Cookies — it's your choice

At Bright Network we use cookies and similar technologies to help deliver you the best possible experience. Some are necessary to help our website work properly and can't be switched off, and some are optional but support Bright Network in building and running the service that we provide to you.

Data we store

You can find out more in our privacy policy at any time by going to the link in our footer.

  1. Home
  2. Vacation Schemes
  3. Law
  4. Vacation Scheme
Lock Applications for this job are now closed
Closing soon

Applications for Vacation Placements 2019 

We will be offering 12 two week placements during Easter and Summer 2019 as part of our recruitment process for Training Contracts commencing in August 2021. If you are committed to applying for a trainee post at Bates Wells Braithwaite we strongly advise you to consider applying for our vacation placements. We also run a separate trainee recruitment process working side by side with the vacation placement, however your chances of success are likely to be greater through the vacation placement application route. This is because we have the opportunity to see you for 2 weeks, and you to see us and having invested that time, successful students on our vacation placement will be fast-tracked to the final interview stage.

Vacation Placements and the Main Recruitment Process

If you apply for a vacation placement you will not be able to apply for a Training Contract through our main recruitment process. However the final interviews will consist of a majority of candidates from the vacation placements.

Our Easter vacation placement scheme will run from 22 April to 3 May 2019. Our Summer vacation placement scheme will run for 4 weeks from week commencing 3 June 2019. Both vacation placement schemes will be for 4 students per two weeks.

The process for trainee recruitment is set out in the Application Process page under the "Training Contracts" section of this website. We follow an identical route for selecting individuals to take part on our vacation placements. This involves an initial screening test, if successful, a verbal reasoning test and, for those who do sufficiently well in the verbal reasoning, you will also be invited to complete a short interview. There is not an assessment day for vacation placements, instead a team of partners will review the applications from the strongest candidates and offer places on the basis of those written applications.

Your Vacation Placement – What happens?

We will do whatever we can to accommodate your date requirements within the Easter and Summer vacation placement period. 

Your time with us will normally consist of being allocated to a Solicitor within your allocated department. You will be welcomed on your first morning by the Training Principal and the Senior Graduate Recruitment Advisor. You will then attend a short induction before meeting your seat supervisors. We ask the departments to ensure that the whole department is involved in offering you interesting opportunities to see the life of the department in that week. During the week you will be taken out to lunches with the Training Principal and the trainees. There will also be an opportunity for informal drinks with our current trainees.

The Assessment Process

During your time with us, we will set you a half day exercise which will culminate in you undertaking a presentation. We ensure that the exercise is one which does not rely upon any prior legal knowledge.

Finally, you will have a short interview with a panel consisting of  both partners and solicitors. You will be notified if you are to proceed to a final interview with the Managing Partner in July. We anticipate that 1 to 2 students from each vacation placemnet week are likely to be invited for the final interview. If you are not invited to a final interview, then unfortunately this is the end of the recruitment process for you.