Pinsent Masons are proud to offer a comprehensive 2-year programme for trainee lawyers. This programme allows you to gain invaluable experience across various practice areas while developing the essential knowledge and skills needed to thrive in the legal profession. Our training contract is meticulously crafted to lay a strong foundation for your future career, featuring mentorship, training, and ongoing support to help you achieve your fullest potential.
Candidates typically submit their application 2 years prior to the commencement of their training contract.
Our firm is deeply committed to diversity and inclusion, partnering with organisations such as the 10,000 Interns Foundation, Aspiring Solicitors, and Bright Network to promote and support applications from individuals of all backgrounds.
You must also meet one of the following:
If you don’t meet the above minimum academic criteria but you have mitigating circumstances, there’s an opportunity for you to include this information in your registration form.
Our trainee salaries are subject to review on an annual basis. The salary rates as of August 2024 are as follows:
Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds:
London:
Financial sponsorships
We're committed to hiring the most talented people, regardless of your background. That's why we'll cover your postgraduate legal education tuition fees and offer you a fair maintenance grant. Currently, we have an exclusive partnership with the University of Law and all of our sponsored future trainees take the PGDL and/or LLM SQE course at one of their locations.
Visa sponsorships
Those applying for training contracts in England should note that, due to the current general salary threshold requirement for sponsorship under the skilled worker visa, Pinsent Masons are only able to sponsor trainee solicitors employed in our London office.
The below shows the typical recruitment process for our Early Talent programmes in our UK, Dublin, Johannesburg and Dubai offices.
Tell us about yourself, your academic history and your employment history where applicable. We also gather information about you to support our contextualized recruitment approach.
The next stage of the recruitment process will involve completing our online blended assessment. This blended assessment incorporates situational judgment questions, a written case study and a short recorded video interview allowing us to see how well you would perform in different scenarios.
If you pass the online blended assessment, we’ll ask you to book a place at one of our in-person assessment centres. You will complete three exercises over the day – This will include a one-to-one interview, a business simulation exercise and a case study.
Whatever the outcome, we’ll let you know as soon as we can after the assessment centre. If you display the key attributes we are looking for and perform well throughout the assessment, we’ll send you an offer and talk you through the onboarding process.
The NQ hiring process is centrally coordinated and involves interviews and technical skills tests. Our Graduate Development team collaborate with the business to determine which roles are available and distribute a list. You’ll be able to submit an application for a small number of vacancies across the firm’s office network. The result will depend on your performance at assessment and throughout your training contract. This gives you every opportunity to advance your career in your preferred area of law.
To start your application, please click on apply now. Once you have registered an account, you will need to complete the following before the application closing date:
Once you have submitted all of the above, our recruitment team will review your application alongside your online blended assessment and will be in touch in due course regarding your outcome.
Legal work experience is not mandatory. Our application form allows you to provide up to 5 of your most relevant experiences. This can be anything you’ve done, such as employment, work experience, placements, volunteering, sports activities, positions of responsibility etc.
Yes, if you have already graduated from an LLB or a non-law degree then you are eligible to apply.
Due to the government's salary threshold for sponsorship under the skilled worker visa, Pinsent Masons are only able to accept applications from international candidates who apply to our London office. We will work with candidates on a case-by-case basis, subject to current immigration legislation.
Unfortunately we are not able to offer sponsorship for this programme in our Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds offices.
Yes, we welcome applications from individuals who have had previous careers. We often find career changers bring significant transferable skills and a unique perspective.
For the first two years of my LLB I didn’t think I would be a solicitor. Pursuing a career as a Barrister was my initial passion. For various reasons, my mind changed in third year, so I attended my university law fair for the first time. At the law fair, I was keen to talk to as many people as I could to demonstrate my confidence and competence, but when I got there, confidence and competence turned into awkwardness. I didn’t know what to talk to people about, what questions to ask, or how to make a positive, lasting impression.
I saw the Pinsent Masons trainee programme advertised online and was attracted to them because they are international, full service and have a great reputation. I knew that if I could get a foot in the door and a feel for working in an international firm, I could hopefully also get a training contract.
I qualified in New York and I wanted to complete my training in a law firm that is truly international. I knew Pinsent Masons from an introduction evening at University of Edinburgh and thought that it would be an exciting place to work. The firm has set itself apart from others in Ireland for beingwell-connected and global.
