Trainees will do four seats each of six months. There are no compulsory placements, although you will have to do a seat in one of three core practice areas – these being finance, corporate and capital markets. The seats are determined using an algorithm, whereby trainees each have 200 points that they use to ‘bid’ on seats. It has been characterised by trainees as a blind auction, with no one knowing quite how much to bid for seats. Secondments abroad are valuable. Seemingly, most trainees do get their first choices.
The firm states that you will get in-depth training in the practice area when you start a seat, which will enable you to feel confident in it and the challenges that it will pose. You will have a dedicated supervisor in each seat and regular meetings with a dedicated Graduate Development Specialist. A quarter of trainees are on secondment at any one time.