FAQs

You can apply to one Vacation Scheme/Training Contract programme AND one Paralegal Academy programme in a 12-month period.

e.g. you can apply for our Spring Vacation Scheme and our Paralegal Academy – London, but you cannot apply for our Spring Vacation Scheme and our Bristol Training Contract. Likewise, you cannot apply for multiple locations of our Paralegal Academy.

If you apply to a programme that you are not eligible for and are rejected on these grounds before completing any online assessments, you may then reapply for a different programme that you are eligible for instead.

Please note, we run multiple Paralegal Academy cohorts throughout the year. If you apply for one of our Vacation Schemes/Training Contracts and are unsuccessful at the online assessment stage, then you may apply again for a Paralegal Academy position when they open later in the year. However, if you reach the assessment centre stage for any of our programmes and are unsuccessful at this point, you will need to wait until the next recruitment cycle to apply for any of our programmes.

Please also note, the LIFT programme is not an early careers programme, so you can apply for this even if you have applied for an early careers opportunity recently.

We recruit on a non-rolling basis.

Applications are open until the 5th January – we highly recommend taking time to research the firm and perhaps attend one of our insight days before applying, you can register for those here -  Events | Clyde & Co Careers.

Please note that after you submit your application you will be invited to complete an online assessment, this must be completed within 5 days of you receiving the invitation. Shortlisting and invitations to our assessment centres, however, will not take place until after the application window has closed.

Our academic requirements for vacation schemes and training contracts are AAB in your A-levels (or equivalent), and a 2:1 degree (or equivalent). For the paralegal academy, they are BBC at A-level and a 2:2 degree.

We accept all A level subjects apart from General Studies, Critical Thinking, Global Perspectives and Research, and the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ).

For most of our programmes, the minimum academic requirements are AAB at A-level (or equivalent) and a 2:1 degree classification. These benchmarks are widely adopted across the legal sector, reflecting the intellectually rigorous nature of a career in law.

Our decision to uphold these standards is supported by both external research and internal data analysis, which demonstrate a clear correlation between strong academic performance and success in the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE).

However, we recognise that personal or external circumstances may have affected a candidate’s academic journey. For A levels, if you achieved BBB or ABC (or equivalent) and have mitigating circumstances, we encourage you to apply. Similarly, if you achieved a 2.2 in your degree, but did meet the AAB requirement, and have mitigating circumstances, we encourage you to apply. Your application will be reviewed holistically, considering the context you provide, your academic progression, and any relevant insights from the Rare contextual recruitment system (available to UK state-school educated candidates). While we cannot guarantee progression to the next stage, we do commit to carefully reviewing and taking your circumstances into account as part of our evaluation process. Please note that we are unable to consider applications from candidates whose A-level grades fall below BBB/ABC.

For our Paralegal Academy, the minimum requirements are BBC at A-level and a 2:2 degree. Applicants with CCC or above who have mitigating circumstances are encouraged to apply, as we will review their application in context, as described above.

We accept all A level subjects apart from General Studies, Critical Thinking, Global Perspectives and Research, and the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ).

For vacation schemes and training contracts, you can only apply to one per year, and if unsuccessful at any stage, cannot reapply until 12-months has passed (from initial application date).

If you are unsuccessful at assessment centre or interview stage, you can still reapply and be considered the following year, but we can only allow a maximum of two attempts at final stage, so would not be able to consider a third application.

In accordance with the Government’s sponsorship salary thresholds, we are able to sponsor visas for trainees based in our London and Bristol offices.

We cannot sponsor for vacation schemes or Paralegal Academy positions. Please note that if you are an international student on a student visa, our vacation schemes must take place outside of your term dates to be compliant with student visa restrictions.

We want to make our process accessible and fair to all. Please reach out to us if you require any reasonable adjustments.

Click here to read our full guide to reasonable adjustments, support and accessibility for our assessment process.

If you would prefer to speak to a member of our team, you can contact [email protected]

Unfortunately, we cannot offer feedback at the application stage because of the high number of applications we receive. However, you will receive an automated feedback report after you have completed the online assessment stage. We’ll always provide feedback if you attend an assessment centre or interview.

For most of our opportunities such as vacation schemes, we run our assessment centres virtually. However, programmes such as our non-rotational Bristol training contracts require an in-person assessment centre in the Bristol office. For this, we can reimburse up to a maximum of £200 in travel expenses.

Please review the information page for each programme, which will detail eligibility and the assessment process specific to that opportunity.

Currently, the only Solicitor Apprenticeship we offer is based in our Marine team within our Guildford office. You can read more about this programme here - Solicitor Apprenticeship Programme | Clyde & Co Careers. If you are considering applying, please be aware that the assessment centre for this programme takes place in-person in our Guildford office and the role itself requires you to be in the office four days a week.

At the moment, we do not have any plans to open an apprenticeship in any other location.

Yes, for most, but please check the requirements of each programme on their individual webpage. If you studied law outside of the UK, for our English programmes, you would likely need to complete the PGDL conversion course before starting the SQE. Therefore, when considering eligibility for programmes, you would be classed as a ‘non-law’ applicant. Our application forms will ask if your law degree is a qualifying law degree within the jurisdiction you’re applying to

If you are unsure if your degree is a qualifying law degree in England and Wales, please check via the SRA website here: SRA | Qualifying law degree providers | Solicitors Regulation Authority

For programmes in Scotland and Northern Ireland, you won’t be eligible to apply, as these programmes require you to have a law degree from that jurisdiction.

Unfortunately we cannot host ad hoc work experience placements or internships outside of our formal Early Careers programmes.

We can only host students on our formal programmes, after being selected through our recruitment process. All details on our programmes can be found here - Early Careers | Clyde & Co Careers (clydeco.com). At present, all our programmes are undergraduate stage onwards.

However, we have a virtual work experience programme that students of any stage can complete in their own time, and takes approximately 6-hours in total, to give an insight into the firm’s practice areas and role of a trainee: Global Virtual Experience Programme | Clyde & Co Careers

Our vacation schemes are held in our London office to recruit for London training contracts, and Glasgow and Edinburgh for our Scotland training contract. We only run vacation schemes during the summer.

For London, we are recruiting for 2028 training contracts via our 2026 summer vacation scheme, so require that applicants are law undergraduates in their penultimate year or non-law undergraduates in their final year. For our spring vacation scheme, applicants must be final year law students, or graduates of any discipline.

For Scotland, we will be recruiting for 2028 traineeships from our 2026 Vacation Scheme, therefore applicants can be penultimate or final year law students completing a Scots law degree (including accelerated LLB).

Yes – you’ll need to be available to attend the entire scheme (2 weeks).

Our programmes are in person and we require all participants of our schemes to be based in the UK. We cannot sponsor visas for our programmes (only London training contracts), so you will need the Right to Work via a passport or a student visa (our programme dates will need to be outside your term dates to be eligible).

We’ll aim to let you know within two weeks of the vacation scheme end date.

Unfortunately we cannot host ad hoc work experience placements or internships outside of our formal Early Careers programmes.

We can only host students on our formal programmes, after being selected through our recruitment process. All details on our programmes can be found here - Early Careers | Clyde & Co Careers (clydeco.com). At present, all our programmes are undergraduate stage onwards.

However, we have a virtual work experience programme that students of any stage can complete in their own time, and takes approximately 6-hours in total, to give an insight into the firm’s practice areas and role of a trainee: Global Virtual Experience Programme | Clyde & Co Careers

We recruit most of our trainees via vacation schemes, but we have direct training contract application routes in Bristol and Belfast. Please view this page: Practice Group Specific Training Contracts | Clyde & Co Careers.

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.

Please visit our UK Paralegal Academy page for more detailed information.

You can only apply for one location and one role every 12 months. Please only make one application, as we cannot consider you for multiple roles.

Our main intakes are February, June, and September. This may vary and is subject to change based on business needs.

We recommend you apply for the experience hire roles, which are still part of the paralegal academy but are not recruited by the early careers team. Please search for these roles on our jobs site.

Graduates are only eligible to apply for our paralegal academy, or Bristol training contracts. You can apply with an LPC, but please note that for trainees we now follow the SQE route. If you are given a place on one of our qualification routes, the firm would fund and arrange any necessary courses.

For our direct training contract vacancies in England, which are currently only in Bristol, you can apply with an LPC. However, we will require you to complete part of the SQE (SQE2 and our SQE+ programme). This is to ensure that from 2025, all our trainees start the training contract having received the same training. We would arrange and pay for these courses.

If you want to apply for a role in England and qualify in England and Wales, you may need to complete parts of the PGDL (law conversion course) – we’d recommend contacting the SRA (Solicitors Regulation Authority) for further advice. All trainees will need to complete the SQE. Clyde & Co will arrange any pay for this after you are offered.

We also have roles available in our Scottish and Northern Irish offices, so please visit the relevant part of this site to learn more.

Yes. However, if you haven’t started your course yet, we suggest taking courses with the University of Law.

We cover the cost of tuition fees and provide a maintenance grant for the PGDL/SQE. We cannot reimburse expenses for completed courses, but if you are currently studying, we can cover costs and provide a pro-rated maintenance grant from the point you accept a training contract offer.