| Cleary Gottlieb |
|
Cleary Gottlieb Address: City Place House, 55 Basinghall Street, London EC2V 5EH Tel: 020 7614 2200 Fax: 020 7600 1698 Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Website: www.cgsh.com/careers/london
Company Description
Cleary Gottlieb is one of the leading international law firms with 12 closely integrated offices located in major financial and political centres around the world. For more than 60 years, the firm has been pre-eminent in shaping the globalisation of the legal profession. Our worldwide practice has a proven track record for innovation and providing advice of the highest quality to meet the domestic and international needs of our clients. Our clients include multinational corporations, international financial institutions, private equity funds, sovereign governments and sovereign wealth funds, as well as domestic corporations and financial institutions. In recognition of the firm’s strong global practice, its effectiveness in dealing with the different business cultures of the countries in which it operates and its success in multiple jurisdictions, Cleary received Chambers & Partners’ inaugural International Law Firm of the Year award. Our London Practice
In common with all offices of the firm, the London office is non-departmentalised. We have no formal departments because we want to allow our lawyers to follow their interests and abilities, rather than confine them to a menu of limited choices. This non-departmentalisation means that lawyers do not sit within practice groups, but are mixed around the office. We believe that this encourages discussion and integration between lawyers from different practice areas and contributes significantly to the informality and collegiality of our office environment.
Our four core practice groups in London are mergers and acquisitions (M&A), private equity, financing, and debt and equity capital markets (IPOs). In addition, we have successful self-standing practices in dispute resolution, competition, tax, financial regulation, intellectual property and information technology.
Training Contract
We deliberately limit our graduate intake to just 10-12 trainees each year so as to ensure our ability to offer bespoke training that is individually tailored to the interests, experience and aptitudes of the exceptional individuals that joins us. We do not believe in a “one size fits all” training solution. Nor do we believe that the transition from trainee solicitor to associate occurs overnight on qualification. At Cleary, the transition is a smooth and gradual one. We encourage our trainee solicitors to accept increased responsibility as soon as they are ready to do so. Subject only to our ensuring that all trainees experience a rich variety of high quality work from different practice areas, our trainees are effectively able to select the seats through which they rotate. Trainees may also choose to spend one of their seats in another of our international offices, most usually Brussels, Paris, Moscow, Hong Kong or New York. The option is also available to spend a longer period practising overseas post-qualification. Vacation Schemes We offer 35 vacation places each year (five at Christmas, ten at Easter and ten in each of two summer schemes) and pay £500 per week. The vacation schemes aim to provide potential training contract applicants with a practical insight into life as a Cleary lawyer and our objective throughout is to involve participants directly in client work. In addition to this hands-on experience, the scheme incorporates a series of practice overview sessions designed to ensure exposure to the full range of work that we undertake in London. There are also a number of organised social events each week so that participants can get to know the current partners, associates and trainees of the firm outside the office. We recruit the vast majority of our future trainees from amongst our vacation students. Candidates that are considering applying for a trainee solicitor position with the firm are therefore actively encouraged to undertake a placement with us. Applications for Christmas vacation placements should be received by November 15. The deadline for Easter and summer vacation scheme applications is January 28 in the year of the scheme. Dates for vacation schemes in 2008/09 are as follows:
The Package We offer a market-leading salary and benefits package that reflects the premium nature of our practice and is commensurate with our aim to recruit the best lawyers of the future. As at September 1, 2008, our trainee salaries are:
Additional benefits include a discretionary, year-end bonus, Virgin Active gym membership, employer pension contribution, life insurance of twice annual salary, long-term disability insurance, childcare vouchers, employee assistance programme and subsidised staff restaurant.
Funding
We fund the Legal Practice Course (LPC) for all our future trainee solicitors. For non-law graduates, we also fund the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL). In each year of professional study, we pay a maintenance grant of £8,000.
Who Should Apply We look for candidates who are enthusiastic about the practice of law in a challenging and dynamic international setting. Whilst academic excellence is a pre-requisite, we place particular emphasis on recruiting candidates that we and our clients will enjoy working with. A sense of humour is as important as the ability to think critically and creatively about cutting-edge legal issues.
When and How to Apply
Candidates for trainee solicitor positions should apply before July 31, two years in advance of the year in which the training contract is due to commence. Exceptionally, we may consider applications closer to the date of joining. All candidates should submit a cover letter and full curriculum vitae via the firm’s website, including details of all public examination results. Candidates should include a breakdown by subject of all A-Level (or equivalent) results and degree results where known.
|
