K&L Gates is one of the largest law firms in the world with more than 40 offices located in key capital cities and world commercial and financial centres across five continents. At K&L Gates, we foster an inclusive and collaborative environment across our fully integrated global platform that enables us to diligently combine the knowledge and expertise of our lawyers and policy professionals to create teams that provide exceptional client solutions. We marry process with vision, success with dedication, and method with passion.

K&L Gates overseas offices is located in Austin, Beijing, Berlin, Boston, Brisbane, Brussels,  Charleston, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Doha, Dubai, Dublin, Fort Worth, Frankfurt, Harrisburg, Hong Kong, Houston, Kansas City, London, Los Angeles, Luxembourg, Melbourne, Miami, Milan, Munich, Nashville, Newark, New York, Orange County, Palo Alto, Paris, Perth, Pittsburgh, Portland, Raleigh, Research Triangle Park, San Francisco, São Paulo, Seattle, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney, Taipei, Tokyo, Washington DC, Wilmington.

To find out what it is like to work at K&L Gates LLP read the firm's Meet the Lawyer profile.

The firm’s formal summer legal work placement scheme is open to law and non-law students and other relevant postgraduates. Your two weeks with us in June/July will provide you with broad exposure to opportunities in diverse areas. We aim to give you a seat in at least two departments, and wherever possible we will allocate you to a seat of your choice.

The firm ensures each trainee is given exceptional opportunities to learn, experience and develop so that they can achieve their maximum potential. K&L Gates is active in the areas of corporate/M&A, capital markets, private equity, restructuring and insolvency, banking and asset finance, structured finance, debt capital markets, Islamic finance, funds, financial services regulation, antitrust, competition and trade regulation, public policy, real estate, planning and environment, intellectual property, technology transactions, construction, energy, infrastructure and resources, insurance coverage, regulatory, tax, employment, litigation, international arbitration, investigations, enforcement and white collar crime plus other forms of dispute resolution.

Trainees spend six month seats in four of the areas mentioned above. Each trainee sits with a supervisor and is allocated an individual mentor to ensure all round supervision and training. The firm has a thorough induction scheme and career development programme. High importance is placed on the acquisition of business and professional skills, with considerable emphasis on client contact and early responsibility. The training programme consists of weekly legal education seminars, workshops and a full programme of skills electives. Pro bono and corporate social responsibility activities are also encouraged.

Trainees will take the SQE route before joining us. 

Our commitment to diversity goes far beyond rhetoric and initiatives. We strongly believe we build better teams, forge better client relationships and provide better customer service because of our diverse team of professionals.

We seek and welcome the talents of those from different age groups, genders, identities, races or cultural backgrounds. These are the threads that make up the fabric of our firm. Since 2010, K&L Gates has consistently been named a ‘Best Place to Work for LGBT Equality’ and a ‘Top Law Firm for Equality’ by the Human Rights Campaign after earning a perfect 100 score on their Corporate Equality Index survey, and we were honoured as a top achiever in advancing diversity within the legal profession by Microsoft’s Law Firm Diversity Program.

One of K&L Gates’ core values as a law firm is to create and sustain a diverse workforce and an inclusive culture that encourages satisfaction, productivity and open communication. By way of example we have a diversity and inclusion committee in London, who meet every month to plan events, and share and communicate ideas and office initiatives. Everyone in the committee, from junior employees to partners, has a voice at the table. We also have a global women in the profession committee that shares ideas and initiatives to support females in the workplace.

Most recently, the global women in the profession committee, along with our BD teams across the K&L Gates offices, has hosted internal and external International Women’s Day (IWD) events across the globe. This year, K&L Gates events focused on the IWD 2020 theme of #EachforEqual and the premise that every individual can help to create a gender-equal world. As part of the ‘Each for Equal’ theme, K&L Gates is encouraging employees, clients and friends of the firm to make pledges to encourage, support and embrace diversity and inclusion, recognising that small changes can make a big difference in the workplace.

SQE fees paid and grants offered.

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• White-collar crime
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• Corporate & Commercial
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• London

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