We are an expanding top-100 law firm with around 300 solicitors and support staff. Many of our specialist legal teams have won national recognition for their work, headed up by partners who are leaders in their fields.

Our success is largely due to the talented people we attract. Many of the outstanding lawyers you’ll meet here trained with Russell-Cooke and have developed their own areas of specialist expertise, first as solicitors and then as partners.

Our breadth of expertise and ability to make sense of complex problems means that other solicitors’ firms often refer cases to us. Senior lawyers and legal organisations often come to Russell-Cooke for legal advice including 35 sets of barristers’ chambers, the Law Society and the Institute of Legal Executives.

Asked by Lex 100 what aspects of the firm they particularly value, Russell-Cooke trainees cited the variety of work and the level of responsibility they are given.

Also appreciated are:

The qualities you develop with us are excellent preparation for a successful legal career. If you stay with us after qualifying, the firm’s continuing expansion offers plenty of opportunities to help extend the work of our specialist teams or develop new areas of expertise.

We are looking for people with partnership potential who have the energy and ambition to become successful lawyers in their chosen field. The people we attract tend to be high achievers – academically well qualified, independent minded and often impressively rounded (we seem to have more than our fair share of talented musicians and linguists).

Our trainees are part of the legal team. We will give you significant responsibility early on, with your own cases and plenty of client contact. Although there is a friendly and professional support structure, you need to be the kind of person who will thrive on the challenges that real-life legal work throws at you.

Russell-Cooke is an equal opportunity employer and an Investor in People. We welcome applications from people irrespective of race, ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation, religion or disability.

If you’re invited for interview, you will get a first-hand, warts-and-all view of the firm from our current group of trainees over lunch.

In the meantime:

Read what Chambers and Partners Student Guide and Lex 2007, the two main guides for prospective trainees, say about us.

On average, we take on eight trainees a year. Competition for training contracts with us is intense, and we receive many more applications from well-qualified applicants than we have training places.

To be considered for a training contract with us you will need excellent academic ability. Typically we would regard the following as indicative of the level of academic ability we require:

• At least three good A levels including at least two at grade A and one at grade B (or equivalent)



• At least an upper second degree (if you have already graduated)

Recruitment Timeline (for training contracts to commence in 2012)

Timeline for applications: not earlier than 1 May 2010 and no later than 31 July 2010

First Interviews: 9-13 August 2010

Second Interviews: 23-25 August 2010

Offers made by: 6 September 2010

How to apply

	Download the;
::	Trainee Application Form  (MS Word)
	The form should be filled in on a computer, saved, then attached to an email (along with a copy of your CV and Covering Letter) and sent to: traineeapplications@russell-cooke.co.uk

About our interviews

Our interview process gives you the chance to get under our skin (and vice versa). We invite selected applicants for two interviews:

• A first “getting to know you” interview with one or two senior people at the firm
  
  
• For those who are shortlisted, a second interview involving a group session and a chance to show how you would cope with actual casework. You’ll also meet our current trainees, look round our offices and have the chance to put your questions to the partner in charge of trainees.

If I don’t meet the academic qualifications you specify, is there any point in applying?

It is unlikely that your application will proceed to interview stage, but we do look at every application we receive.

However, we would like you to let us know if you attended a secondary school that would be recognised as particularly disadvantaged – for example, one with an average A-level points score of below 240 points on the UCAS tariff.

Do you run a Summer Placement programme?

No.

What are the prospects of being my being offered a post by the firm after qualification?

Good. On average about 75 per cent of our trainees stay with us for at least a year after qualification. The longer term retention rate is 58 per cent. About a quarter of our partners trained here.

Do you give preference to applicants with law degrees or those who have studied at particular universities?

No: we simply look for talented people with potential, wherever (and whatever) they have studied. We believe in diversity and feel it contributes to the firm’s distinctive character. Russell-Cooke lawyers come from a wide range of academic backgrounds.

Does your interview process include “personality” tests?

No. One of the reasons we do not use personality tests is that we are not seeking to recruit a single personality type. The varied work we do creates opportunities for a wide range of personalities and aptitudes.

Who decides what seats I will occupy during my training contract?

The final decision is ours. But we put a lot of effort into discussing trainees’ own preferences and aptitudes with them, in the light of what is available and commercially feasible at any particular point.

If I am committed to qualifying in a particular area of work, will you consider me for a training contract?

Yes. In return, we ask you to keep a reasonably open mind about the seats you occupy. Whichever departments you work in, you can be sure of acquiring the generic legal skills that will serve you well throughout your career.

It’s actually not a bad idea to move outside your “comfort zone” for a while. Many of our trainees find that their initial preferences change during their training contract, and some develop unexpected enthusiasms for types of work that would not have previously featured in their plans.

What are the most difficult things about training at Russell-Cooke?

You will need (often quite rapidly) to acquire a range of skills and adapt to different working environments, even within a single department. You will have to learn how to tailor your advice to the fee budget of different clients, and develop the confidence to make and back your own judgements.

Do you offer a grant for the LPC and/or GDL?

We offer a loan for LPC fees. Assuming that you complete your training contract, this is only repayable if we offer you a job on qualification which you turn down; or if having opted to stay with the firm, you do not remain with us for at least a year. There is no interest charge and we allow time to pay on the very rare occasions that a repayment is due.

We do not offer payment for living expenses or any support for the GDL.