Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is a leading international law firm. Often referred to more simply as "Freshfields", it is one of the so called magic circle law firms. The firm provides business law advice throughout Europe (including the United Kingdom), the Middle East, Asia and the United States.
Freshfields is the world's fourth largest law firm by revenues according to 2006 figures. The firm employs over 2,400 lawyers in 27 offices around the world, and advises national and multinational corporations, financial institutions, and governments.
Clients include Morgan Stanley, AstraZeneca, Tesco, EMI and the Bank of England.
Freshfields hire 100 graduate trainees each year, from any degree discipline. Trainee Solicitors currently receive £39,000 p.a. for their first year and £44,000 p.a. for the second. Newly qualified solicitors receive £66,000 p.a.
Trainees also receive a range of benefits including medical insurance, permanent health insurance, free gym, group personal pension scheme and also have access to a subsidised staff restaurant.
Trainees will have professional training in a several practice areas, a personal development programme and the chance to work in any of the firm's international offices or on secondment with a client in the UK or abroad.
Freshfields consider their training programme to be very flexible, compared to other magic circle firms.
Freshfields has offices in: Amsterdam, Bahrain, Barcelona, Beijing, Berlin, Bratislava, Brussels, Cologne, Dubai, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, London, Madrid, Milan, Moscow, Munich, New York, Paris, Rome, Shanghai, Tokyo, Vienna, Washington.
The firms practice groups include: Corporate; finance; dispute resolution; antitrust, competition & trade; tax; real estate; employment, pensions & benefits; intellectual property & information technology.
For further information see - Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Training Contract and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Training Contract Interview Questions.
===The Training Booby
Contract===
Freshfields recruits about 100 people a year to start as trainee solicitors in the London office. Freshfields has a very broad practice and encourages its trainees to see as much of it as possible. The firm has a flexible three month seat rotation system; trainees are able to visit up to eight different practice areas, and high priority is given to trainees' preferences, both in terms of which seats they visit and how long will be spent there.
There are large numbers of secondments available to the firm's overseas offices and to clients, as well as to the Free Representation Unit and Liberty.
Trainee Solicitors currently receive £39,000 p.a. for their first year and £44,000 p.a. for the second. Newly qualified solicitors receive £66,000 p.a.
Freshfields operates a flexible benefits system. Options include pension, life assurance, critical illness insurance, income protection insurance, private medical insurance and dental insurance. Other benefits include an interest free loan when you start, an interest free season ticket loan, on site gym, restaurant, doctor and dentist.
Freshfields pays full fees for the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) and Legal Practice Course (LPC) and gives a maintenance grant of £6,250 for those on the GDL and £7,250 for those on the LPC. Grants are also offered towards the cost of a PC, and towards language courses or voluntary work.
Prospective trainees are required to undertake the LPC at BPP Law School in London, where they will undertake a tailored LPC and take part in the firm's "Simulated Office" programme. This programme is designed to help prepare the firm's future trainees as fully as possible for working life, giving them the opportunity to manage meetings, handle “clients” and learn how the Freshfields office works.
Now see - Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Working Culture or Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.
The assessment day at Freshfields id divided into the following:
Writing exercise
After a meet and greet, you will again be taken to a private room and given a 45-minute writing exercise. For this, you will need to argue for and against a one-line statement/proposition.
This statement will be something like "Should firms have a seven seat training contract?" and you will need to write one page arguing for this, and one page arguing against it.
Reading exercise
Immediately following the writing exercise you will be given the reading exercise. For this you will be given 25 minutes to read and assess an article from the Financial Times, or something similar (not business related). Subsequently you will have 45 minutes of questioning by two lawyers on the subject of the article. These lawyers will test you with difficult questions that may force you to take time to think, before giving your responses. At the end of this section you will have time to ask questions to these lawyers, about anything you wish.
Interview
Finally, you will meet two different lawyers (who may be a partner and associate, two associates, or a similar combination) for an hour long talk. Questions will ask you to explain why you have chosen law as a career, why you have chosen Freshfields as a firm and your CV, education and academic qualifications. There will almost certainly not be any commercial awareness or current events type questions. Competency based questions are also unlikely.
Your day will finish, with a tour of the office and an opportunity to ask further questions should you wish.
Go back to Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.
Easter and summer vacation schemes are offered for students in their penultimate year at university. Applications will be accepted between 17 November 2008 and 16 January 2009.
It is recommended that you apply as early as possible after 17 November as there may not be places left by the application deadline.
Applications should be made on the firm's online application form which can be found here.
Now see - Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.
The application process for vacation placements at Freshfields is:
Your vacation placement interview day will be as follows:
After this, you will be moved to another room where you will have 30 mins to read an old Financial Times article about a foreign industry that you aren't likely to have any prior knowledge about.
Tip: Remember - you are not expected to have any in-depth knowledge of the law. Don't get bogged down in specifics but instead, think about the wider issues raised in the article.Next, you will meet one partner and one associate for an interview and to discuss the reading exercise. First, you will be asked to briefly describe the article you read. You will then discuss the article with your two interviewers for approximately 45 minutes. The interview will then switch to your application and CV for a further 15 minutes. The questions asked here will be more straight-forward. Finally, you will be given a chance to ask questions. The interview is reasonably casual and both interviewers should be quite friendly, although their questions may be challenging and should certainly test your intelligence.
At the end of this interview the trainee you originally met with, or another trainee will give you a guided tour of the Freshfields office. Once more, you will be able to ask any question you may want to ask.Easter and summer vacation schemes are offered for students in their penultimate year at university. Applications will be accepted between 17 November 2008 and 16 January 2009.
Applications should be made on the firm's online application form.
The 2009 scheme dates are:Interns spend three weeks at the firm during which they sit in one of the London office's eight departments (corporate; finance; dispute resolution; real estate; tax; IP/IT; employment, pensions & benefits; and antitrust, competition & trade).
The salary for the three week scheme is £825 (net).
For more information see:Similarly to other magic circle firms, Freshfields has a reputation for long working hours.
In 2006 Freshfields was the first major international law firm to produce an externally audited corporate social responsibility report. The firm has won a number of awards including CSR Firm of the Year 2007 at the Legal Business Awards and the Law Society of England and Wales’ Excellence in Social Responsibility Award 2007.
The firm is Certified CarbonNeutral® across all its offices. The firm has a CSR website which covers People and Diversity; Climate Change and the Environment; and Community and Pro Bono Legal Advice.
Freshfields runs a number of programmes designed to attract applicants from non-traditional backgrounds, including Target Chances, Pure Potential and the Sutton Trust's Pathways to Law initiative. Since 2001, graduates from over 60 universities worldwide have started training contracts in the firm's London office. The firm welcomes applications from talented non-law graduates and those changing career.