(Part 2), Shared bathrooms student accommodation Southampton. All some of the top lawyers working for their respective law firms. [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. As an aspiring solicitor, its likely that youll need to study a course with a leading law school in the not-too-distant future. Incidentally, Oxford (24%) did better than Cambridge (20%). Travers Smith, Herbert Smith Freehills, London refers to firms that are London-based and dealing with mid-sized organisations usually doing anything other than global corporate finance sectors like IP, media, real estate, human rights, employment, personal injury, public law. Also, at the time the term was coined, the corporate practice at Herbert Smith (as it was known pre-merger) was focused on privatisation work, which had dried up. 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 cookies store information anonymously and assign a randomly generated number to identify unique visitors. E.g. The Russell Group dominates the market at 81.4%. Find out about the prestigious firms that make up this elite group below The term 'silver circle' implies there should be a golden shape before it. We interview the trainees to get the truth about life at the major employers. E.g. The purpose of the cookie is to determine if the user's browser supports cookies. Oxfords graduates earned an average 71,120, Kings College London graduates 74,512, University College London graduates 72,814 and Cambridge graduates 72,457. We use cookies to provide you with a better online experience, to tailor advertising based on your browsing, and for statistics and measurements purposes. We wouldnt recommend making life choices based only on these figures, though. Magic/Silver Circle law firms often require you to have a minimum of AAB at A-level. There isn't. The name first appeared in 2005 and was thought up by The Lawyer in response to the pre-existing phrase 'magic circle', used to describe the five leading firms headquartered in the UK. With law firms starting to become more open minded about university background, we're hoping that the next time we crunch our numbers well see a greater number of universities represented. Almost a third of lawyers at the UKs elite Magic Circle law firms attended Oxford or Cambridge universities, new data published today shows. Get on a law firm work experience programme. 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). Will taking Further Maths as a third subject be a disadvantage to apply for uni? go to the ultimate magic circle guide now. Our interviewees came from a total of 88 universities over the past three years. Who has been hit hardest by 21bn of pandemic fraud, and will the taxpayer EVER get it back? Is Clifford Chance the law firm for you? Durham is the best out of your choices, but all will be fine, all are Russell Group and are visited by the magic circle firms. 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? 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. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. It was argued that by 2023 global law firms will rather be split between the Global Elite law firms, International Business law firms and Super Boutique law firms. Oxford supplied the most trainee lawyers in 2016-18, with Cambridge in second place, followed by Bristol, Durham, Nottingham, Exeter and Warwick. While Magic Circle firms have long been considered fixtures of the US legal market since opening their doors in New York almost half a century ago, the recent glut of hiring and lateral expansion can be seen as an acceleration of these firms' attempts to crack the US market in a much bigger and more eye-catching way. Manchester University dominates the national firms market. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". What happens if i dont get my A-level predicted grades for Rice University? Used to track the information of the embedded YouTube videos on a website. Answer (1 of 2): It isn't a requirement per se, but the odds are stacked against you if you don't have a degree from a Russell Group university or an equivalent UK/foreign university of the same calibre. Will taking Further Maths as a third subject be a disadvantage to apply for uni? I don't know where the term came from or who founded it. We meet many law firms at far-flung universities and can see the efforts they make to get in front of a diverse student group. Exploring trainee secondments and career moves into the Asia market. They are the five UK-based firms considered to be amongst the most prestigious in the world. 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. But even these firms do not specify a particular university. There is a 25% difference with regard to Revenue Per Lawyer. In this portion of the London market, we began to see a little more variety: fewer Oxbridge graduates, more from the remaining Russell Group members and a stronger showing from other UK universities. It is worth doing some research to see if this is an option for you. 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. At national firms those with various offices throughout the UK a clear winner emerged: Manchester took centre stage, leaving Durham some way behind. Oxbridge grads make up a quarter of London trainees and a fifth of all trainees. This is no surprise given the dominance of the duo in academia. Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. US is pretty obvious except in cases where there was a transatlantic merger; wed still consider Hogan Lovells, NRF and BCLP City firms because of their strong London origins. Less established US firms concentrate their recruitment efforts on the 'top' universities in order to increase their prestige and position in the London market. [1], In contrast to the Club of Nine, the Magic Circle is no informal grouping of law firms. Although a rather old-fashioned term, the phrase the Magic Circle has only been used since the late 1990s; before then, the prestigious law firms were called the Club of Nine, and included Lovells (now Hogan Lovells), Norton Rose (now Norton Rose Fulbright), Herbert Smith (now. They can give you all the details you need about course fees, funding options and more. Take our new Which Magic Circle Law Firm is Right For Me? This cookies are used to collect analytical information about how visitors use the website. [3], In 2004, Slaughter and May's then senior partner, Tim Clark, said: "It's a funny concept. Could someone read this and share their thoughts and corrections? All legal teams work best with the variety of perspectives both groups bring. 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. When I heard that my university was holding an exclusive lecture by a former Magic Circle firm partner on how to impress at a legal interview, . Scared about job prospects at Leicester uni. To help you make an informed decision, wed like to put you in touch with our partner law schools. But this ranking doesn't reveal the full story. The more that firms adopt techniques like CV blind interviewing, the more pressure there'll be across the industry to broaden recruitment and adhere to new standards. If you're considering where to complete your undergraduate degree, do not let the results of this report override key considerations: a particular course youre passionate about; doors open to you by pursuing a certain course; a locations appeal and the accompanying cost of living; how close by your parents should be; the social life and your general happiness. Quiz now! We interviewed a sample of 7000 (exactly!) 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. All of the 'Magic Circle' law firms and barristers' chambers specialise primarily in corporate law. For example, Manchester and Nottinghams undergrad enrolments are over three times the size of St Andrews. 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. A second group comprising Bristol, Nottingham and Durham made up 16% of all trainees in our research. We also found that London attracted the highest proportion of overseas graduates. A natural target for ambitious go-getters London may be, but theres a mutual attraction going on. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. This cookie is a browser ID cookie set by Linked share Buttons and ad tags. The Magic Circle is an informal term describing the five most prestigious London-headquartered multinational law firms, which generally outperform the rest of the London law firms on profitability.The term has also been used to describe the most prestigious barristers' chambers in London. Magic circle law firm Clifford Chance has appointed The University of Law (ULaw) to help prepare its future trainees to sit the Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE), it confirmed today. It shows that a whopping 44% of partners at firms in the magic and silver circle attended . But that doesn't mean, say, an Imperial chemistry graduate would be less likely to get a training contract than a Nottingham geography graduate. What do they look for in Freshfields training contract candidates? And by the way, just 1.8% of the UKs student population of 2,266,075 study at the universities of Oxford or Cambridge. London is at about $900,000 and New York's RPL is about $1.1 million. 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. At these firms, we spoke to graduates of 68 universities. The cookie is used by cdn services like CloudFlare to identify individual clients behind a shared IP address and apply security settings on a per-client basis. Guys, do you prefer to be called hot or handsome? 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. I also emphasise neal95's post on choice of unis too. In essence, the silver circle refers to the band of firms that fall just . London-centric, sky-high PEP, top-tier work, an aura of prestige: Slaughter and May is far more like Macfarlanes than the Magic Circle quartet it is commonly lumped in with. You'll be familiar with this declaration from poring over law firms' grad recruitment pages. For instance, Freshfields and Allen & Overy now enjoy local rankings in California, a fiercely contested market traditionally dominated by homegrown firms. The grades you have achieved and your overall academic standard is more important than the university you attend. For example, Leicester runs a very well-regarded law degree, and so has a strong showing. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. ", "Freshfields in the US: Don't call us magic circle", "Linklaters' Simon Davies: "The magic circle isn't what it used to be", "Revealed: The magic circle's barristers chambers of choice", "An obituary for the term 'Big 6' law firms in Australia", "Elite 'red circle' firms Zhong Lun and Jun He plot merger as consolidation grips China legal market", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Magic_Circle_(law_firms)&oldid=1134664562. From Jamaica to Australia, from Brazil to Ukraine: our interviewees in this category came from all over the world. These firms are some of the most prestigious in the . Here are the results. This cookie is set by linkedIn. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But there are new discoveries, and questions you should ask, like what this tells us about the firms, what your prospects are and who your colleagues will be, and then deeper concerns arise about social mobility in the law. The __gads cookie, set by Google, is stored under DoubleClick domain and tracks the number of times users see an advert, measures the success of the campaign and calculates its revenue. The university superduo dominated the US and magic circle firms in particular: 24% of all US firm trainees and 31% of all magic circle trainees hailed . The Russell Group dominates the market at 81.4%. This domain of this cookie is owned by Vimeo. This is an informal term used to describe what are generally regarded as the five leading UK-headquartered law firms, namely Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Freshfields, Linklaters and Slaughter and May. In three years the number of Oxbridge grads taken on by City firms has dipped by 2.5%. At most firms youll meet a balance of law and non-law grads. 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. E.g. Statistically speaking, lawyers at the top firms are most commonly from Oxbridge and other Russell Group universities. Nearly one in four of our London interviewees had an Oxbridge degree. Over the nine years, Oxford and Cambridge dominate training contract recruitment with some consistency, followed by Durham, Bristol and Nottingham. LPC? For those in their first-year of uni, now is the time to start thinking about getting . Clearly some universities will give you an advantage, but its worth remembering that there are three main variables to anyones employability: the value of your education; your personal experience; and your character. They are the five UK-based firms considered to be amongst the most prestigious in the world. Registered in England and Wales with Company Number 08037587. Can you do anything with a 2:1 in Oxford law? Do firms look at your university during the application process? It does not store any personal data. The London universities LSE, UCL and King's continued to perform well here, while Nottingham lost the dominance it maintained in the other London categories. The Russell Group (including Oxbridge) supplied 76.5% of trainee lawyers. Linkedin - Used to track visitors on multiple websites, in order to present relevant advertisement based on the visitor's preferences. Furthermore, given some suggestions that Clifford Chance and Linklaters will follow their compatriots' lead in stateside expansion, alongside the novel options for local hiring and remote work in the post-pandemic world, it appears that this trend will only continue going forwards. 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. Quiz, 12 Pro Interview Tips from a Magic Circle Partner, Clifford Chance Interview: From Trainee to Associate, Freshfields training contract recruiter interview, Why You Should Choose a Regional Office Training Contract, Five days of paid work experience to SPARK your law career, Interview with a STEM Trainee Associate at Herbert Smith Freehills, Students currently in their penultimate year of study, finalists and graduates of all degree disciplines, 2021/2022/2023 (March & September intakes), Penultimate or final year students; graduates, 1987, by merger of Clifford Turner and Coward Chance, 8000 (London), 7000 (outside of London), Weeks commencing 13 January and 27 January 2020, You can only apply for SPARK if you are in your first year or the second year of a four year course, Penultimate and final year law students; law graduates; GDL graduates, Winter Training Contract (Law and Non-Law), Final year law students; law graduates; final year non-law students; non-law graduates, 8000 (in London), 7000 (outside of London), Penultimate and final year law or non-law students; law or non-law graduates; law or non-law postgraduates, 1889, by William Capel Slaughter and William May, BPP University, London Waterloo + GDL Extra Programme, Law students in the penultimate year of their undergraduate degree and law students in the second year of a four year course who will be going abroad in their third year. If, for example, you have mitigating circumstances which have affected your academic performance, a firm will take these into consideration during the application process. This cookie is installed by Google Analytics. Privacy Policy of each partner law school I have selected above. PGDL? 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. However, almost 30% of our overseas sources gained their degree in the Republic of Ireland. You'll notice that the Midlands and Northern-based Russell Group universities did particularly well here. Here, we break down the facts. And then the drop off after 2016 coincided with changes to student visas in the UK that made it more difficult to be an international student doing the LPC. [12] These firms have a lower turnover than the members of the Magic Circle, but consistently have an average profits per equity partner (PEP) and average revenue per lawyer (RPL) far above the UK average[13][14][15] (and, in some instances, higher than members of the Magic Circle). The Student Room and The Uni Guide are trading names of The Student Room Group Ltd. Register Number: 04666380 (England and Wales), VAT No. According to the data, 31.4 per cent of trainee lawyers at Londons elite Magic Circle firms Linkaters, Slaughter and May, Clifford Chance, Allen & Overy and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer went to Oxbridge. What sets them apart from other firms? Below is a chart of the top 20 most common universities that cropped up in our research over the past nine years. While that's a small portion of the overall number of interviewees, the point is that graduates from these universities were still able to get training contracts. 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. Linklaters lawyers and graduate recruiters share their advice. London's total profit went from over 150% of New York's in . The Student Room and The Uni Guide are both part of The Student Room Group. Clifford Chance. A natural target for go-getters London may be, but theres a mutual attraction going on. Copyright The Student Room 2023 all rights reserved. What happens if i dont get my A-level predicted grades for Rice University? Magic Circle Interview Tips: Things to Be Aware of . King's College London A102 GEM 2023 Entry. In 1920, Linklater & Co merged with Paines Plythe & Huxtable, a firm that had been founded by a descendent of one of the founding fathers of the United States, Thomas Paine. In each of the regions, the local Russell Group universities often came out on top. In comparison to the larger London firms, the gap between Cambridge and Durham closed, while the prominence of certain Russell Group members shifted: Exeter, Southampton and Leeds gained traction, while Manchester slipped again. The Magic Circle includes Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Linklaters and Slaughter and May. The most noticeable change in the chart saw Manchester elevated to fourth place as opposed to tenth in London overall. With this intriguing, informal nickname comes an increasingly high reputation; described by The Guardian writer Laura Paddison, theyre the firms that promise top graduates a glittering name on their CV, A-list corporate clients and excellent training. The range of universities feeding the market grew by 14% in three years. Durham has taken a slide too. Contrary to what the term Silver Circle may suggest, there is no Golden Circle. Official: Aston University A100 2023 Entry Applicant and Offer Holder thread, Close to a thousand experts unite behind statement that rejects zealotry of plant-b, Official University of the Arts London 2023 Applicants Thread, Official King's College London 2023 Applicants Thread, Official Oxford 2023 Postgraduate Applicants Thread, will university find out in future if someone uses CHATGPT, Parents are upset I've not found a bf and had a baby yet at 19. Who are the Silver Circle Law Firms? The firm has taken on a number of student-related initiatives including Spark, a five-day scheme that provides first-year students with an inside view of the firm, and which this year opened its . All of the 'Magic Circle' law firms and barristers' chambers specialise primarily in corporate law. According to Bloomberg . Facebook sets this cookie to show relevant advertisements to users by tracking user behaviour across the web, on sites that have Facebook pixel or Facebook social plugin. If they did it, why can't you? 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. 1. The arrival in Northern California demonstrates Freshfields' rapidly-growing strength in the USA, fuelled by a significant expansion in the number of its partners through lateral hiring. So dont fret if youre at a uni outside the RG there were fewer training contract applicants. Clifford Turner advised on the creation of John Lewis Partnership in 1929; Became the first major non-US firm to practice US law; In 2000, became the worlds first global law firm with the tripartite merger with Germanys Punder Volhard Weber & Axter and New Yorks Rogers & Wells. The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". Each trainee told us where they completed their undergraduate degrees. [12], UK law firms, including Magic Circle law firms, have experienced increased competition from US law firms both domestically (from US law firms with a UK presence) and internationally.[16][17][18]. In nine years, law firms appetite for Oxbridge and Russell Group students has remained pretty much constant. This cookie is installed by Google Analytics. 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. Its up there with correcting your friends pronunciation of quinoa or pretending youve never heard of Lidl producing a ranking of lawyers favourite universities is an expression of middle class Britain par excellence. The purpose of this cookie is to synchronize the ID across many different Microsoft domains to enable user tracking. Sign up to our regular updates! When we look at what replaces Doxbridge, we see universities in big cities with legal markets significant enough to keep graduates hanging around. When we overlay the two graphs, City and non-City, on top of each other, we see regional firms showing less of a penchant for any particular university. Thats up from 85 in our 2013-2015 research and from 76 in our 2010-2012 research. However, having a degree from a Russell Group university does not automatically land you a vacation scheme or training contract, and candidates from these universities will be considered on exactly the same basis as a non-Russell Group university candidate. During my Year 13 work experience, I spoke to trainee solicitors at LinkLaters & Clifford Chance; both people seemed very normal, in fact they actually appeared to be fairly shy when I was talking to them. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. We have only looked at undergraduate degrees for the purposes of this study. Other firms have since followed suit, in a bid to help remove bias from the process and allow recruiters to focus solely on an individual's qualities and responses. We don't describe ourselves as a Magic Circle firm in any of our marketing material. The Magic Circle is an informal term describing the five most prestigious London-headquartered multinational law firms, which generally outperform the rest of the London law firms on profitability. "[6][7] Nonetheless, other commentators still consider Slaughter and May to be a member of the Magic Circle. [1] The members of the Club of Nine had an informal "no-poaching" agreement and the firm's senior partners would meet. Take our new Which Magic Circle Law Firm is Right For Me? The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. It seems to be a term to describe the leading City firms and there is some truth in it.
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