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Training Contracts

Most of our trainees are people who have impressed us on our vacation schemes or through internal recruitment from our paralegal population. We recruit exclusively through these channels for our London and Manchester training contracts.

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Redefine success

As a trainee here, you’ll have the opportunity to work with our household-name clients, spend time in an overseas office, or take up secondments in areas of specific interest. If you have ambition, we’ll help you harness it and use it to create a career without boundaries.

Training contracts in Manchester are obtained exclusively by internal paralegals with no route through a vacation scheme and for our London/Guildford training contracts, these are obtained by internal paralegals OR through our vacation schemes.

Find out more about our Bristol training contracts

Where you could work

You’ll be based in either our Manchester or London office. They have slightly different opportunities in terms of specialisms, salaries and grants:

London/Guildford

Here you’ll complete three seats in London and one seat in Guildford, and have the opportunity to apply for an international or client secondment. The combination of a wide variety of practice areas, local offices and international and client opportunities, means you’ll have the chance to experience a broad exposure to our whole network.

Manchester

In Manchester you’ll complete four seats in either employment, healthcare, insurance, real estate, banking, financial & professional disputes or projects & construction. You may also have the chance to apply for a client secondment. Perfect for people who want to be based regionally and part of a global law firm with world-class training and development opportunities.

Trainee salaries

London/Guildford

1st year trainee salary - £47,000

Manchester

1st year trainee salary - £32,000

Bristol

1st year trainee salary - £38,000

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Emma Winyard-Church

First seat trainee, London

“I have been impressed by the wealth of speaker and panel events hosted by our practice groups and D&I networks. Listening to a survivor of the 7/7 bombings who went on to become a paralympian and attending a talk with the first black British captain of the England rugby team have been inspirational. As a first seat trainee, I have also attended a real estate networking event at a leading financial institution on my own. At Clyde & Co you really are encouraged and trusted to get involved with networking from day one to learn from experienced professionals across disciplines and sectors. ”

Training contract FAQs

We recruit most of our trainees via vacation schemes, but we have direct training contract application routes in Bristol and Belfast.

We also recruit trainees from our existing paralegals, so you may consider this option (please note our paralegals require 12 months of service before they can apply for a training contract). The early careers team do not recruit paralegal roles outside of the paralegal academy, but you can search our job site for available roles.

We don’t – we only have a September intake.

If you join the London and Guildford training contract, one of your seats could be in Guildford.

Possibly – we look at requests on a case-by-case basis.

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