a games room, a Starbucks, a bar, a sandwich bar and a restaurant; not to mention the full gamut of professional support facilities." -- First year trainee
• "Trainees share an office with their supervisor. It is private, but it would be nice to have non-glass walls! Dress is smart casual. Suits are only required when seeing clients." -- Second year trainee
• "The office is flashy. Canary Wharf is a bit of a pain when the jubilee line breaks! The facilities are good. Dress code is business casual. Some groups dress more formally than others. We don't get dress down Fridays!" -- Second year trainee

• "The office is excellent, the transport links are generally good and the facilities are world-class. The dress code is business casual and the firm seems to be relatively relaxed about this, although you are expected to dress smartly and professionally and wear a suit if you are dealing directly with clients." -- First year trainee
• "Swanky and modern office, and arguably one of the grandest buildings. Location is at Canary Wharf and although not in the City, the place has a charm of its own and has a very business district feel, which is also green and by the river with great views. Facilities are very nice and include an internal gym and swimming pool." -- First year trainee
• "It's not very appealing going out for drinks in Canary Wharf, although you can't fault the firm's office and facilities." -- Second year trainee
• "Dress code is quite relaxed. Smart casual is the norm and tilts more towards the casual than the smart." -- Second year trainee

Green Initiatives

• "Paper recycling in each office, recycling bins for almost all other things on each floor, lights which switch off automatically (sometimes even if you are still in the room but have been sat still for too long!)." -- First year trainee
• "Lots of recycling around and I'm aware of efforts to reduce use of energy although it's not pushed very hard. I do get annoyed with people leaving their desk lamps on all night and their computers and screens, there doesn't seem to be anyone else who cares about this though." -- Second year trainee
• "Lots of recycling (not just paper but pretty much anything you can recycle from clothes to batteries)." -- Second year trainee

• "The firm has a recycling programme in place for paper, cans, plastics and other recyclables. We also have various collections (batteries, mobile phones, stamps) for charity. The lights are automatically set to turn off after periods of inactivity, and there are incentives for bringing your own cups to the coffee shop, etc." -- First year trainee
• "There are recycling bins and a new initiative involving discounts for bringing your own mug to the cafe. Most of the takeaway packaging is recyclable." -- Second year trainee

How prepared do you feel to practise law upon qualification?

• "It is still some way off, but I feel confident the training programme will get me there!" -- First year trainee
• "About a quarter of the way..." -- First year trainee
• "Completely certain of practising law and fairly comfortable with the training." -- First year trainee
• "Not very much more prepared than after doing my law degree." -- Second year trainee
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• "I feel the firm is preparing me well for qualification." -- First year trainee
• "I’m only in my first seat so not sure about qualification, but I definitely feel much more competent and confident than when I started." -- First year trainee
• "I would feel very prepared going into any other "Magic Circle" or City firm." -- Second year trainee
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