YOUR INTRODUCTION INTO LAW

At Clyde & Co, we strongly believe the legal sector should be accessible to all and should have as few barriers as possible. That’s why we’re delighted to announce that this year, we’ll once again be running our Bright Futures programme – but this time, we will have two separate streams:

Bright Futures – Access
For students from socially mobile backgrounds

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Bright Futures – Black Talent

‎For students from black heritage backgrounds

These week-long programmes aim to develop soft skills and prepare students for the world of work. Read below to find out more about the structure of the two streams. You can also secure an offer on our vacation scheme the following year.

APPLY HERE >>

What to Expect

During your time on the Bright Futures programme, you can expect multiple opportunities to help develop your commercial mindset and ensure you’re ready to become a solicitor at a leading law firm. Some of these fantastic learning opportunities include:

Gain an insight into our core industry sectors, including Marine, Aviation and Climate Change. This will be conducted via trainee panels and partner presentations during the programme.
Learn about how we help our clients achieve their commercial goals.
The opportunity to network with partners, associates, trainees, and the wider Early Careers team.

Come the end of the Bright Futures programme, you may be fast-tracked to one of our Vacation Schemes. This entirely depends on how you perform during the Assessment Centre on your final day. A boot camp session will take place on the penultimate day of the programme, which is designed to help set you up for success and ensure you ace the assessment centre.
A salary of £450 for the week, as well as travel and accommodation expenses covered for those who require additional support.

Programme structure

Our Bright Futures programmes will follow the same overall structure set out below, but the initial virtual sessions will have a different focus.

Here’s a summary of what you can expect to encounter during your time on our Bright Futures programmes:

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Day one: Virtual

An opportunity to learn about the firm from a partner, gain tips from previous Bright Futures alumni and participate in development sessions to prepare you for the in-office days. The Access programme and Black Talent programme will also have some separate sessions.

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Day two: Office

You will experience the culture you can expect to become part of as a first-year trainee via networking sessions and talks from our D&I team. There will also be a group project and a social event to welcome students and get to know each other.

Day three: Office

An opportunity for you to dive deep into your strengths with a Learning and Development professional and understand how to maximise these.

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Day four: Office

For the first half of the day, you will get the chance to see the lawyers in action! You will be paired with a trainee buddy that you will shadow so you can see actual trainee tasks and get to meet their wider team to learn about that practice group.

In the afternoon, you will receive detailed preparation sessions from the Early Careers team to inform you of the assessments you will experience the following day.

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Day five: Virtual

The Assessment Centre. This will consist of various tasks such as group exercises, one-to-one interviews and a role-play exercise. By the end of day four, you’ll be prepared and best equipped to ace the assessment centre, so please don’t worry about this stage too much. We want to set you up for success with the aim that you secure an offer for our Vacation Scheme the following year.

Eligibility

Our Bright Futures programmes aim for first-year law and penultimate-year non-law students. Please note: law students on a four-year course should apply in their second year.

Bright Futures - Access

Candidates must meet at least one of the following criteria:

· You should have been eligible for free school meals between the ages of 11-16.

· Have grown up in a household where no parent/guardian had attended university.

· Have another form of social disadvantage.

Bright Futures – Black Talent

Candidates must be of black heritage background (this includes mixed black heritage).

If you are eligible for Access and Black Talent, please apply for our Black Talent programme. We can only consider ONE application.

You do NOT need to have previous law experience, but you should be on track for a 2:1 degree, be commercially minded and able to tell us why you think you’d be a good fit for Clyde & Co.

Please note we will be using RARE – a contextual recruitment system built with fairness and equality front of mind. We also take into account any mitigating circumstances.

Next steps and key dates

You’ll need to complete an online application by 4 January 2024

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You’ll be invited to complete our Digital Simulation - consisting of situational assessments, including video interview questions and written responses.

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Following eligibility screening, depending on your Digital Simulation performance, you may be invited to attend a Strengths-Based Microsoft Teams Interview.

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Finally, we will make offers to those who were successful at the interview stage and will provide feedback to all candidates who attended an interview.

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The programme will officially begin on Monday, 8 April and end on Friday, 12 April 2024.

You must be able to attend for the entire five days to be accepted onto the programme.

Following the Bright Futures programme, for those who successfully gain a place on our 2025 Vacation Scheme, we will also set you up with a mentor and run further development sessions in preparation for you joining us on the Vacation Scheme.

"The Bright Futures programme is an insight into inspiration and motivation. It opened my eyes to a wonderful world of talented, kind and intellectual lawyers, all of whom showed me the endless possibilities of my own potential. What began as a mysterious and daunting step into an opaque legal world; ended with a smile made of wonderful memories, new friendships and a newfound ambition built on inspiration."

Charlotte Gill

Trainee Solicitor