Leading national law firm Clarke Willmott LLP has completed its largest summer work experience programme to date, providing 22 placements to emerging legal talent.

The Clarke Willmott Summer Vacation Scheme took place across five of its regional offices – Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester, Southampton and Taunton - and saw a focus on inclusivity and accessibility with a blind shortlisting process.

The scheme provides paid legal work experience to individuals interested in a career in law and participants have the opportunity to work in one or more teams across five days. A total of 26 teams took part in the scheme meaning students had access to a wide range of specialist practice areas including family law, property litigation and private client.

All students were offered the opportunity to engage in a new informal mentoring programme to build on professional relationships and assist in developing strengths and skills for the future

The scheme has made huge steps forward since returning in 2023 after a pause. Historically vacation schemes only took place in Taunton, last year this was extended to include Birmingham and in 2024 five out of seven regional offices offered placements.

Daniel Jones, Clarke Willmott’s director of human resources, said: “We are so pleased with the success of the 2024 Summer Vacation Scheme which saw a 308% increase in applications and over 65 interviews held across our offices.

“The students have given hugely positive feedback on the opportunity to access to real work as well as meaningful networking events and development sessions throughout the week. We worked on both personal and professional skills and ended the week with a mock assessment centre.

“It was very important for us to create an equal opportunity for all so we used a blind shortlisting process and inclusive recruitment practices. In 2023 we made one of our core objectives to create an inclusive and supportive hiring process and we have built on that in 2024, as part of our ED&I commitments.

“I’d like to say a huge thank you to the offices and the lawyers who took part in the scheme, making the students feel comfortable and welcome and imparting invaluable knowledge into what a real career in law looks like.

“Throughout the summer we were introduced to some incredibly talented young people who we will be keeping in touch with as they move through their qualifications.”

Participating students reported that they could see themselves working in the law with 100% agreeing they were made to feel welcome and 83.3% agreeing their objectives had been met. Comments included:

“This hands-on experience has significantly deepened my knowledge and practical skills, providing a solid foundation to make a significant step forward in my future career.”

And:

“This scheme was very beneficial in exposing me to the operations of a law firm and allowing me to see how a law firm truly operates in practice. I am very grateful for the opportunities provided by the firm, immersing me in real client work that is completed on a daily basis.”

Clarke Willmott is a national law firm with offices in Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, London, Manchester, Southampton and Taunton and is this year celebrating its 135th anniversary.

For more information about the firm’s equality, diversity and inclusivity initiatives visit Diversity, equality and inclusivity (clarkewillmott.com)