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. This cookie is set when an AdsWizz website visitor have opted out the collection of information by AdsWizz service or opted to disable the targeted ads by AdsWizz. Clifford Chance. The remaining Russell Group universities were also represented strongly, while interviewees from other UK universities were comparatively low. The prestige, the career opportunities, the money and the city itself combine to attract the brightest, hungriest graduates. 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). 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 . 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. 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. With the competition for training contracts becoming increasingly tough, candidates are becoming more conscious of their educational background as they pursue a place at a highly competitive Magic Circle firm. Compared to our regional breakdowns, we saw a greater percentage of Russell Group-educated trainees, and fewer from other UK universities. These universities frequently rivalled or overtook Oxbridge in the charts. From Jamaica to Australia, from Brazil to Ukraine: our interviewees in this category came from all over the world. Over this period our sample size has increased along with the likelihood of new names entering. If your university isn't ranked highly on our charts, or doesn't appear at all, don't despair: it's likely that graduates from this particular institution have had greater success bagging training contracts at smaller firms. The Chambers USA 2021 guide will be released in May 2021. Advised on the first hostile takeover in the City of London; Arranged the first Eurobond in the 1960s; Introduced one of the first schemes to allow full equity partners to work part-time; First global law firm to open an office in Morocco; The only law firm to be named the most innovative in Europe by the Financial Times 3 times. If youre wondering whether to do an LLB or a non-law degree then GDL, your answer may lie below. The prestige, the career opportunities, the money and the city itself combine to attract the brightest, hungriest and most gumptious graduates. Can you do anything with a 2:1 in Oxford law? The Russell Group dominates the market at 81.4%. This cookie can only be read from the domain they are set on and will not track any data while browsing through other sites. Durham has taken a slide too. The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Advertisement". "[1], In 2013, The Lawyer argued that Clifford Chance and Slaughter and May should no longer form part of the Magic Circle. Oxford and Cambridge feature considerably lower outside London. There is a 25% difference with regard to Revenue Per Lawyer. The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". In his career, he has practiced with the largest law firm (with an international affiliation) in Indonesia and one of the magic circle law firms in Singapore, with a stint at the firm's headquarter . Instead this is simply the raw data broken down. The Chambers Student Guide survey recently published a study examining which universities law firms recruit most from. 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 Herbert Smith Freehills) and Stephenson Harwood. It's the full package that recruiters are after: the more you prove you can offer that, the less your university will matter. Next: How to choose your perfect law firm >>. ", "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. [19] Similarly, in 2014, Linklaters then managing partner, Simon Davies, said "The Magic Circle isnt what it used to be in the context of the US market or any market. Universities outside of the Russell Group came to the fore, particularly Northumbria in the North East; Lancaster in the North West; Nottingham Trent in the Midlands; UWE and Plymouth in the South West; and Kent, UEA and Reading in the South/Thames Valley. Is Clifford Chance the law firm for you? [2] It wrote "Slaughters fits the silver circle bill in every respect. In comparison to the overall picture of London, the top end of the market held a higher proportion of Oxbridge graduates; a similar amount from the remaining Russell Group universities; and fewer trainees from other UK institutions. 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. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". This cookie is installed by Google Analytics. This cookie is set by LinkedIn and used for routing. At some of the biggest and most prestigious firms in London seemingly the preserve of the university elite we encountered trainees with degrees from non-traditional institutions like Brunel, Keele and Hertfordshire. ", "UK 200: Record 11 firms join the 1m PEP club", "The long read: How the silver circle shattered", "Magic Circle Law Firms: The Ultimate Guide", "The magic circle: meet the City's top commercial law firms", "Guest post - The Magic Circle is doomed. Find out how they work - and how you can get one. Incidentally, Oxford (24%) did better than Cambridge (20%). Oxford and Cambridge toppled from the top spots and slipped down to 15thand 18thpositions respectively, accounting for less than 5% of the population. And by the way, just 1.8% of the UKs student population of 2,266,075 study at the universities of Oxford or Cambridge. Used by Google DoubleClick and stores information about how the user uses the website and any other advertisement before visiting the website. [1] In 1996, Stephenson Harwood was asked to leave the Club of Nine due to its stagnant performance, and the Club was disbanded in 2000. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. 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 Club of Nine was an informal group of law firms that comprised Allen & Overy; Clifford Chance; Freshfields (now Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer); Herbert Smith (now Herbert Smith Freehills); Linklaters; Lovells (now Hogan Lovells); Norton Rose (now Norton Rose Fulbright); Slaughter and May; and Stephenson Harwood. These firms are some of the most prestigious in the . The purpose of this cookie is to synchronize the ID across many different Microsoft domains to enable user tracking. Our graph below makes no distinction between UK and non-UK citizens. Guys, do you prefer to be called hot or handsome? Copyright The Student Room 2023 all rights reserved. This cookies is installed by Google Universal Analytics to throttle the request rate to limit the colllection of data on high traffic sites. It does not correspond to any user ID in the web application and does not store any personally identifiable information. We interviewed a sample of 7000 (exactly!) (Part 2), Shared bathrooms student accommodation Southampton. Make sure you've been consistently on track for that 2:1 (minimum); get yourself some relevant work experience, ideally at a firm; keep yourself abreast of what's happening in the wider world and how that may affect the industry; and build up your interpersonal charm those vital soft skills that are required in order to build rapport with clients and generate business. The cookie is used to store information of how visitors use a website and helps in creating an analytics report of how the website is doing. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. This year also saw Allen & Overy overtake Clifford Chance in the number of rankings the firm itself holds, aided in part through the expansion of the USA Guide's Capital Markets and Projects rankings in the 2021 edition of the USA Guide. 1. This cookie is set by linkedIn. During my nine weeks of legal experience, I had the opportunity to experience seven different practice areas, which helped me understand which seats I would be most interested in upon starting a training contract . In nine years, law firms appetite for Oxbridge and Russell Group students has remained pretty much constant. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. from the 139 firms featured in our guide since 2010. This cookies is set by Youtube and is used to track the views of embedded videos. E.g. The sudden jump in numbers between 2015 and 2016 may be due to sponsored work visas being given changes that made it easier for businesses to take on international juniors. Prestigious law firms lock their gaze on graduates from these prestigious universities, knowing they dont have to look far for the brightest and most driven candidates. TSR Decisions Drop In 17th April - 5th May. 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. Could someone read this and share their thoughts and corrections? Fladgate, Bristows, Simkins, Regional defines a firm that, you guessed it, has offices inregions that arent London, and a head office thats also somewhere not-London. In the past three years we've asked 2,300 trainees at 124 firms which university they went to. What sets them apart from other firms? 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. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Also worth mentioning are Southampton, Edinburgh and Cardiff, which appear almost every year too. Take our new Which Magic Circle Law Firm is Right For Me? It sets a unique ID to embed videos to the website. Moreover, all four Magic Circle firms with US-based operations continue to increase their presence in the 2021 Guide, notably, in areas beyond their traditional areas of expertise in cross-Atlantic transactional and regulatory mandates. 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. Quiz now! 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. Everyone on TSR seems to go to Oxbridge, except a couple went to Oxford Brookes and Kings College. Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. "[6][7] Nonetheless, other commentators still consider Slaughter and May to be a member of the Magic Circle. Magic is in the air at this Biglaw firm! Is Allen & Overy the law firm for you? Registered in England and Wales with Company Number 08037587. Or a Magic Circle partner salary? The cookies store information anonymously and assign a randomly generated number to identify unique visitors. 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. If theres a regional firm youre interested in, its still worth applying, highlighting what you would bring to the role. It's mainly something that comes up when we talk to journalists or they talk to us. Career change to Law contemplationwill I be too old at 33? Manchester University dominates the national firms market. It shows that a whopping 44% of partners at firms in the magic and silver circle attended Oxbridge, while 34% went to one of the 22 other Russell Group universities, and 22% graduated from a non-Russell Group uni. This group fragmented at the beginning of the 2000s, and now comprises the five that now make up the Magic Circle, a term coined by legal journalists. Oxbridge grads make up a quarter of London trainees and a fifth of all trainees. The schemes gave me invaluable insight into working in a law firm, and the different practice areas that were on offer. Boost your law career for free. The lesser-used silver circle tag which has arguably been rendered almost meaningless by the multiple mergers of the last few years as a host of global megafirms have been created includes Herbert Smith Freehills, Ashurst, Berwin Leighton Paisner, King & Wood Mallesons, Macfarlanes and Travers Smith. The term 'silver circle' implies there should be a golden shape before it. At most firms youll meet a balance of law and non-law grads. Does it matter which university you go to for law? Want to impress interviewers with your commercial awareness prowess? When we leave London, we find Oxbridge only coming in at ninth and tenth on the chart. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. 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. Masaryk University; is it worth going as an international student? And our big discovery is that very little has changed in a decade. We know that anyone can become a lawyer, regardless of where they completed their undergraduate degree. Indeed, before its launch in the Silicon Valley, Freshfields' East Coast hires included the attention-grabbing addition of Ethan Klingsberg, a highly rated M&A partner from Cleary Gottlieb, and Willkie Farr securities litigator Mary Eaton, both of whom are ranked in the Chambers USA 2021 Guide, as well as adding employee benefits expert Lori Goodman from Latham & Watkins and hiring antitrust duo Meghan Rissmiller from Hogan Lovells and Julie Elmer from the US Department of Justice's Antitrust Division. Although Oxbridge students make up less than 1% of each years graduating class, they made up a whopping 15.4% of all our trainee lawyer interviewees. Subscribe to the City A.M. newsletter to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox. Sign up to our regular updates! Participating firms represent the more competitive half of the market: combined their trainee vacancies amount to over 2,500, which is over half all trainee positions going each year. Why are there so many Oxbridge trainees? [1], In contrast to the Club of Nine, the Magic Circle is no informal grouping of law firms. Another ray of hope: law firms are beginning to show that they're less obsessed with university name and grades. This is used to present users with ads that are relevant to them according to the user profile. This survey doesnt account for the numbers graduating from each institution. With the exception of Slaughter and May, which closed its New York base in 2004 and eschews international offices beyond its Brussels, Beijing and Hong Kong locations, all four remaining Magic Circle firms are rapidly emerging as major competitors in the US, each boasting an increasing number of elite, Chambers-ranked attorneys across a diverse range of practice areas. You don't have to go to a top university (and by your definition the 'only top unis are Oxbridge') to work at a top law firm. Could someone read this and share their thoughts and corrections? The subject that was studied can influence how a university appears. 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. Freeths, Cripps, Threthowans, Ashfords, National defines a firm that has strong regional presence as well as a head office or strong presence in London. [1] The members of the Club of Nine had an informal "no-poaching" agreement and the firm's senior partners would meet. 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. For instance, Freshfields and Allen & Overy now enjoy local rankings in California, a fiercely contested market traditionally dominated by homegrown firms. We also found that London attracted the highest proportion of overseas graduates. This cookie is set by Youtube. What's more, non-Russell Group trainees popped up in all of our categories. It argued that Clifford Chances profitability does not match the other Magic Circle firms, and that Slaughter and May operates a different (UK-focused) model, with revenue less than half of the other Magic Circle firms. 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. With clients across five continents, Clifford Chance is a 'magic circle' firm with a formidable reputation. Over the nine years, Oxford and Cambridge dominate training contract recruitment with some consistency, followed by Durham, Bristol and Nottingham. NQuids inThe university you attend does determine your employability and earning power, but prestige isnt everything, as a glance at this table below will show. And how can you get to work for them? Mad-Mullah. For example, Manchester and Nottinghams undergrad enrolments are much higher than that of St Andrews. Recruiters will overlook you in favour of those who've been on it and performed well no matter what university they've attended. When we look at what replaces Doxbridge, we see universities in big cities with legal markets significant enough to keep graduates hanging around. idk01. Magic Circle Interview Tips: Things to Be Aware of . Oxbridge grads make up a quarter of London trainees and a fifth of all trainees. But this ranking doesn't reveal the full story. 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. Is it even worth me applying to magic circle law firms, Scared about job prospects at Leicester uni. There were over 107 UK universities mentioned in our data from 2010-2018. The trope explained above that in the eyes of the more prestige-obsessed graduate, London is the be-all and end-all is visible here. This might reassure the non-law grads that theyre not starting their careers on the back foot, and should certainly encourage wavering GDL applicants. So dont fret if youre at a uni outside the RG there were fewer training contract applicants. US law firms in London drew 24.4 per cent of their trainees from Oxbridge, with 50 per cent coming from the rest of the Russell Group, 16.5 per cent coming from other UK institutions and nine per cent coming from overseas. At these firms, we spoke to graduates of58 universities. [1] Generally, the Magic Circle firms have among the highest earnings-per-partner and earnings-per-lawyer of UK-headquartered law firms. Russel Group universities were strongly represented, accounting for 81.4% of trainee interviewees, with 5.3% having studied at the University of Bristol . The cookie is set by embedded Microsoft scripts. The purpose of the cookie is to determine if the user's browser supports cookies. This information is used to compile report and improve site. London is a global legal hub only rivalled by New York. Here, we break down the facts. A unique look at who the Magic Circle of law firms are and how they have continued to expand their growth in the US with additional hires. Read more: Freshfields increases partner pay to 1.84m. Who has been hit hardest by 21bn of pandemic fraud, and will the taxpayer EVER get it back? Its encouraging, but as we can see from nine years of tracking this data, progress is happening slowly. [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). Get on a law firm work experience programme. If you're currently studying at a Russell Group university, bear in mind what we've just mentioned above. Nearly one in four of our London interviewees had an Oxbridge degree. Throughout your education each of these three elements will develop the other two its what employers mean by well-rounded. It does not store any personal data. Will taking Further Maths as a third subject be a disadvantage to apply for uni? In three years the number of Oxbridge grads taken on by City firms has dipped by 2.5%. To find out about qualifying as a lawyer from overseas, read on>>, City (above including the magic circle and US firms): firms focused on City business sectors, such as finance, capital markets, corporate transactions, investment, insurance, energy. E.g. All some of the top lawyers working for their respective law firms. It merged with Bruckhaus Westrick Heller Lober and Deringer Tessin Herrmann & Sedemund in 2000; Relevant experience in one or more of their practice areas. You can accept or reject cookies which are not essential for the site to work by clicking on the Cookie settings below. Read more: Slaughter and May boosts pay packet for newly qualified solicitors to 100,000 as Magic Circle pay war rages. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". Firms are increasingly employing a more holistic approach to each application, meaning that they will consider applications from a range of candidates on an individual basis. 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. Copyright The Student Room 2023 all rights reserved. ORW. [2], The Magic Circle has been termed a "journalistic device, coined by legal reporters in the wake of the break-up of its predecessor, the 'Club of Nine'". What do they look for in Linklaters training contract candidates? BTEC Business Unit 6 (Principles or Management) May 2nd Resit (2023), Which poems from love and relationships should i memorise?