Shoosmiths reveals expansion plans for trainee solicitor programme

Shoosmiths is expanding its trainee solicitor programme with an increase in trainee and NQ recruits, expansion into the London office, and two trainee intakes annually

Along with the increased number of recruits, the programme will include a March intake, as well as the usual September intake commencing from March 2020. Shoosmiths will see 24 trainees on the September 2019 intake and six trainees on the March 2020 intake – moving to a 20/10 split in the next few years.

Samantha Hope, Shoosmiths’ graduate recruitment manager said:

“To ensure Shoosmiths is moving in the right direction, every three years we take a fresh look at our firmwide strategy. With this comes a renewed focus on the number of trainees we recruit per year as we plan ahead for the introduction of the Solicitors Qualifying Exam, and we are pleased to confirm this will include London as part of the ambitious growth strategy for that office.”

This will mean nearly 30 additional vacancies being recruited to from this year’s application/assessment centres, to fill the extra vacancies for 2019 and 2020, as well as 2021.

Shoosmiths has also announced that nine trainees qualified in March 2019, and all nine were offered and accepted an NQ position with the firm, giving the firm 100% retention rate for its first ever Spring recruitment round. Seven trainees qualified into the corporate division, one into real estate and one into business advisory.

Stephen Porter, national head of corporate, said:

“Significant growth has been earmarked across all corporate specialisms at Shoosmiths, and our recent number of NQ recruits this spring shows that talent retention is a key driver for growth in the firm and will support a major recruitment drive across all areas.”

National law firm Shoosmiths is sealing its reputation as one of the best firms for graduate legal training after they were announced as nominees for Best Recruiter at the LawCareers.Net Training and Recruitment Awards 2019. They have also been shortlisted for Best Trainee Recruitment Campaign at the HR in Law Awards 2019.

The online application form is open until 31 May 2019, you can find it at www.shoosmiths.co.uk.graduates.

For more information, please contact our graduate recruitment team at [email protected].