Visual impairment
Clifford Chance is one of the world's pre-eminent law firms. With a global reach and thousands of lawyers working from dozens of offices around the world, we offer expert advice to clients on all aspects of commercial law.
We work with multinationals, governments and regulatory bodies across five continents. Many of our deals are newsworthy. Often, they demand the kind of knowledge that only international, cross-practice teams can provide.
Our reputation in the field is formidable. We have more band 1 rankings than any other firm in Chambers Global 2019. That’s why organisations turn to us not just for legal expertise but also for advice on their most critical business issues.
It’s not enough to have an expert understanding of law. Our clients need people with real commercial acumen. People who can bring their insight and imagination to complex problems. People who can act as trusted business advisers and deliver the results that matter.
This is what our practice areas provide. As a trainee, you’ll see for yourself exactly how, by having the opportunity to experience a variety of seats.
Whatever your path, you’ll gain an insight into our global deals, our high-profile clients and our collaborative culture. As an integral member of the team, you’ll also rapidly develop your legal and business skills.
As a responsible business, we support our people in developing resilience and managing their wellbeing. We believe these are fundamental blocks in building a sustainable business and providing excellent service to all our clients.
We are committed to attracting, developing and retaining the best team to deliver the very highest level of service to our clients. As part of this commitment, we invest in our people’s wellbeing so that they can perform at their full potential. This means caring for their physical and mental health.
We have made it a strategic objective to support our people in developing their resilience. One way in which we are doing this is through our Employee Assistance Programme, which provides individual support from trained counsellors as well as fast access to a range of services, including life management advice. Following successful trials in a number of locations, our Employee Assistance Programme is now being rolled out to all of our offices worldwide.
We realise that working in a law firm can be a pressurised and demanding environment. Our wellbeing agenda aims to ensure our people are able to recognise and appreciate the importance of maintaining good mental health and in building their resilience and ability to operate healthily and successfully. Promoting a healthy lifestyle is another focus. We support our people in making healthier choices and encourage them to view exercise as a social activity.
As a graduate recruitment team, we are extremely open and encourage applicants to inform us if they ever need any adjustments to our process. We deal with every individual on a case by case basis and have made adjustments accordingly from the more common time extension of the online tests to inviting candidates into the office ahead of their assessment day to familiarise themselves with the building to ease their anxiety…and everything in between.
Visual impairment
We offer the following positions:
First Years
SPARK is a week long paid programme made up of classroom based sessions and work shadowing. At the end of the programme you will have the opportunity to apply for and secure a Training Contract.
Virtual Internships
We also have launched our global virtual internship which is open to everyone. There are three modules which you can complete at your own pace and will give you an insight into the firm and the work that we do.
Virtual Events
As a result of the Covid pandemic we have democratised access to our events by moving everything to a virtual platform – you can either register for upcoming events or watch prior events.
Training Contract
Our Training Contract is a two year programme where you spend 6 months in 4 of our practice areas. One of these could be international and there is also the possibility of shorted client secondments.
IGNITE
IGNITE is our tech focused Training Contract where you will still train and qualify as a solicitor but will have time away from fee-earning work to focus on tech initiatives.
Diversity and inclusiveness is at the heart of our culture
We are able to make reasonable adjustments within our application process to ensure that you have the best chance of success. We understand that there’s not a “one size fits all” approach to adjustments so our team will work with you individually to understand more about your requirements.
The team will usually ask for supporting documentation to help manage your adjustments. If you have already been formally diagnosed as having specific learning difficulties, you will be asked to provide a copy of your Educational Psychologist or Specialist Teacher Assessor’s assessment report. If you need special arrangements to be made because of a disability other than dyslexia or dyspraxia, the team will talk to you about what we may need.
We are looking for individuals with the following skills – as long as you are able to demonstrate these then that is all that matters.
We understand that it can be difficult to talk about a disability, however, it may be beneficial for you to be open about your disability so that we can support you through the process and ensure you have the right level of adjustments. Any conversations we have with you regarding disability and adjustments will be treated confidentially.
Common requests that can be accommodated are:
As a Firm we make reasonable adjustments for all individuals to enable them to carry out their role. This can be anything from a different type of mouse, specialist software to help with various disabilities or allowing extra time to complete tasks. As each person may have specific requirements and these can vary we ensure that their individual needs are addressed to the best of our ability.
Our building is fully accessible and an Accessibility Audit was completed when we first moved into the building and another is due to take place later this year.
The list of adjustments made to date is endless We just encourage and urge individuals to share their particular challenges so hopefully we can address these and provide the appropriate support.
At every stage of our process we ask if you require any adjustments but you can always contact us on graduate.recruitment@cliffordchance.com or 020 7006 4005.
If you need adjustments then please always give the employer as much notice as possible. Please do not wait until after the assessment or when you have been unsuccessful to tell us about something that could have made your experience more comfortable. We rely on you to tell us what it is that you need.
As a Firm we make reasonable adjustments for all individuals to enable them to carry out their role. This can be anything from a different type of mouse, specialist software to help with various disabilities or allowing extra time to complete tasks. As each person may have specific requirements and these can vary we ensure that their individual needs are addressed to the best of our ability.
Our building is fully accessible and an Accessibility Audit was completed when we first moved into the building and another is due to take place later this year.
The list of adjustments made to date is endless We just encourage and urge individuals to share their particular challenges so hopefully we can address these and provide the appropriate support.
Please take a look at our disability support and resources:
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