Graduate Employers Guides - Herbert Smith

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Employer Information

• Application deadline: July 31st 2009
• Starting salaries: £37,500
• Regions: London (Secondments to international offices are possible for 6 months during the training contract)
• Industries: Law
• Website: http://www.herbertsmithgraduates.com/
• Email: graduate.recruitment@herbertsmith.com
• Telephone: 020 7374 8000
• Address:

Herbert Smith LLP
Exchange House
Primrose Street
London
EC2A 2HS

What is Herbert Smith?

Herbert Smith is a leading international law firm with its main office in London. It counts many FTSE 100 companies amongst its wide base of clients, offering them a full range of commercial legal services. The firm is best known for its strength in litigation, with this practice area being regarded as the finest in the City. Over recent years, Herbert Smith has also become a major player in corporate work (indeed, 44% of the firm's revenue in 2008 came from corporate deals, with 35% coming from litigation). Other practice areas include but are not limited to finance, real estate, tax, intellectual property, energy, infrastructure, employment and EU Competition law.

What roles are available at Herbert Smith?
Herbert Smith offer graduates a two year training contract, split into four seats of six months each. A seat in litigation (or somewhere providing similiarly contentious work) is compulsory, as SRA training regulations dictate, and trainees are free to choose from any practice area for their three other seats. The opportunity also exists to spend up to six months abroad during the training contract at one of Herbert Smith's international offices (or one of its associated firms' - Gleiss Lutz and Stibbe), from Moscow to Dubai; or from Brussells to Tokyo.

The firm also offers vacations schemes to graduates, with one at Christmas (typically for those in their final year of a non-law degree), one at Easter and up to four during the summer. These schemes offer students a great opportunity to see what life is like inside the firm over a two week period. Students will have the chance to share an office with an associate or partner and get first hand exposure to genuine work. Each scheme will also have a number of presentations, workshops and of course social events. Application deadlines for vacation schemes are much earlier than for training contracts, with the window for the Christmas scheme typically closing in early November and the window for all other schemes closing at the end of January.

Application process for Herbert Smith.

Apply online at Herbert Smith's graduate application page.

Entry requirements and type of person suited for Herbert Smith.

While no degree specific information is given, applicants must have strong commercial awareness, as well as high levels of motivation and organisation, and excellent interpersonal skills.

Future prospects and training at Herbert Smith.

The two year training contract allows graduates to gain in depth working knowledge of a range of legal areas that the company deals with, such as corporate and dispute resolution, finance and real estate, private wealth and employment. Graduates will sit four seats of 6 months and can choose the areas they wish to focus on.

Herbert Smith offers ongoing interpersonal and technical training for those that qualify as associates, as well as development centres after 2 and 5 years. Suitable graduates can move up to partnership level within 7 or 8 years, and even at this stage, Herbert Smith continues to care for its employees development in key skills that ensure the continued smooth running of the company.

Other comments about Herbert Smith.

Experiences

If you have applied to Herbert Smith, we would like you to hear from you. Please use the following form to detail your experiences of application, to aid those interested in following a similar career path.

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