Early careers
Eight-seat trainee associate programme
Our eight-seat trainee associate programme is unique and gives you unparalleled opportunities to experience what a world-class legal career offers.
During two years, you can expect to gain the greatest perspectives of what life at Freshfields is like and opportunities to discover what you enjoy the most. From day one, you can expect to collaborate with partners, associates and business services across our global network. You’ll have exposure to a wide range of legal disciplines, including commercial litigation, mergers and acquisitions, antitrust and competition, employment, tax and intellectual property.
You’ll move seats every three months, deciding yourself what you’d like to experience next. You’ll have the opportunity to stay in seats for longer, or perhaps return to a seat at a later date. As a trainee associate, you can shape your own journey, and if you want support along the way, we offer regular drop-in advice sessions to help you make informed choices.
You can expect to be fully supported as a trainee associate. The programme starts with a formal induction, including practical skills workshops and panel sessions with a broad cross-section of the firm. After that, you’ll have legal training and business skills training to prepare you to work productively, delegate and handle pressure. It doesn’t end with the induction, throughout the programme you can expect a number of learning opportunities focusing on skills and behaviours.
We aim to send all of our trainees on a secondment in the last six months of the trainee associate programme. You could find yourself working in one of our global offices (including Silicon Valley, New York, Hong Kong and Dubai) or at one of our clients (including the Bank of England, Goldman Sachs and many pro bono clients.)
Beyond qualification, you can expect to develop your strengths further, build new skills and explore new places.
To get a taster for life at Freshfields, you can apply to our workshops or vacation schemes. If you haven’t secured a vacation scheme spot, it won’t impact your application for the trainee associate programme.
Take a look at our application process page for tips and guidance on applying.
What To Expect As A Prospective Trainee
If you are a non-law student or have not completed a qualifying law degree, you will be required to complete the Law Conversion Course and obtain a Postgraduate Diploma in Law (PGDL) prior to commencing the City Consortium Solicitor Training Programme (CCP).
You can complete the course at any of the BPP university campuses in the UK (Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, Leeds, London Waterloo or Manchester), or choose to complete it online.
If you are completing, or have completed, your undergraduate law degree at a university outside of England and Wales, we may still require you to complete some modules of the Law Conversion Course. You will be able to discuss this with us at the point of offer.
Freshfields is proud to be part of the City Consortium, a group of six leading, global law firms. In collaboration with BPP Law School, we are offering the City Consortium Solicitor Training Programme (CCP) to prepare trainees for the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) and for practice as a city lawyer.
BPP Law School and our dedicated early careers team will support you throughout the programme. You will be studying alongside fellow Freshfields trainees and also those from consortium firms, developing your network as you prepare for practice. The bespoke City Consortium Plus Programme focuses on key areas of our practice and helps develop legal knowledge, skills and behaviours to make sure you are practice-ready.
Over 11 months at BPP's London Holborn campus, the CCP includes:
- SQE1 Preparation Programme – business law and practice; dispute resolution; contract law and tort law; the legal system of England and Wales; property practice; wills and the administration of estates; criminal law and practice; and solicitors’ accounts.
- SQE2 Preparation Programme – client interviewing; attendance note/legal analysis; advocacy; case and matter analysis; and legal research, writing and drafting.
- City Consortium Plus Programme – this bespoke programme will look and feel like working in a city law firm, as you rotate through mini-training seats in four key practice areas. On top of learning the legal expertise, you will develop the legal skills and behaviours that will set you up for success on the trainee associate programme.
For all prospective trainees embarking on one of more of our courses with BPP Law School, we will pay your course fees in full and provide you with a maintenance grant to cover living costs whilst you study. We currently offer £12,500 for the Law Conversion Course and £20,000 for the City Consortium Solicitor Training Programme.
If you have already completed a course, you may also be eligible for tuition fee reimbursement on a discretionary basis.
As a prospective trainee, you will have access to our employee assistance programme which can provide support on a range of matters from wellbeing to personal finances.
For those interested in completing a legal internship with a pro bono focus (such as with charities or NGOs supporting the rule of law and advocating for women, children, refugees, or other target groups), we provide a discretionary grant of up to £2,500.
We want our prospective trainees to feel part of the firm from the day they accept our offer. Our annual offerees reception hosted at our London office, marks the start of that journey. The early careers team continue to stay in touch through a variety of careers-focussed and social events, including events hosted by our diversity networks or social clubs which run throughout the year.
We are committed to offering additional support through mentoring and coaching for prospective trainees from under-represented backgrounds, as well as offering the opportunity to formally connect with colleagues in our diversity networks before they join.
If you are a non-law student or have not completed a qualifying law degree, you will be required to complete the Law Conversion Course and obtain a Postgraduate Diploma in Law (PGDL) prior to commencing the City Consortium Solicitor Training Programme (CCP).
You can complete the course at any of the BPP university campuses in the UK (Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, Leeds, London Waterloo or Manchester), or choose to complete it online.
If you are completing, or have completed, your undergraduate law degree at a university outside of England and Wales, we may still require you to complete some modules of the Law Conversion Course. You will be able to discuss this with us at the point of offer.
Freshfields is proud to be part of the City Consortium, a group of six leading, global law firms. In collaboration with BPP Law School, we are offering the City Consortium Solicitor Training Programme (CCP) to prepare trainees for the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) and for practice as a city lawyer.
BPP Law School and our dedicated early careers team will support you throughout the programme. You will be studying alongside fellow Freshfields trainees and also those from consortium firms, developing your network as you prepare for practice. The bespoke City Consortium Plus Programme focuses on key areas of our practice and helps develop legal knowledge, skills and behaviours to make sure you are practice-ready.
Over 11 months at BPP's London Holborn campus, the CCP includes:
- SQE1 Preparation Programme – business law and practice; dispute resolution; contract law and tort law; the legal system of England and Wales; property practice; wills and the administration of estates; criminal law and practice; and solicitors’ accounts.
- SQE2 Preparation Programme – client interviewing; attendance note/legal analysis; advocacy; case and matter analysis; and legal research, writing and drafting.
- City Consortium Plus Programme – this bespoke programme will look and feel like working in a city law firm, as you rotate through mini-training seats in four key practice areas. On top of learning the legal expertise, you will develop the legal skills and behaviours that will set you up for success on the trainee associate programme.
For all prospective trainees embarking on one of more of our courses with BPP Law School, we will pay your course fees in full and provide you with a maintenance grant to cover living costs whilst you study. We currently offer £12,500 for the Law Conversion Course and £20,000 for the City Consortium Solicitor Training Programme.
If you have already completed a course, you may also be eligible for tuition fee reimbursement on a discretionary basis.
As a prospective trainee, you will have access to our employee assistance programme which can provide support on a range of matters from wellbeing to personal finances.
For those interested in completing a legal internship with a pro bono focus (such as with charities or NGOs supporting the rule of law and advocating for women, children, refugees, or other target groups), we provide a discretionary grant of up to £2,500.
We want our prospective trainees to feel part of the firm from the day they accept our offer. Our annual offerees reception hosted at our London office, marks the start of that journey. The early careers team continue to stay in touch through a variety of careers-focussed and social events, including events hosted by our diversity networks or social clubs which run throughout the year.
We are committed to offering additional support through mentoring and coaching for prospective trainees from under-represented backgrounds, as well as offering the opportunity to formally connect with colleagues in our diversity networks before they join.
Expect innovation
Gathering a diverse community of talent has enabled us to adapt to the challenges of a fast-changing world. Today, we harness leading technology, including AI, to better serve our clients. We don’t believe in doing things a certain way just because it’s how it was done before. We want diverse people who think differently and creatively. We want to challenge traditional ideas and we want our trainees and apprentices to do the same. When you join us, there will be plenty of opportunities to contribute.
Expect collaboration
The way we work at Freshfields means you’re never on your own. From our global network of offices, our partners and associates, to our business services teams and The Hub, we all work as a team that supports and respects each other, starting with day one as a trainee or apprentice through the whole of your career with us. Our culture of inclusivity means everyone’s ideas are heard and we learn together – and from each other.
Expect impact
Being a responsible business is a fundamental part of who we are and what we do. For our clients, the work you do will not only have important commercial impact long into the future, but will also support them through their transitions towards a more sustainable future. We’re also committed to making a positive impact to the environment and our communities where you’ll get to do pro bono work that really makes a difference. We have a responsibility towards you, too. We enable you to take ownership of your wellbeing at work by supporting you with plenty of initiatives to set you up for success.
Expect variety
Our solicitor apprenticeship and eight-seat trainee associate programmes give you the greatest perspectives of life at Freshfields and more opportunities to discover what you’re really interested in. With us, no two days are the same. You’ll work on different cases, with different teams and in different places. We all enjoy and benefit from working in the office but we also know that life isn’t always predictable so we support work-life flexibility too.
Expect opportunity
We’re a global business with wide-ranging and high-profile work – there’s no jurisdiction we don’t work in. By investing in accessible routes into law, we provide unparalleled opportunities to see the true breadth and depth of what a world-class commercial legal career offers. You’ll work with lawyers across our global network who are leading in their field, so you’ll be learning from the best and getting the chance to work at the very top of the profession from the start.