Weil runs two in-person vacation schemes – one in spring and one in summer. Both schemes are two weeks long and participants get paid £750 per week. The vacation scheme is a great way to get a taste for what life as a trainee at Weil would be like. Following the vacation scheme, you’ll be considered for a training contract at the firm.

We recruit the vast majority of our trainees from our vacation schemes. It’s an invaluable experience for candidates to gain exposure to the firms work and culture for two weeks. It’s also a two-way process – we get the opportunity to assess the participants but they also have the chance to get a feel for the firm and see whether Weil is a place they’d like to pursue their career. The most important part of a vacation scheme is your attitude – we’re looking for people that are proactive and enthusiastic, and demonstrate potential. With our small trainee intake and lean deal teams, trainees are an integral part of the firm and during the vacation scheme, you’ll get first-hand exposure to trainee-level tasks.

Candidates can expect to get involved in real-life trainee tasks. They’re allocated work by their supervisor relating to matters that they’re working on, which may include reviewing documents and contracts or getting involved in client calls. Therefore, your contribution is important and we want you to demonstrate that you can step up to the challenge. We want participants to be proactive and show they’re a team player, while also demonstrating their desire for the opportunity to be a trainee at Weil. At Weil you get a lot of responsibility as a trainee. 

Vacation scheme participants also take part in a number of assessments, which include a group client pitch presentation and a group negotiation exercise, which allows them to collaborate with other participants.

Hard-working, determined and the ability to work under pressure. We’re looking for bright candidates who can use their initiative, thrive in a challenge and are driven. Successful candidates will need to be business-minded with plenty of entrepreneurial flair and commercial acumen, as well as the ability to work effectively in a team.

We understand it can be time consuming writing and submitting applications to a range of law firms, but taking the time to really tailor your application can make a huge difference. Submitting a very generic application that tells us nothing about you, or why you’re applying to Weil, can really let an application down.

Before you start writing your application, have a think about two to three key things that attracted you to Weil and inspired you to want to work here. Tell us what you’ve learnt about us, but most importantly tell us why it’s important to you. People fall into the trap of telling us what we already know about ourselves, but telling us what, and how, certain things have resonated with you will really elevate your application from good to great, and make it stand out from the rest.

While we don’t have a strict policy around using AI in your applications, we’d remind applicants that we appreciate authenticity in an application, and you’ll struggle to get that across if you’re relying heavily on AI to write your submission. We want your application to reflect you – your motivations, experiences and for your personality to come through. If you submit a stellar application that was generated using AI, but don’t have the commercial acumen or knowledge to back up what you’ve written about, this will quickly become evident during the next stages of assessment, so we’d advise avoiding it.

Commercial law brings together the two worlds of law and business. Therefore, having a strong interest in commercial affairs is important. As a lawyer, you’re expected to give legal advice in the context of your client’s business while taking into account other socioeconomic factors. Therefore, we’re looking for candidates that can demonstrate that they have a high-level understanding of how businesses operate, as well as the social, economic, and political factors that affect law firms and their clients.

I’d encourage candidates to put a couple of hours aside each week to read up on commercial issues. Furthermore, looking into companies and deals will help to broaden your knowledge. Having a genuine interest in the topics you’re researching will make your application and interview answers more informed and compelling.

This season we’ll be fully back out on campus and we’re really looking forward to properly engaging with students face to face again! Our trainees and early careers team will be attending a number of law fairs, and we’ll also be hosting a number of dinners with our partners and associates in attendance.

We’re looking to engage with interested students on campus – come to us with your questions about Weil and challenge us on why you should be applying to our programmes. Use every opportunity you have to talk to us to learn about our culture, our work, life as a trainee and assess whether we’re the firm you want to pursue.

We understand that for many students, meeting a firm at law fair is likely to be your first interaction with them, and based on what year of study you are, your approach will be different. This is absolutely fine, remember that we’re there to answer your questions and we want you to leave our stand feeling like you have a real sense of who we are, and that we’ve ignited a spark for you to want to learn more about us.

If you’re a first-year student, we aren’t expecting you to know anything about us – you may just want to use the opportunity to ask us what makes a US firm different or what a vacation scheme is. If you’re in your second or third year you may be starting to narrow down the firms you want to apply to for vacation schemes, and therefore we’d expect your questions to be more specific to Weil. Either way, we see this as your opportunity to learn, so we’re not expecting you to fully research us prior to meeting us.

Generally, I love seeing new trainees join the firm and go from stage to stage in their careers. It’s so rewarding to see trainees join that you remember meeting at a law fair or an open day, and who you’ve supported through a vacation scheme and their Legal Practice Course/Solicitors Qualifying Exam. To know you’ve played an integral role in supporting someone through the first few years of their career and to see them qualify as a solicitor, in such a competitive industry, gives me genuine fulfilment. 

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