Training
Contract.

Reach your potential with access to the industry’s highest calibre of work with one of our Training Contracts. This is your opportunity to get the best start to your legal career and accelerate your progress.

Training contract at a glance.

An insight into your training contract.

  1. 01 Small cohort, big opportunities

    Up to 15 trainees per year means constant exposure to senior leadership and complex challenges.

  2. 02 Work that makes a difference

    Our client list means you will take real responsibility from day one on industry-defining matters.

  3. 03 Challenged to step up

    Your supervisor, colleagues and partners will always recognise your hard work and be invested in realising your full potential. 

  4. 04 Take responsibility for your career

    You’ll have autonomy to choose from our leading practice areas, so your career is in your hands.

  5. 05 Hard work that’s recognised

    We believe in recognising hard work, you’ll earn; £60,000 first year, £65,000 second year, £170,000 upon qualification.

Your opportunity to grow further.

Our Training Contracts are a continuation of our vacation schemes. We’re confident in your ability to excel here, you just need to be ready and willing to work hard, and take your seat.

The work we’ll do.

Our training contract is the longest running of any US law firm in London and you will find successful alumni in senior positions across Weil and throughout the UK legal industry. To excel in your training contract, you’ll need to be hungry for success and determined to take on challenges no matter how big and complex. 

Over the two-year course you will complete four six-month seats, developing expertise and building skills in each area. You will have mid-seat and end-of-seat performance reviews to understand where your strengths lie, and where you need to develop further. Being prepared to take on feedback is a must and part of how you will become an exceptional lawyer. 

While you need to tackle one Corporate and one Finance seat as key practice areas, the remaining seats depend on your own preferences and development needs. This is your career, don’t be afraid to seize the opportunities you want.

You can’t step forward and make your mark if we don’t give you the support to do so. At Weil, it’s our responsibility to fuel your ambition, and to provide you with the training to equip you to take challenges head on and to learn how to be the best lawyer you can be. 

To set you up for success, here's what we give you to help you develop:

  • A comprehensive induction
  • A dedicated supervisor with whom you will share an office providing plenty of real-time feedback 
  • Mid-seat and end-of-seat performance reviews
  • Departmental training every time you move seats
  • Practice area specific training throughout your seat
  • A partner mentor, who will be there to advise and guide you throughout the full two years of your training contract
  • The option to have two additional mentors
  • Support throughout your training contract from the Early Careers & Development team

Continuing your journey.

Being a future trainee is the start of your journey to becoming a qualified lawyer. The start of your journey to reaching your potential. So, from the moment you accept a training contract, we want you to feel right at the heart of a leading global firm. We want you to know this is a place you can speak up and be trusted to take responsibility. 

That’s why we hold social and networking events throughout the year for our future trainees, including summer and festive parties, and a pre-SQE afternoon with our managing partners. We know that our future trainees are the best of the best, so our job is helping them believe it. 

SQE

Solicitor’s Qualifying Examination.

We’ve partnered with the University of Law to deliver the PGDL and the SQE 1 and 2 preparation courses and exams, providing law and non-law graduates with the training and continuous development they need to grow. We offer full sponsorship of the PGDL and SQE 1 and 2 in addition to an annual maintenance grant of £20,000 per year of study.

01 / SQE 1 Preparation Programme + SQE 1

02 / SQE 2 Preparation Programme + SQE 2

03 / SQE Plus Course

04 / Two-years of QWE 'Training Contract'

Benefits

Benefits you'll receive.

As well as the training and support you’ll get alongside your training contract, we’ll provide you with a variety of benefits to help you in your professional and personal life across core, flexible and Weil perks. 

  1. Pension

  2. Income protection

  3. Life assurance

  4. Private medical insurance

  5. Private GP appointments

  6. Employee assistance programme

  7. Subscription to Calm a wellbeing and mindfulness app

  8. 25 days annual leave increasing by one day per year of service up to 28 days

  9. £500 annual wellbeing allowance

Questions & answers

FAQs.

How many trainees do you recruit each year?

We recruit up to 15 trainees a year.

What is the starting salary for trainees?

£60,000 first year, £65,000 second year and £170,000 on qualification, plus trainees are eligible for an annual discretionary bonus.

What practice areas offer trainee seats? Can I choose which seats I do?

Trainees can undertake seats in the following practice areas: Antitrust, Disputes & Investigations, Finance, M&A, Private Equity, Private Funds, Restructuring, Structured Finance and Tax.

You will be able to submit three preferences ahead of every seat rotation. We will consider these preferences alongside business need and training requirements when deciding the allocations.

Apply

Training Contract

Apply Now