Sidley Austin

Training Contracts at Sidley Austin

With 17 offices scattered around the world, Sidley is a global firm. While applicants don’t necessarily need to come from an international background, you should recognise the firm’s international approach to work. The London office takes on a small number of trainees, with only 10 training contracts available for outstanding candidates. Hence excellent academic qualifications are a prerequisite – the firm expects applicants to have achieved at least two As and one B at A-level, and a 2:1 degree in either law or a non-legal discipline.

Sidley Austin Office

However, it’s not just about proving you’ve got the intellectual stamina, but also about demonstrating a genuine interest in the work the firm does, especially in finance. As one trainee advises, ‘be up to date on current developments in the business and finance world. Read the business pages of a broad sheet newspaper and the FT if possible’. You also need to show you’ve got the communication skills to work well in teams and interact with clients appropriately. Sidley wants people who are ‘hard working, sociable and friendly’, so that they will fit in with the firm’s culture.

Training opportunities particularly reflect Sidley’s open-door policy, which encourages trainees to ‘just pop in anyone's office and ask any question that we have’. Solicitors and partners are ‘very accessible’ and are said to make good mentors. The formal training programme is taken seriously, and the firm organises training sessions ‘across the office and for the particular practice groups’. During the training contract, trainees typically do four seats, ‘although some of the seats are for three months only’, allowing for more choice. There is also the opportunity to complete a seat in the firm’s Brussels office so it’s worth polishing up your French as the foreign seat is very popular. Expect the quality of the work to be very good and the nature of the work you’ll be doing ‘to range from multi-national securitisations to discrete research tasks and bibling’.

An online application kicks off the recruitment process and if successful, candidates will have to complete a short online aptitude test, followed by a one-hour interview with two partners. There may not be any assessment days, but ‘this doesn't mean that it is easier than other firms’ to obtain a coveted training contract. Expect to be grilled on a range of topics varying from ‘the technical to the commercial and to the personal’. Questions will also focus on your career plans and your commercial acumen, and although the interview will be pretty intense, it is ‘not stressful as the partners are very nice’.

Apply Now