Graduate Recruitment
Who Are We Looking For?
We want outstanding people in the broadest possible sense. We welcome applications from people with varied and unusual backgrounds. We like confident, bright, engaging people: interpersonal skills are very important to us and to your future. Dewey & LeBoeuf London is global in outlook and practice. All candidates must be fluent in English, but additional language skills are highly valued. In particular, we are interested in candidates with French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Chinese and Arabic language capabilities.
Our trainees have a strong academic background, including a minimum of a 2:1 degree in an academic subject from a leading university and AAB at A level or equivalent. We actively encourage applications from both law and other backgrounds. We also encourage applications from graduates already undertaking their GDL or LPC, who have chosen to take the 'City' LPC electives.
We have had a trainee solicitor programme in London since 1996 and one of our partners and a good number of our senior associates trained with the firm. We like talented, motivated people who have commercial awareness and a genuine enthusiasm for the law, coupled with a desire to learn more. Our trainees are proactive people who are able to show initiative from day one.
Read excerpts from The Chambers Student Guide 2010 (The True Picture).
Apply online for a training contract or vacation scheme placement.
With greater diversity we can be more innovative, effective and representative of our client base and bring more varied perspectives, experiences, backgrounds and the widest pool of talent into our firm. Dewey & LeBoeuf is committed to promoting equality and diversity in its own policies, practices and procedures, and in those areas in which it has influence. The firm intends to treat everyone equally and with the same attention, courtesy and respect regardless of their disability, gender, age, marital status, race, racial group, colour, ethnic or national origin, nationality, religion or beliefs, or sexual orientation.
Diversity is not about quotas, "positive discrimination" or different standards being applied to different categories of applicant. However, the opportunity to foster diversity is an important consideration in our recruitment process. We aim to recruit, retain and promote our own lawyers based on our own criteria, while at the same time maintaining our commitment to diversity in the legal profession. To this end, we will ensure that the philosophy and principles of diversity play an integral part in our recruitment and retention of solicitors and in the promotion of talented individuals within our firm.
We are proud of our achievements to date, and are committed to an ongoing dialogue with the following organisations in order to help ensure our future success:
- Stonewall (Diversity Champions Programme)
- The National Mentoring Consortium
- Black Solicitors Network
How Does The Training Contract Work?
Culturally, the firm aims to combine a dynamic and energetic atmosphere with a congenial and supportive environment. Our London office is international and cosmopolitan with a diverse range of people. It offers trainees the benefits of working with the quality of clients and work usually found only in the largest firms, but in a smaller office setting.
We encourage our trainees to see and experience as much of our practice as possible. To this end, trainees have the opportunity to spend six months in four different areas. At least one seat will be spent in each of our mainstream practice areas of corporate and dispute resolution. We also offer seats within our capital markets, finance, projects, energy, insurance regulatory, international arbitration, employment, competition, IP/IT, real estate and tax groups.
Opportunities for overseas travel often arise in the context of specific matters and we regularly second trainees to clients or other offices such as Moscow, Dubai and Paris.
Due to the limited number of training contracts offered (up to 15 for 2012) you can expect to be exposed to high-quality work with early responsibility. In each seat, you will train with a partner or senior associate who will supervise your work, though you should expect to be given assignments by a number of different lawyers in your practice area.
Dewey & LeBoeuf offers an insight into being a trainee at the firm in the form of our vacation scheme. This offers a great introduction to life at the firm. Our hope is that those participating in the scheme will become trainees with the firm. The atmosphere is open and friendly and over an intensive fortnight you will be working alongside partners and associates, as well as attending training and presentations.