So this analysis isnt definitive, but our sample size is significant and indicative of broad recruitment trends. What universities have lawyers at the top firms attended? The Student Room and The Uni Guide are trading names of The Student Room Group Ltd. Register Number: 04666380 (England and Wales), VAT No. Linklaters. 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? 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. To put it in the same category as Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Linklaters would be inaccurate, and to say it is in a class of its own is frankly showing the firm too much deference. This cookie, set by Cloudflare, is used to support Cloudflare Bot Management. [4][5] In 2017 The Lawyer magazine stated that it no longer considers Slaughter and May to form part of the Magic Circle due to its lower revenues and UK domestic focus. Hi all, After doing some research on the percentage of students from different universities at. Why are there so many Oxbridge trainees? But read on and the analysis by recruiter Laurence Simons of 1,147 senior lawyers LinkedIn profiles reveals that some Russell Group universities produce massively more leading City firm partners than others. At national firms those with various offices throughout the UK a clear winner emerged: Manchester took centre stage, leaving Durham some way behind. But otherwise, the best advice we can give is to study a subject you care about career success is about passion, not playing a numbers game. 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. 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. Can you do anything with a 2:1 in Oxford law? This feature was first published in February 2016, Read our True Picture review of 130 top law firms, The school background of trainee solicitors. Take our new Which Magic Circle Law Firm is Right For Me? At these firms, we spoke to graduates of58 universities. The data below is drawn from the entirety of our research in the years 2010, 2011 and 2012. The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". What do they look for in Linklaters training contract candidates? Boost your law career for free. Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. 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. Is it even worth me applying to magic circle law firms, Scared about job prospects at Leicester uni. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. 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. 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. This is no surprise given the dominance of the duo in academia. And the mix was refreshingly eclectic: one of our interviewees had originally trained as a vet at the Royal Veterinary College; another was a musician who'd earned a degree at Trinity College of Music; and a couple had explored their artistic interests at the Courtauld Institute. Out of these, Oxford and Cambridge came out on top, together accounting for almost a fifth of trainees surveyed. End of the road: Why More Than will no longer sell car insurance as insurer RSA quits market, Could fixing workplace stress save the UK 28bn a year? Manchester University dominates the national firms market. Can you do anything with a 2:1 in Oxford law? The range of universities feeding the market grew by 14% in three years. Since employability is a factor in a universitys status and funding, this is a convenient relationship for both the firms and the universities, so its hard to break.. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. "[1], In 2013, The Lawyer argued that Clifford Chance and Slaughter and May should no longer form part of the Magic Circle. In three years the number of Oxbridge grads taken on by City firms has dipped by 2.5%. Registered in England and Wales with Company Number 08037587. The term has also been used to describe the most prestigious barristers' chambers in London. That said, some US firms are more comfortably positioned here, so they hire less aggressively and are less closed off to students outside of the Russell Group: our trainee interviewees in this category had attended universities such as Kingston, Leeds Beckett*, Aberystwyth and Bangor. Everyone on TSR seems to go to Oxbridge, except a couple went to Oxford Brookes and Kings College. Also worth mentioning are Southampton, Edinburgh and Cardiff, which appear almost every year too. Do I need a law degree to get into the magic circle? As firms recruit on a case to case basis, and are keen to make entering law as accessible as possible, the university you attend does not impact your application as long as you meet the rest of the criteria for that firm. Moreover, all four Magic Circle firms with US-based operations continue to increase their presence in the 2021 Guide, notably, in areas beyond their traditional areas of expertise in cross-Atlantic transactional and regulatory mandates. Out of all the Oxford and Cambridge graduates we interviewed, over 80% bagged a contract at a City firm. The short answer is no. Remember everyone, we depend on your tips to stay on top of important bonus updates, so when . Career change to Law contemplationwill I be too old at 33? However, entry into the Magic Circle is . Oxford, Cambridge and definitely Durham dont have big legal markets. 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. 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 set by doubleclick.net. These firms are some of the most prestigious in the . The Student Room and The Uni Guide are both part of The Student Room Group. The cookie is set by embedded Microsoft scripts. Here's why", "The silver circle - Chambers Student Guide", "Ashurst, Herbies ride out tough year; BLP, Macfarlanes, SJ Berwin succumb", "Can the magic circle ward off the challenge of the US firms? Both Notts grads and Bristolians showed a pretty even split between city and non-city firms, but Durham grads showed an almost 75% preference for working in the city. And by the way, just 1.8% of the UKs student population of 2,266,075 study at the universities of Oxford or Cambridge. 10. 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. 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". Although Russell Group candidates currently dominate the universities which lawyers at Magic Circle firms recruit from, you do not need to attend one of these universities to secure a position at a Magic Circle Firm. We also found that London attracted the highest proportion of overseas graduates. We wouldnt recommend making life choices based only on these figures, though. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Is Allen & Overy the law firm for you? [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. Used to track the information of the embedded YouTube videos on a website. [3], In 2004, Slaughter and May's then senior partner, Tim Clark, said: "It's a funny concept. GCSE AQA LIT. We know that anyone can become a lawyer, regardless of where they completed their undergraduate degree. Masaryk University; is it worth going as an international student? The biggest percentage jump was claimed by the non-Russell bunch: together they now accounted for almost a quarter of the trainees. Privacy Policy of each partner law school I have selected above. TSR Decisions Drop In 17th April - 5th May. The cookies store information anonymously and assign a randomly generated number to identify unique visitors. So we cant conclude that the law firms have hired from a more diverse range of universities: whatever progress has happened beyond the Russell Group, its not significant. It does not correspond to any user ID in the web application and does not store any personally identifiable information. We then combined this with our data all the way back to 2010, when most of the current. Going to University: A Student's Perspective. The figures were compiled by the Chambers Student Guide from interviews with 2,500 trainee lawyers over the last three years. LPC? If theres a regional firm youre interested in, its still worth applying, highlighting what you would bring to the role. Kings - English law and French law degree, Law Applicants 2023 entry - discussion thread, HKU-UCL, KCL-CUHK, Exeter-CUHK Law interviews, Cambridge Sixth Form Law Conference 2023 (CSFLC). Visit the guide page below for more information. The West Coast office launches, which mark the first venture into California by a member of the Magic Circle since Clifford Chance shuttered its 5-year old offices in 2007, reversed a recent trend in the London market, where expansive US-headquartered firms would frequently staff their own offices from among the partner ranks of elite UK firms. Below are the 30 universities that were most frequently cited. As a result, there are certain universities that you won't find mentioned here (such as Wolverhampton, Glamorgan, Birmingham City etc..) Their absence doesn't mean that these universities failed to produce any trainees in three years just that we didn't encounter any in our interviews. [20], The following barristers' chambers in the United Kingdom are occasionally, by analogy, described by commentators as the Bar's Magic Circle:[21][2], In August 2018, research from The Lawyer, however, showed that South Square Chambers received more instructions from the Magic Circle law firms than any other chambers. This page was last edited on 19 January 2023, at 22:04. One of my distant relatives is a director at one of the Magic Circle Law Firms, however I am yet to contact them regarding it. 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. 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. GCSE AQA LIT. Want to impress interviewers with your commercial awareness prowess? This year also saw Allen & Overy overtake Clifford Chance in the number of rankings the firm itself holds, aided in part through the expansion of the USA Guide's Capital Markets and Projects rankings in the 2021 edition of the USA Guide. Kings - English law and French law degree, Law Applicants 2023 entry - discussion thread, HKU-UCL, KCL-CUHK, Exeter-CUHK Law interviews, Cambridge Sixth Form Law Conference 2023 (CSFLC). Big Three law firms, an informal term for leading law firms in New Zealand. The Global Elite law firms comprise Allen & Overy; Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton; Clifford Chance; Davis Polk & Wardwell; Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer; Herbert Smith Freehills; Kirkland & Ellis; White & Case; Latham & Watkins; Linklaters; Simpson Thacher & Bartlett; Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom; Sidley Austin; and Weil, Gotshal & Manges. Although Russell Group candidates currently dominate the universities which lawyers at Magic Circle firms recruit from, you do not need to attend one of these universities to secure a position at a Magic Circle Firm. Statistically speaking, lawyers at the top firms are most commonly from Oxbridge and other Russell Group universities. For more detailed information about the cookies we use, see our. That seems big and it is but its down 5% from our previous survey of the years 2013-2015, although over nine years weve witnessed a 3% drop in the Russell Groups dominance. For example, Manchester and Nottinghams undergrad enrolments are over three times the size of St Andrews. Oxford supplied the most trainee lawyers in 2016-18, with Cambridge in second place, followed by Bristol, Durham, Nottingham, Exeter and Warwick. In the world of Commercial Law, you will often hear talk of 'Magic Circle' firms. Learn more about this study here. At most firms youll meet a balance of law and non-law grads. 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! What universities do Magic Circle Firms recruit from. The cookie is used to store and identify a users' unique session ID for the purpose of managing user session on the website. City heavies Clifford Chance and Macfarlanes set the ball rolling with 'CV blind' interviews; a recruitment method which (you guessed it) leaves interviewers in the dark about candidates' educational backgrounds. London is a global legal hub only rivalled by New York. But who are the Magic Circle law firms? Magic Circle Interview Tips: Things to Be Aware of . Select the law schools youd like to hear from. In the past three years we've asked 2,300 trainees at 124 firms which university they went to. At these firms, we spoke to graduates of46 different universities. Guys, do you prefer to be called hot or handsome? What happens if i dont get my A-level predicted grades for Rice University? 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 in Europe. Read more: Freshfields increases partner pay to 1.84m. There are grads from Oxbridge, Durham, Nottingham, Brum, Cardiff, Bristol, Leeds, UCL, LSE, Kings, Sheffield, York, Newcastle, Exeter and tons more from different universities within the UK working at top law firms. [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'". It really isn't about uni, firms want to distance themselves from the oxbridge stereotype and simply want the best candidates regardless of who is awarding your degree PGDL? As an aspiring solicitor, its likely that youll need to study a course with a leading law school in the not-too-distant future. This survey doesnt account for the numbers graduating from each institution. E.g. 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. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. Arguably for this reason, it was not included in the initial Magic Circle. InvestmentBankin. But this ranking doesn't reveal the full story. Contrary to what the term Silver Circle may suggest, there is no Golden Circle. As readers will of course know, the magic circle comprises Linklaters, Slaughter and May, Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance and Freshfields. Get on a law firm work experience programme. Less established US firms concentrate their recruitment efforts on the 'top' universities in order to increase their prestige and position in the London market. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Following a . A firm that has a high regional strength, for example, may be more inclined to hire a graduate from a local university and most of the applicants to that firm may, inevitably, be from the local area and may have attended a local university. If your university doesnt rank highly in our report, should you be concerned? For those in their first-year of uni, now is the time to start thinking about getting . Quiz now! . E.g. 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. All of the 'Magic Circle' law firms and barristers' Law firms' preferred universities - Chambers Student Guide Web 2016 report: what universities do law firms recruit most from? The Student Room and The Uni Guide are trading names of The Student Room Group Ltd. Register Number: 04666380 (England and Wales), VAT No. 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). Find more on our methodology, plus a few disclaimers at the bottom of this page. We don't describe ourselves as a Magic Circle firm in any of our marketing material. City firms are either more selective, or targeted more heavily by Russell Group students. The grades you have achieved and your overall academic standard is more important than the university you attend. Magic circle if you havent heard this term before, welcome to the UK legal market, heres a primer. The Chambers USA 2021 guide will be released in May 2021. We expect that more firms will adopt techniques like this in the years ahead as they acknowledge the need to be more diverse. It sets a unique ID to embed videos to the website. Participating firms represent the more competitive half of the market: combined their trainee vacancies amount to over 2,500, which is over half all trainee positions going each year. Oxford and Cambridge toppled from the top spots and slipped down to 15thand 18thpositions respectively, accounting for less than 5% of the population. Almost a third of lawyers at the UKs elite Magic Circle law firms attended Oxford or Cambridge universities, new data published today shows. This survey gives the real story on entry requirements. YouTube sets this cookie to store the video preferences of the user using embedded YouTube video. London is a global legal hub only rivalled by New York. Since employability is a factor in a universitys status and funding, this is a convenient relationship for both the firms and the universities, so its hard to break. Other notable Russell Group unis which perform disappointingly include York (2%), Warwick (3%) and LSE (4%). The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Advertisement". And our big discovery is that very little has changed in a decade. See more. 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. Read more: Slaughter and May boosts pay packet for newly qualified solicitors to 100,000 as Magic Circle pay war rages. If you have a look at the Law section there are several official lists based on reputation, partnership prospects, relationship success and salary expectations compiled by experts with their fingers on the pulse of the MC. According to Bloomberg . If you're currently studying at a non-Russell Group university, do not be discouraged by this report. Between 2013 and 2015 we interviewed over 2,300 trainees for our True Picture reviews. King's College London A102 GEM 2023 Entry. Mad-Mullah. This cookie is installed by Google Analytics. Over three years, we have interviewed roughly 20% of all trainees in England and Wales. Take our new Which Magic Circle Law Firm is Right For Me? ORW. NQuids inThe university you attend does determine your employability and earning power, but prestige isnt everything, as a glance at this table below will show. 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.