You'll be familiar with this declaration from poring over law firms' grad recruitment pages. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. The cookie is a session cookies and is deleted when all the browser windows are closed. The prestige, the career opportunities, the money and the city itself combine to attract the brightest, hungriest and most gumptious graduates. It may be time to reconsider the way we define and consider the so-called Magic Circle of elite U.K. firms. [3], In 2004, Slaughter and May's then senior partner, Tim Clark, said: "It's a funny concept. It argued that Clifford Chances profitability does not match the other Magic Circle firms, and that Slaughter and May operates a different (UK-focused) model, with revenue less than half of the other Magic Circle firms. Oxfords graduates earned an average 71,120, Kings College London graduates 74,512, University College London graduates 72,814 and Cambridge graduates 72,457. How suitable are you and what do recruiters want? In the past three years we've asked 2,300 trainees at 124 firms which university they went to. US is pretty obvious except in cases where there was a transatlantic merger; wed still consider Hogan Lovells, NRF and BCLP City firms because of their strong London origins. To grasp these nuances, let's take a closer look at these distinct areas. The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Non-city firms are pulling in trainees from a wider array of universities. Below is a chart of the top 20 most common universities that cropped up in our research over the past nine years. It is worth doing some research to see if this is an option for you. This group fragmented at the beginning of the 2000s, and now comprises the five that now make up the Magic Circle, a term coined by legal journalists. Will taking Further Maths as a third subject be a disadvantage to apply for uni? It shows that a whopping 44% of partners at firms in the magic and silver circle attended Oxbridge, while 34% went to one of the 22 other Russell Group universities, and 22% graduated from a non-Russell Group uni. We also found that London attracted the highest proportion of overseas graduates. But the highest salaries in the business and top-notch commercial work also demand stamina and an appetite for long hours and hard work, more than any other city. You can find all of the answers to these questions using our free guide start reading below! This cookies are used to collect analytical information about how visitors use the website. The further down you go, the more erratic it becomes. Find more on our methodology, plus a few disclaimers at the bottom of this page. Read our comprehensive guide on Training Contracts. The sudden jump in numbers between 2015 and 2016 may be due to sponsored work visas being given changes that made it easier for businesses to take on international juniors. We caught up with Siobhan, TLP Ambassador for the University of St Andrews, who was lucky enough to secure a summer internship with Magic Circle law firm Allen & Overy in their Abu Dhabi office! There were over 107 UK universities mentioned in our data from 2010-2018. All some of the top lawyers working for their respective law firms. Its all about the grades, we hear and, rightly, firms conceal their preferences for certain universities. Take our new Which Magic Circle Law Firm is Right For Me? In his career, he has practiced with the largest law firm (with an international affiliation) in Indonesia and one of the magic circle law firms in Singapore, with a stint at the firm's headquarter . Get on a law firm work experience programme. Fladgate, Bristows, Simkins, Regional defines a firm that, you guessed it, has offices inregions that arent London, and a head office thats also somewhere not-London. At these firms, we spoke to graduates of58 universities. With the exception of Slaughter and May, which closed its New York base in 2004 and eschews international offices beyond its Brussels, Beijing and Hong Kong locations, all four remaining Magic Circle firms are rapidly emerging as major competitors in the US, each boasting an increasing number of elite, Chambers-ranked attorneys across a diverse range of practice areas. The firm has taken on a number of student-related initiatives including Spark, a five-day scheme that provides first-year students with an inside view of the firm, and which this year opened its . E.g. The Magic Circle includes Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Linklaters and Slaughter and May. This is despite Oxbridge students making up less than one per cent of each years graduating class. We wouldnt recommend making life choices based only on these figures, though. Considered the oldest international law firm in the world; Original partner Samuel Dodd was appointed solicitor to the Bank of England Freshfields have continued to be the legal advisor to the bank ever since; Appointed the first legal services provider to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. For example, graduates of Bristol, Nottingham, Kings College London and Durham account for a combined 44% of all Russell Group-educated magic and silver circle partners. What's more, non-Russell Group trainees popped up in all of our categories. We don't describe ourselves as a Magic Circle firm in any of our marketing material. Trinity College Dublin was the most commonly attended university in this entire category (putting it in the same ballpark as St Andrews, UEA and UWE). Do firms look at your university during the application process? Big Three law firms, an informal term for leading law firms in New Zealand. All the resources you need to research law firms and barristers' chambers, We interviewed over 2,500 trainees for our True Picture reviews over the past three years and recorded the university where each one of them completed their undergraduate degree. A commitment to a career in international commercial law; A commitment to and clear articulation of why you want to work at Allen & Overy; Commercial awareness of both the law and business; Genuine interest and a motivation towards a career in commercial law; The name Freshfields was introduced by James William Freshfield. Don't get lazy and assume you've made it: the name of your university is not an elixir that will impel recruiters to hand you a training contract. Oxford supplied the most trainee lawyers in 2016-18, with Cambridge in second place, followed by Bristol, Durham, Nottingham, Exeter and Warwick. Their elite status in a competitive industry comes from various factors, including their client base, their revenue per lawyer, their revenue per partner and the number of lawyers they have working for them. The research shows 76 per cent of trainee lawyers at . Can you do anything with a 2:1 in Oxford law? For example, Manchester and Nottinghams undergrad enrolments are over three times the size of St Andrews. Linklaters lawyers and graduate recruiters share their advice. If youre an aspiring solicitor, youve almost certainly heard of the Magic Circle law firms. In comparison to the overall picture of London, the top end of the market held a higher proportion of Oxbridge graduates; a similar amount from the remaining Russell Group universities; and fewer trainees from other UK institutions. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. It's the full package that recruiters are after: the more you prove you can offer that, the less your university will matter. Career change to Law contemplationwill I be too old at 33? Recruiters will overlook you in favour of those who've been on it and performed well no matter what university they've attended. The order of universities changes depending on the market and region of the UK. [1] In 1996, Stephenson Harwood was asked to leave the Club of Nine due to its stagnant performance, and the Club was disbanded in 2000. A natural target for go-getters London may be, but theres a mutual attraction going on. In comparison to the larger London firms, the gap between Cambridge and Durham closed, while the prominence of certain Russell Group members shifted: Exeter, Southampton and Leeds gained traction, while Manchester slipped again. At these firms, we spoke to graduates of 68 universities. LLM? What do they look for in Slaughter and May training contract candidates? Nearly one in four of our London interviewees had an Oxbridge degree. Most sources from overseas flocked to London's largest players and US firms operating in the capital places that especially value trainees with international backgrounds and additional language skills. We meet many law firms at far-flung universities and can see the efforts they make to get in front of a diverse student group. It seems to be a term to describe the leading City firms and there is some truth in it. [citation needed] Quiz now! [2], The Magic Circle has been termed a "journalistic device, coined by legal reporters in the wake of the break-up of its predecessor, the 'Club of Nine'". However, having a degree from a Russell Group university does not automatically land you a vacation scheme or training contract, and candidates from these universities will be considered on exactly the same basis as a non-Russell Group university candidate. Why are there so many Oxbridge trainees? Universities outside of the Russell Group came to the fore, particularly Northumbria in the North East; Lancaster in the North West; Nottingham Trent in the Midlands; UWE and Plymouth in the South West; and Kent, UEA and Reading in the South/Thames Valley. This cookie is to identify the source of a visit and store user action information about it in a cookies. With this intriguing, informal nickname comes an increasingly high reputation; described by The Guardian writer Laura Paddison, theyre the firms that promise top graduates a glittering name on their CV, A-list corporate clients and excellent training. We interview a random selection of trainees at 125 law firms. They are the five UK-based firms considered to be amongst the most prestigious in the world. [1] The Club of Nine was an informal group of law firms that comprised Allen & Overy; Clifford Chance; Freshfields (now Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer); Herbert Smith (now Herbert Smith Freehills); Linklaters; Lovells (now Hogan Lovells); Norton Rose (now Norton Rose Fulbright); Slaughter and May; and Stephenson Harwood. Magic/Silver Circle law firms often require you to have a minimum of AAB at A-level. But even these firms do not specify a particular university. This is an informal term used to describe what are generally regarded as the five leading UK-headquartered law firms, namely Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Freshfields, Linklaters and Slaughter and May. Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. But there are new discoveries, and questions you should ask, like what this tells us about the firms, what your prospects are and who your colleagues will be, and then deeper concerns arise about social mobility in the law. PGDL? For example, Leicester runs a very well-regarded law degree, and so has a strong showing. Imperial College, meanwhile, concentrates heavily on science and technology subjects and so naturally features less prominently. Meanwhile, Allen & Overy also saw the arrivals of Paul Keller and Adam Sofen in 2020, from Norton Rose Fulbright and Sullivan & Cromwell respectively, while Clifford Chance added Department of Justice antitrust chief Peter Mucchetti and Linklaters welcomed Schulte Roth investment funds partner Brad Caswell last year. London is a global legal hub only rivalled by New York. At the time, these firms were Allen & Overy; Clifford Chance; Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer; Linklaters; and Slaughter and May. Take our new Which Magic Circle Law Firm is Right For Me? Registered in England and Wales with Company Number 08037587. I assume this is because the stats didn't take into account the yearly law intake for each uni, which is quite low for LSE. The number of universities that trainees hailed from was up by 14% compared to our last report three years ago. TSR Decisions Drop In 17th April - 5th May. Copyright The Student Room 2023 all rights reserved. (Part 2), Shared bathrooms student accommodation Southampton. The term was coined in the 1990s by The Lawyer magazine and is based on the quintets close relationship with the Citys leading banks and stranglehold on the best corporate finance work. I am sharing my experience in the hopes that I can aid aspiring lawyers and support others in taking advantage of similar opportunities. Those winning a hotly contested training contract at a Magic Circle firm can expect to be richly rewarded, with all five firms increasing compensation for newly qualified lawyers to over 100,000 this summer. The firm has 570 partners and over 6,000 staff. If you've got legal ambitions, our partner, The University of Law, has the right event for you. Boost your law career for free. The cookie is set by the email marketing service MailChimp. Durham has taken a slide too. So this analysis isnt definitive, but our sample size is significant and indicative of broad recruitment trends. Lse Law magical circle I take. Follow us for breaking news and latest updates, The Trend Micro Cybersecurity Knowledge Hub, 10 services and companies to help grow your business, Slaughter and May boosts pay packet for newly qualified solicitors to 100,000 as Magic Circle pay war rages, Freshfields increases partner pay to 1.84m. Pay at the top US firms can outstrip the Magic Circle with leading firms such as Kirkland & Ellis and Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy paying first-year lawyers up to $190,000 (151,000). Travers Smith, Herbert Smith Freehills, London refers to firms that are London-based and dealing with mid-sized organisations usually doing anything other than global corporate finance sectors like IP, media, real estate, human rights, employment, personal injury, public law. I don't know where the term came from or who founded it. What sets them apart from other firms? Take our new Which Magic Circle Law Firm is Right For Me? In three years the number of Oxbridge grads taken on by City firms has dipped by 2.5%. We interviewed over 2,500 trainees for our True Picture reviews over the past three years and recorded the university where each one of them completed their undergraduate degree. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. 76.5% of trainees at the leading 130+ firms are Oxbridge and Russell Group graduates, London universities topple Oxbridge for graduate earnings in law, Non-law graduates earn 6% more than law grads, Regional firms prefer regional universities. 999tigger. Russell Group universities outside Oxbridge made up 46.7 per cent of Magic Circle trainees, 13.1 per cent came from other UK institutions and 8.8 per cent were educated overseas. It is also worth pointing out that different firms have different strengths, and thus do not all need the same type of candidate. Conducted over a period of three years, the survey data was based on 2,300 interviews with trainees at 124 law firms. Although a rather old-fashioned term, the phrase the Magic Circle has only been used since the late 1990s; before then, the prestigious law firms were called the Club of Nine, and included Lovells (now Hogan Lovells), Norton Rose (now Norton Rose Fulbright), Herbert Smith (now Herbert Smith Freehills) and Stephenson Harwood. [3], In 2014, it was reported that Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer wished to discard its Magic Circle designation in the US in favour of being part of the Global Elite. During my Year 13 work experience, I spoke to trainee solicitors at LinkLaters & Clifford Chance; both people seemed very normal, in fact they actually appeared to be fairly shy when I was talking to them. 'You should be on track for, or have obtained, a 2:1 degree minimum.' The cookie is used to calculate visitor, session, campaign data and keep track of site usage for the site's analytics report. This cookie is used to store the language preferences of a user to serve up content in that stored language the next time user visit the website. The Student Room and The Uni Guide are both part of The Student Room Group. Do I need a law degree to get into the magic circle? Guys, do you prefer to be called hot or handsome? Next: How to choose your perfect law firm >>. What universities do Magic Circle Firms recruit from. Wondering what the salary is like for a Magic Circle trainee? In nine years, law firms appetite for Oxbridge and Russell Group students has remained pretty much constant. Manchester University dominates the national firms market. The Russell Group dominates the market at 81.4%. Over the nine years, Oxford and Cambridge dominate training contract recruitment with some consistency, followed by Durham, Bristol and Nottingham. Although a rather old-fashioned term, the phrase the Magic Circle has only been used since the late 1990s; before then, the prestigious law firms were called the Club of Nine, and included Lovells (now Hogan Lovells), Norton Rose (now Norton Rose Fulbright), Herbert Smith (now. Is Clifford Chance the law firm for you? Read one of our most popular free guides - Magic Circle Law Firms: The Ultimate Guide - here! Want to impress interviewers with your commercial awareness prowess? [1] Generally, the Magic Circle firms have among the highest earnings-per-partner and earnings-per-lawyer of UK-headquartered law firms. Copyright 2023 Legal Cheek Ltd. All Rights Reserved. James is a dual-qualified practitioner in both civil law (an advocate in Indonesia) and common law legal systems (a solicitor in England & Wales). Throughout your education each of these three elements will develop the other two its what employers mean by well-rounded. This information is used to compile report and improve site. Submit. How likely is a UK property market crash and what IS happening with house prices? This feature was first published in February 2016, Read our True Picture review of 130 top law firms, The school background of trainee solicitors. Mad-Mullah. While Magic Circle firms have long been considered fixtures of the US legal market since opening their doors in New York almost half a century ago, the recent glut of hiring and lateral expansion can be seen as an acceleration of these firms' attempts to crack the US market in a much bigger and more eye-catching way. Used to track the information of the embedded YouTube videos on a website. Initially, the Magic Circle's membership was described by commentators as comprising the UK firms with strong corporate practices or international work. The ANONCHK cookie, set by Bing, is used to store a user's session ID and also verify the clicks from ads on the Bing search engine. For example, Manchester and Nottinghams undergrad enrolments are much higher than that of St Andrews. What do they look for in Linklaters training contract candidates? US law firms in London drew 24.4 per cent of their trainees from Oxbridge, with 50 per cent coming from the rest of the Russell Group, 16.5 per cent coming from other UK institutions and nine per cent coming from overseas. and "At the end of the day we see ourselves as one of the leading global law firms, not one of the leading Magic Circle firms". To help you make an informed decision, wed like to put you in touch with our partner law schools. This study will point to issues about social mobility in the law. Organisations are beginning to recognise that talent is found everywhere not just in the most prestigious universities, which struggle themselves with a bias towards the privileged. If youre wondering whether to do an LLB or a non-law degree then GDL, your answer may lie below. From Jamaica to Australia, from Brazil to Ukraine: our interviewees in this category came from all over the world. Furthermore, given some suggestions that Clifford Chance and Linklaters will follow their compatriots' lead in stateside expansion, alongside the novel options for local hiring and remote work in the post-pandemic world, it appears that this trend will only continue going forwards. Going to University: A Student's Perspective. We expect that more firms will adopt techniques like this in the years ahead as they acknowledge the need to be more diverse. Does it matter which university you go to for law? TSR Decisions Drop In 17th April - 5th May. If your university isn't ranked highly on our charts, or doesn't appear at all, don't despair: it's likely that graduates from this particular institution have had greater success bagging training contracts at smaller firms. All of the 'Magic Circle' law firms and barristers' chambers specialise primarily in corporate law. For more detailed information about the cookies we use, see our. The data below is drawn from the entirety of our research in the years 2010, 2011 and 2012. For those in their first-year of uni, now is the time to start thinking about getting . Almost half a century since crossing the Atlantic and opening in New York in 1977, leading law firm Freshfields announced the launch of its first California office in late 2020, hiring a multidisciplinary team from local firms and transferring two attorneys from Brussels and New York. What's more, such large law firms usually give their employees a narrower remit - meaning that they suit those who are certain of their preferred specialism. The London-based global firm secured a role in 2020 on drugmaker AstraZeneca's $39bn acquisition of US pharma group Alexion Pharma, one of the biggest deals of the year. InvestmentBankin. Since employability is a factor in a universitys prestige, this is a convenient relationship for both the firms and the universities, so its hard to break. Used by Microsoft as a unique identifier. Regardless of which university you're at, concentrate on trying to tick all of the boxes. Clifford Chance, headquartered in London, is one of the world's largest law firms, both by size and revenue. This domain of this cookie is owned by Vimeo. The arrival in Northern California demonstrates Freshfields' rapidly-growing strength in the USA, fuelled by a significant expansion in the number of its partners through lateral hiring. Is Linklaters the law firm for you? Those who argue that both university admissions and law firm hiring is meritocratic should take a look at our School Backgrounds of Trainees report, which showed that an undeniable bias towards privately educated graduates exists in the profession. There isn't. The name first appeared in 2005 and was thought up by The Lawyer in response to the pre-existing phrase 'magic circle', used to describe the five leading firms headquartered in the UK. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. But which universities do Magic Circle Firms really recruit from? The university superduo dominated the US and magic circle firms in particular: 24% of all US firm trainees and 31% of all magic circle trainees hailed . According to Bloomberg . The research shows 76 per cent of trainee lawyers at the UKs leading 139 law firms are Oxbridge and Russell Group graduates. During my nine weeks of legal experience, I had the opportunity to experience seven different practice areas, which helped me understand which seats I would be most interested in upon starting a training contract . The graph above implies theres a difference in average earnings between law and non-law grads, so we crunched the numbers and found this: the average NQ salary for non-law students is 72,551, 6% higher than the average NQ salary earned by law grads: 68,406. The first City law firm to establish a presence in Hong Kong; The only law firm to have been involved in almost every aspect of the UK financial crisis; Law Work Experience: Your Guide to Success, Pupillage: a Guide for Aspiring Barristers, Freshfields Graduate Recruitment: Law Training Contracts, Which Magic Circle Law Firm is Right For Me? Answer (1 of 2): It isn't a requirement per se, but the odds are stacked against you if you don't have a degree from a Russell Group university or an equivalent UK/foreign university of the same calibre. Chambers Student, the students companion to the legal profession, gives the truth about law firms and the Bar. Statistically speaking, lawyers at the top firms are most commonly from Oxbridge and other Russell Group universities. This will skew the results in favour of the larger institutions. We also found that London attracted the highest proportion of overseas graduates. Exploring trainee secondments and career moves into the Asia market. Magic Circle Interview Tips: Things to Be Aware of . If you mill about for three years, get poor grades and put no thought into your future legal career, then don't expect a flood of training contract offers. And how can you get to work for them? At some of the biggest and most prestigious firms in London seemingly the preserve of the university elite we encountered trainees with degrees from non-traditional institutions like Brunel, Keele and Hertfordshire. The impressive growth of law firms expanding their coverage across the United States. This survey doesnt account for the numbers graduating from each institution. Indeed, before its launch in the Silicon Valley, Freshfields' East Coast hires included the attention-grabbing addition of Ethan Klingsberg, a highly rated M&A partner from Cleary Gottlieb, and Willkie Farr securities litigator Mary Eaton, both of whom are ranked in the Chambers USA 2021 Guide, as well as adding employee benefits expert Lori Goodman from Latham & Watkins and hiring antitrust duo Meghan Rissmiller from Hogan Lovells and Julie Elmer from the US Department of Justice's Antitrust Division.
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