More top firms use Vantage to connect with future lawyers

Two more leading law firms have announced partnerships with Vantage, the online portal that matches diverse candidates with opportunities at top legal employers.

Commercial firms Lewis Silkin and Burges Salmon are the latest to sign up, joining the roster of stellar legal employers already using Vantage:

• Ashurst;
• Baker McKenzie;
• Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner;
• Clifford Chance;
• Clyde & Co;
• Dechert;
• Eversheds Sutherland;
• Herbert Smith Freehills;
• Hogan Lovells;
• Linklaters;
• Macfarlanes;
• Pinsent Masons;
• Slaughter and May;
• Travers Smith; and
• Weil Gotshal & Manges.

Vantage is a contextual recruitment tool created by diversity-specialist Rare. Candidates input their personal information, which Vantage then uses to place their academic performance into the context of a range of diversity and social mobility metrics. This enables candidates from socially mobile and less-privileged backgrounds to stand out to employers, with law firms using various search criteria to pinpoint candidates and candidate groups.

A second-year student at the University of Manchester described their experience using the portal: “Before Vantage, I didn’t really have any hope of being accepted into a magic circle firm, let alone thinking about applying to one. However, after I signed up, firms that I would never have thought to apply to contacted me; such as BCLP, Clifford Chance, Clyde & Co, Eversheds Sutherland and Travers Smith. They offered me a chance to receive insight into their firms well ahead of the curve. Clifford Chance prompted me to apply for their open days and to attend their virtual events on how to submit a successful application and commercial awareness. By attending these events, I feel much more confident in applying for vacation schemes.”

Students can sign up to Vantage here.