Olswang

Since its humble beginnings in 1981, Olswang has expanded rapidly in the legal industry and now enjoys an international reputation for its corporate, real estate and media-focussed services. The firm offers training contracts in its Thames Valley office in Reading, as well as in London. A word of advice: if you apply for the Reading office, be prepared to qualify there as it’s unusual to transfer to the City once you have embarked on the training contract.

During the training contract, trainees complete four six-month seats in various departments, one of which will be in corporate and another in litigation. Olswang also encourages trainees to go on a client secondment. ‘There are usually five or six in-house client secondments at any one time’ and secondments available in Brussels and Paris; foreign languages are a real plus that will certainly come in handy if applying for these.

Securing a training contract at Olswang is competitive, hence why it’s so important that you demonstrate you’re a good fit with the firm. ‘It seems that the firm generally seeks to hire confident and friendly trainees’ who will easily blend in with Olswang’s ‘very informal’ culture, trainees tell us. In general, the firm does not hire a certain type, but instead looks for people who are ‘intelligent and have strong commercial awareness’ and ‘candidates come from all over the country and all universities, with all sorts of degrees’ according to a current trainee.

There are still the necessary academic credentials to fulfil, as the firm requires applicants to have achieved a strong 2:1 or above. Furthermore, Olswang looks to recruit those who ‘have a broad CV beyond law’ so if you have any varied work experience under your belt, make sure you mention it in your application. ‘People with strong personalities and often with unusual interests outside of work’ are the ones the firm is particularly interested in, so make sure this stands out in your application.

The recruitment process starts with an online application form and shortlisted candidates will be invited to two rounds of interviews. There won’t be an assessment day, but applicants still need to prepare sufficiently to master the interviews with a partner/senior associate and a member of the HR team. In addition to the usual questions on why you want to work in law, and for Olswang specifically, there will also be a good amount of competency-based questions, as well as a business plan test and a case study or comprehension exercise. In the past, these exercises have involved ‘reading a document regarding a new share issue to shareholders, and then answering questions on the document’.

Additionally, many of the Olswang trainees get hired after completing a vacation scheme at the firm. Interviews for the vac scheme are quite similar to those for the training contract and tend to cover your ‘personal background and interests, problem-solving skills and business awareness’. Apply early as places go fast.