FAQs

Our trainees recommend the following online resources for useful advice on pursuing a career in law:

Paralegal opportunities are advertised in the careers section of our website.

Students who have completed a full-time degree in any subject from an overseas university qualify for entry onto the Postgraduate Diploma in Law (PGDL), after which you can complete the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE)

Yes you are. All trainee solicitors joining the firm from 2024 onwards will qualify through the SQE route, and your LPC qualification will grant you an exemption from the SQE1 examinations. You will therefore only need to complete the SQE2 examinations and two-year period of qualifying work experience to qualify.

Our annual deadlines are:

For the Vacation Scheme and Training Contract, please see our Apply page for more detail and helpful resources.

For our Insight Scheme, the application process involves an online application and online verbal reasoning test.

We’ll read applications as they come in but won’t fill our assessment centre places before the deadline closes.

Yes, absolutely. We welcome applications from non-law students.

Yes, you can. We know that academic results are only one part of your story, and for many reasons they may not always truly reflect your talents or abilities. That’s why we’ve partnered with Rare, a multi-award winning diversity company, to integrate their Contextual Recruitment System (CRS) into our recruitment process. The CRS enables us to further understand the context in which applicants’ experiences have been gained, and recruit the very best people from a range of backgrounds. There’s also space within the application form to disclose any mitigating circumstances so please do share anything you feel to be important.

Yes, your training program is completely bespoke. Before you start, and throughout your training contract you’ll meet with dedicated members of the future lawyer development team to discuss your  interests and career ambitions as they evolve. Throughout this process we encourage our trainees to keep an open mind – many people qualify into areas they previously hadn’t considered!

Absolutely. We have a number of secondments available for trainees with a variety of clients across our core sectors.

Yes. All trainees have the opportunity to spend some time working from one of our international offices if they want to. Our approach is a flexible one: trainees work in another country for a short period of time (1-3 weeks), while carrying out their day-to-day UK work.

Our aim is always to retain as many trainees as possible – in 2023 we retained 87% of our qualifying trainees.

All Osborne Clarke - sponsored students must study at BPP. You can study at any of their centres across the UK. If you’ve already completed your PGDL & SQE, we have no preference over where you have studied.

If you accept a training contract offer at OC and are yet to complete the PGDL and/or SQE courses, we will cover full course fees and the first sitting of the SQE examinations. In addition to this we will provide you with a maintenance grant of £11,000 for each course that you need to complete. Unfortunately we do not pay any fees or maintenance retrospectively.

Absolutely. If you require the form in a different format, please contact us to discuss your needs. Any disability disclosure will be dealt with confidentially and sensitively. Adjustments can be made and support requirements taken into consideration during the application process to enable you to best demonstrate your abilities and achievements.

Yes. We are committed to providing an environment where you can perform to the best of your abilities at every stage of your recruitment experience and beyond.

If you have a disability, are neurodivergent, or live with a condition that may impact your journey to our office or your performance at interview, we will support you with the adjustments you need.

As a first step please contact us to tell us what you need and how we can support you. Everything you share with us will be treated as confidential and only disclosed on a need-to-know basis

We are very happy to provide additional time for you to complete the verbal reasoning test, to arrange this please contact us by email. To ensure that everything is in place to allow you enough time to complete the test ahead of the deadline we would recommend that you submit your application as early as possible, as we are unfortunately unable to grant any extension.

During your vacation scheme, we will be looking for a number of skills that we believe are essential to becoming a successful solicitor at Osborne Clarke. We will assess you through a number of different exercises including group and written exercises and partner interviews.

Due to the number of requests we receive, unfortunately we’re unable to offer work experience to graduates outside of our Insight and Vacation Schemes.

Our Vacation Scheme is exclusively available to candidates who are able to commence training with Osborne Clarke in two years’ time. We would recommend that you apply for a place on our Insight Scheme – this will give you the opportunity to gain insight into life as a lawyer at Osborne Clarke.

We offer first years the opportunity to gain insight into life as a lawyer at Osborne Clarke through our two-day Insight Scheme.

If you are in Years 12 or 13 and considering a career as a Lawyer, please visit our UK careers pages for more information.