Training Contracts at White & Case

Working overseas is without a doubt an exciting personal experience and professionally it is also a key part in the process of developing White & Case’s trainees into highly skilled lawyers and integrating them into the true international nature of the firm. White & Case guarantee all their trainees an opportunity to complete an overseas seat in one of their offices in the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa or the Middle East.

Approximately one in a hundred applicants make the grade at White & Case. And if competing against the UK's best wasn’t hard enough, the firm looks way past domestic frontiers for its new talent. This policy makes for an international and diverse office environment, with more than 32 nationalities currently working in the London office. Although English accents are still the dominant ones, with more than two thirds of the office’s lawyers having qualified in England & Wales.

Although separated by background, there are character traits that all the firm's solicitors share. Besides the usual legal prerequisites of intelligence and client skills, confidence is essential for anyone hoping to be that one in a hundred. And if you make it, as in all international firms, you can expect to work hard (and play hard as well, it should be said). Still interested? Well, the procedural steps are relatively straight forward. You’ll only have two interviews and an online application to complete; there’s no assessment day. Interviewers can be relatively tough though, so be warned; stand your ground and show them you have the confidence that connects their solicitors.

White & Case Graduate Recruitment Info

Contact:
Shahnaz Begum – Graduate Resourcing Co-ordinator
Email: trainee@whitecase.com

Application Deadlines: Training Contracts: 31st July 2012

How to apply: www.whitecasetrainee.com

White & Case Profile & Stats

In 1901, Wall Street lawyers, Justin DuPratt White and George B Case, chipped in $250 each to found a new law firm. Oh how times have changed! Today, White & Case’s annual revenue is just over $1.3 billion and it employs over 2,000 lawyers, across 36 offices, in 25 countries.

Leveraging their friendship with JP Morgan financier Henry ‘Harry’ Davison, the ambitious co-founders began to build a legal practice adept in banking. Davison hired White & Case to organise Bankers Trust Company, and retained the new firm's services to represent a succession of banking ventures and provide legal services to numerous companies financed by JP Morgan – US Steel being the marquee deal. During World War One, the firm handled the legal leg work for JP Morgan on behalf of the British and French governments’ purchase of US war materials. Besides delivering an array of legal work for the firm, the French government made DuPratt White a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, in recognition of the firm's efforts.

Fast forward 90 years or so, and White & Case’s linchpin remains finance, with Deutsche Bank its largest client. Unsurprisingly, JP Morgan also ranks amongst its roster of illustrious global banking clients, alongside behemoths Barclays, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and UBS.

As one of  the largest full-service global law firms (with one of the largest footprints), White & Case are more than just banking savants; eminently proficient in dispute resolution, the firm regularly arbitrates on construction, trade and energy disputes: its global litigation and arbitration practices account for more than a third of the firm’s work worldwide. The firm is also a leader in project finance and has strength in depth in key areas such as M&A and Capital Markets.

Banking also stokes the London fire, but to pigeon-hole White & Case in this practice area is unfair. The firm has built a catalogue of strong work in capital markets, restructuring and litigation, and has an emphatic corporate practice which deals with cross-border M&A, real estate and tax. White & Case’s City branch remains the largest of any US originated firm in London in terms of revenue.

While the London office is only second in size to the New York HQ, the firm’s European bow was actually in Paris, in the 1920s. Expanding across Europe, White & Case was among the first international law firms to cement itself in Eastern Europe in 1990, and has now had a presence in the Middle East for over 50 years and has a long track record of work in Africa. With a truly international reach, White & Case prides itself on employing lawyers who are ‘either native to or fully integrated in the regions where they are based’.

In 2000, White & Case’s London practice really made a splash by hiring a considerable team of senior banking lawyers from its rivals, Weil, Gotshal & Manges. Building on this message of intent, White & Case made numerous lateral hires and expanded classes to the point where it now has more trainees than any other US firm in London, and is the centre of gravity for the firm’s English law capability. The London team is active on deals across the region, whether CEE, Africa, and the Middle East or Western Europe.

White & Case’s London centre is renowned for its uncommonly flexible working environment. In 2007, the firm implemented a radical programme allowing its lawyers to request their ideal working arrangements. This stretched to include part time hours, working from home, working deal by deal and even job sharing. There is no guarantee that all and sundries’ wishes will be granted, but it is more than a token PR manoeuvre, allowing flexibility in an otherwise largely rigid profession.

In accordance, diversity also ranks highly on White & Case’s agenda. In 1993, the Law Society decided to allow foreign and English lawyers to practise in partnership. White & Case were fervent advocates, jumping on board and making the firm one of the forerunners in London to qualify under these rules.

Liberal and flexible attitudes wouldn’t be complete of course without a dose of social conscience and altruistic practise. White & Case actively seek out and take on matters referred to them by numerous legal organisations. The firm's pro bono work includes political asylum, prisoner rights, discrimination suits and other human rights. White & Case actively encourages philanthropy amongst its solicitors, by judging time devoted to pro bono equal to efforts spent in other practice areas.