How and when do I apply?
The best time to apply is in the period February - June, two years ahead of the intended starting date; for example February - June 2008 for a training contract beginning September 2010.
Obviously the sooner you apply the better, but we don't have a strict deadline and will go on considering good applicants for as long as we can. If you haven't applied by mid-August 2008 you are likely not to get into our recruitment process for a 2010 start.
Send your letter of application enclosing a full, up-to-date CV to Claire Adejumo in our HR Department. We don’t have a special application form because we like to see how you present your own application. We would like to know as much as possible about you: your achievements, interests and aspirations. We want to be persuaded by your application, not just to read a stereotyped explanation why you want to come to our firm. So please don't just regurgitate back material from our website - we want to hear about you not us!
We prefer to receive your application by post, not by email, but please include your email address. Please give the names and contact details of two referees. We will assume that you have already approached your referees and we may take up references before deciding whether to interview you.
We operate an equal opportunities policy, welcoming applications from any suitably qualified candidates. Our aim is to find talented individuals and we have no preconceived profile into which our trainees must fit, except talent and potential. So our successful applicants are a varied group of people, not clones.
Please write to:
Claire Adejumo
HR Department
Finers Stephens Innocent LLP
179 Great Portland Street
London
W1W 5LS
What are the deadlines for applications?
We are heavily oversubscribed and we recommend that you apply as soon as possible. If you are still awaiting your results, apply giving your predicted results, and let us know later what results you actually receive.
We send out invitations to our Open Afternoon around 31st May, so if your application reaches us after that we probably won’t be able to invite you to it, although we will still consider your application for a training contract. However, other applicants for a training contract will have had the advantage of introducing themselves to us in person at the Open Afternoon.
Are there any vacancies for 2008 or 2009?
We have filled all our vacancies for training contracts starting in 2008 and 2009. If we do have any earlier vacancies - which is unlikely - we will say so here. So please do not apply if you are looking for a training contract to start before September 2010.
What is the FSI procedure for trainee applications?
This is our procedure, and the proposed timetable for 2008:-
- April - May 2008. Every application is reviewed against a scoring system which takes into account in a balanced way the factors we have described in these FAQ. Our trainee partners review the cv’s and covering letters we receive from several hundred of our applicants, about 60 of whom come to our Open Afternoon.
- 2nd July 2008. The Open Afternoon is a showcase for us to tell you more about our firm, our departments, our approach to training and our people. There will be presentations by existing trainees, solicitors and partners, and lots of opportunities to ask questions. We provide plenty of refreshments and the chance to mingle with people who are already with us, and of course to introduce yourself.
- Most of the people we interview have attended the Open Afternoon, but we will interview some people who have been unable to attend, or for good reason made late applications.
- As we are so oversubscribed, we may conduct a short telephone interview with you, before deciding whether to invite you to the Open Afternoon, or to come for an interview. If this applies to you, one of our team will run over your cv with you on the telephone by prior arrangement, and ask you some straightforward questions about your application to us.
- We take up your references as early as possible in the recruitment process.
- July 2008. The next step is an interview with two of the firm's trainee partners. Sometimes another solicitor in the firm will also take part in the interview. The interviews are friendly but stimulating, and include questions and situations designed to test your ability to think like a lawyer, whether or not you have studied law. We will give you every opportunity to ask us questions about FSI.
- We will ask you to bring to the interview and leave with us a sample of your writing on a topic of your choice, because we put great weight on your ability to express yourself in a clear and interesting way. That might be a dissertation, an essay, or a piece of student journalism.
- August 2008. We then prepare a shortlist of applicants who are invited back for a second interview with a different Trainee Partner and our HR Director. This time you may be asked questions about the writing you gave us at the first interview. We will also ask you to make a short presentation on a subject of your choice.
- Your CV, your performance at the two interviews, your written work, your presentation and your references (which we take up as early as possible in the recruitment process) are all assessed against our scoring system designed to provide a common basis of assessment irrespective of who interviews you. You will gather from all this that our recruitment procedure is thorough and systematic, but run by people not by software.
- We aim to make our offers for 2010 by 31 August 2008, and since we are offering only a small number of places we will ask you to let us know quite quickly whether you want to accept our offer. We may make our offers at earlier dates to people we consider very strong applicants.
Do you run vacation placements?
Please note that we do not run vacation placements or work placement schemes, except for candidates who have already signed a training contract with us.
If you would like any more details about our Trainee Recruitment please contact the personnel department at gradrecruitment@fsilaw.co.uk
How will my training be organised?
We recruit five or six trainees each year. So you won't be part of a horde of new arrivals, and we'll know you individually from day one.
Even before you arrive we will take steps to integrate you with the firm. Intending trainees who have been offered a training contract keep in touch with the Trainee Partners, usually spend some time with us on paid work experience and attend some of our social functions.
When you do arrive here to start your training, we have a carefully planned induction procedure lasting a week. Most importantly, we ensure that our trainees know everyone - including the partners - as quickly as possible. But you will also have sessions on our IT and accounting systems and you will be briefed on everything you need to know to get into your training without bafflement. We even give you our "Top tips for success as a trainee at FSI."
Our trainees normally divide their time with us into four six-month seats in different departments. In each seat they are allocated a supervisor who is either a partner or senior assistant and are likely to receive the majority of their work from that person. Working closely with one principal allows trainees to become more involved in individual ongoing matters and remain involved with them throughout the six months. So the quality of training is high, as trainees gain a detailed understanding of the way to handle different kinds of transactions. Additionally, trainees receive work from other principals in their department in order to broaden their training. They are also encouraged to approach partners for guidance and advice in relation to their work and development.
Virtually all trainees spend time in the Commercial Property and Litigation Departments. What other seats they undertake depends on the needs of the departments concerned, but we also take trainees' preferences into account, particularly in their second year. Please note that trainees are not normally able to undertake a specific seat in our IP/Media department.
Trainees have a high level of client contact, certainly having the responsibility for particular files and client tasks, and from time to time, conducting meetings unassisted.
The firm runs an extensive seminar programme throughout all departments, and trainees normally go to all the seminars, whichever department you happen to be in at the time. In this way you expand your legal education over a broad field as well as covering topics specific to the work of your department. There is also a programme of internally run seminars for trainees.
We will also help you to develop the skills you need including:
- drafting documents
- written and spoken communication
- techniques of negotiation
- effective case management
- professional ethics and standards
- handling interviews with clients
- research
- presentation skills
- understanding and applying the principles of costing
- legal practice as a business
All this gives you the opportunity to learn on an ongoing basis and to keep up to date. In short, your training will be thorough, covering every facet necessary to become an accomplished and self-confident solicitor.
Do you prefer me to do any particular electives?
Every trainee at FSI does a seat in our Property Department so we do ask you to take the Commercial Property elective. Beyond that we like to discuss your elective choices with you, and will give you guidance, though we don't impose our directions.But if you want a seat in any particular department here it certainly helps if you have done a relevant elective.
How much will I be paid?
The current starting salary for a first year trainee is £29,000 pa rising to £31,000 pa for a second year trainee. Our remuneration package is competitive. The current starting salary for a newly qualified solicitor is from £50,000.
If the LPC or PgDL lies ahead of you, we will pay your fees for it.
What qualities and skills do FSI look for in prospective trainees?
We look at all trainee applications with one overall quality in mind - excellence.
Ask yourself these questions:
- have you gained consistently excellent marks in your studies?
- have you played a full part in school, university and community life?
- do you have a lively and critical attitude to current legal issues?
- are you articulate, outgoing and able to relate well to clients and colleagues?
- do you write clear plain English?
- do you have a real commitment to practising as a solicitor?
- can you carry real responsibility from an early stage in your training?
- do you have an enquiring and innovative mind, to help us plan new solutions to the legal problems which our clients expect us to solve for them?
If the answers are “yes” you sound the sort of person we are hoping to hear from.
We take a wide range of factors into consideration when we decide who should receive an offer of a training contract. We are looking for academic excellence in our applicants and our standards are very high and this will normally mean good A levels and at least a good upper second class honours degree. Unlike some other firms, we will take into account the circumstances, so if you dropped below your school's expectations at A level, or there were extenuating reasons why you did not get the degree you should have done, we will at least consider you and not send you an automatic rejection, but please give us a full explanation. Nearly all our successful applicants have worked in a legal environment in a vacation, whether in a solicitor's office, counsel’s chambers, a CAB, court offices or another legal environment. Others have worked in voluntary organisations or businesses.
Long before the Age Discrimination Regulations 2006 came into force we were recruiting on an age-blind basis, offering training contracts to a number of mature applicants who had achieved success in other fields and were looking to take up a new career as solicitors. Some of our most successful trainees in recent years have had wider career experience, for example in banking, scientific research, media, publishing and business administration. The fact that your pathway to a career as a solicitor has been a bit out of the usual shouldn’t deter you from applying to us. We will continue to recruit the best people irrespective of their age or background. (You need not state your age or date of birth on your application.)
We hope that you will have taken part in extra-curricular activities, showing your enthusiasm for teamwork or a commitment to helping others.
Other qualities and skills which we are looking for include communication skills, initiative, team working skills, leadership, breadth of interests, commitment, attention to detail, legal knowledge and the ability to manage your own time. We don’t regard a law degree as essential because you may have other skills which we value, for example:
- fluency in other languages will attract you to our international work
- technical IT skills will enable you to understand our e-commerce work
- work in media fields will give you a practical understanding of intellectual property and rights administration
- you may already have experience in a first career, deepening your understanding of business or human relations.
Who will monitor my progress?
We have three partners responsible for trainees, Robert Craig, Sara Wax and Philip Eder, who keep a close eye on the welfare and progress of trainees. They are readily available for a discussion about any problems you may experience. We have regular group meetings of trainees with the Trainee Partners, as well as one to one meetings, and a structured appraisal process so that you will know how you are progressing, as well as giving you a chance to provide feedback on your view of your training.
I want to transfer my training contract from another firm, or do a reduced period of training. Should I apply to FSI?
We like our trainees to have a full two year period with us, so we are not looking for trainees who are transferring from elsewhere or seeking a reduced training period.
What benefits do you provide?
- Competitive Salary
- 20 days holiday
- Pension Scheme
- Private Health Care with Prudential Health
- Childcare Vouchers
- Season Ticket Loan
- Professional Skills Course paid for by the Firm
- LPC and PGDL funding
- Regular social events such as Summer Balls, Bingo/Casino nights, Halloween parties, Karaoke evenings, Quiz nights, Treasure Hunts and Monthly staff lunches
What happens at the end of my training contract?
Ideally, we aim to offer jobs to all our trainee solicitors when they qualify. However, job offers do depend on the quality of work which you produce during your training contract and whether we have any vacancies in the area of law in which you would like to specialise. Over the last few years we have regularly retained former trainees who are occupying positions at every level in the firm. At the same time, other trainees have gone on to highly successful careers in the profession or in commerce. If you are going elsewhere at that stage we will offer you advice and careers guidance, and help you work on your cv if you want. We are always glad to keep in touch with our alumni.
In 2007 all our graduating trainees were given the opportunity to remain with FSI.
How can I find out more about Finers Stephens Innocent?
For those who want to start a training contract in September 2010 we will be holding an Open Afternoon on 2nd July 2008. By applying to us for a training contract your details will automatically be reviewed for the Open Afternoon, as we use this event as part of our recruitment process.
However, for you to be considered for the Open Afternoon we should receive your training contract application no later than the end of May 2008.
And please browse through the rest of our website.