To aim for Magic Circle law?

[twinzel]

I'm coming up to the end of my training contract in a regional firm (small/medium sized). I have a 1st in my law degree but it isn't from a Russell Group (top 30 uni) and a distinction in the LPC.
Is there any point applying?

Aiming for an NQ job at Magic Circle? It's not impossible. If they have a vacancy they'll interview like anyone else. Show a really deep interest in the area, any articles or extra research/training you've done and also highlight what makes you special. Often smaller firms give trainees much greater responsibility than City firms so really push any angle like that.

Good luck.

Do most magic circle firms not continue to employ a high proportion of their grad entrants after initial training contract finishes? I would imagine it could be hard to break in? Unless you were experienced in something like mergers and acquisitions it could be tough.

If you don't apply, you'll never now. Go for it. Just be absolutely sure you're prepared for the long hours culture.

Never know!

It's traditionally held out to be very difficult to move into a Magic Circle firm from anywhere other than a top tier London, but if you're happy to put the application hours in there's no harm in it.

The responsibility angle is really something to push; we tend to get much more control of our own cases as trainees in national/regional firms.

I'm sure you've considered this, but you'll really have to be able to persuade them you can deal with the long hours and workload pressure. Hours expected will be substantially different.

It’s always worth trying but the market outlook isn’t great right now and a lot of firms are not recruiting externally. There is also a lot of pressure in law firms to retain trainees so NQ positions are not easy to come by unless a firm is in growth mode, and no law firm is in growth mode post-Covid.
Could you get 1 or 2 years is experience under your belt first?

Thank you everyone.

Would it be difficult moving to a London firm in general from a small regional firm?

I think it will be extremely difficult, to be honest. As a PP said, lots of firms currently have a freeze on lateral hires at associate level and Magic Circle firms usually fill almost all NQ positions from their own trainee cohorts. Which area of work are you hoping to qualify in? Niche areas such as insolvency and restructuring are expecting to see massive growth due to the current climate, so you may be in with a shot if you’ve had good experience in those fields and firms have spaces in those teams, but I’m afraid it’s a very slim chance right now.

Aliensrus is right that it would be incredibly hard at the moment. Often oddly it is easier to move laterally after a year or two because that’s when attrition starts anyway. Whether you can do it from a small regional firm depends on your specialism and why just MC? There are lots of other city firms just as likely to offer really good work and sometimes even with (slightly) less punishing hours.

What kind of work have you done in your training contract? Why do you want to join a MC firm?

It may be different here in the US, but my husband is a BigLaw partner, and they rarely hire newly qualified lawyers who haven’t been to top law schools such as Harvard, Columbia etc. but they will occasionally hire someone from a lesser school who was top of the class, so you never know.

When you get to partner level and lateral hires, it’s all about your book of business and not so much where you went to law school.

In my TC I've done the generic areas: family, private client, commercial litigation, commercial property, company and commercial.
I don't mind where I end up as long as it's in or near London.

I think you'd have more luck with smaller firms who do the same kind of work you've been doing. Magic Circle is a very particular kind of environment - they also don't do family or private client to my knowledge. It's more banking, finance, M&A...

Yes, why not try for a London firm doing one of the areas you have experience?

Is it really Magic Circle you want, or London? I think you'd be much better off trying to find a place in a niche London firm. In this economic climate I think it would be virtually impossible to get an NQ job in a Magic Circle firm.

It's probably more so London to be honest. How many months before qualification do people generally apply for NQ roles?

I moved from a large regional (top 50) firm to a magic circle firm at 1 year PQE but that was a long time ago (nearly 14 years, blimey!!!) I moved to a shortage practice area and they weren't bothered that it was work that I hadn't done before, they were happy to train me. My academics are good but not outstanding (not Oxbridge, not a first).
I couldn't really say whether you could do it now as I'm too long out of the market, but generally you will get honest advice from a decent recruitment consultant so its worth asking. I've left law altogether now and don't regret that for a second (I retrained when I had DC2) but if youre going to do law I would say you may as well do it at a top tier firm. You would have the best resources, be surrounded by incredibly clever people at the top of their game and on the whole you would learn a lot that would stand you in good stead for whatever path your career might take. BUT - its not for the faint hearted and it will take over your life. You will love it or hate it.

Which area do you want to qualify OP? I’m guessing you know the magic circle don’t do family or private client, and your company and commercial experience is unlikely to be really relevant/transferable to magic circle M&A teams, which leaves you with disputes.

I’m in a silver circle firm and we and pretty much all big city firms have a hiring freeze now for externals due to covid, and things are looking really tough even for the trainees that have trained with us. I think in this environment you would seriously struggle.

You’d be better off applying in a couple of years once you’ve got more experience or applying to smaller/niche firms.

In terms of timing, NQs start in March and September so get in touch with recruiters now for September starts (almost certainly too late as I think most NQ jobs have been announced or will be imminently) or December time for March start. Spots do become available at random times but the best thing is to get your CV out to recruiters.

PS your academics won’t really be relevant at this stage. Provided you’ve got at least a 2.1 and are qualified it will come down to the interview and your experience.

I dont really agree with @HarrietM87 - at least, that wasn't my experience - of course things may be different now, but I would say the firm I went to very much were interested in my academics and stated that they preferred that I had no experience of the practice area I was applying for as it would be easier to start with a blank slate. So essentially the total opposite of what you say!
I had come from a background where I had ZERO exposure to corporate work or transactions and they didn't care at all. I expressed concern about it and they said I would pick it up (I worked in a specialist area, so not corporate or finance but a significant proportion of my work was advising on transactions in the context of that specialism).

DH is a partner in a London firm in insolvency/restructuring. Not Magic Circle but top 20. They don’t particularly hire, or need to hire, outside of their trainees for their NQs but do hire associates externally with various levels of PQE.

Could you qualify into your firm then do a few years and then start working up? It doesn’t have to be Magic Circle or nothing. One of his associates has just gone to an American firm in London and is earning ridiculous amounts of money, if that’s the driver. That’s after qualifying and working 5 years or so with DH.

You might have to do it in two steps - eg move to city firm then to magic circle. As others have said the Nq spots are usually all taken by trainees but gaps will start to appear in 2 years time. Might be worthwhile taking a banking/insolvency NQ role given the economic outlook

Hi OP I was at a magic circle firm, trained and qualified and then chucked it in. They usually keep all their trainees and don't look for NQs unless it's a particular area that none of the home grown trainees want to qualify into. When I was there there was an associate who moved at 1 or 2 PQE from a smaller regional firm to my department. He was the only one I knew of. However, there's no downside to making an application! Just be aware there are going to be hundreds of others and you really need to stand out in the application so really take your time with it.

Just to add - I would think experience is only of value to a MC firm if it is experience gained in a MC firm (possibly silver circle if its a shortage specialist area) - otherwise, the relevance of the experience is likely to be limited. I would say that gaining experience in a regional firm will not help you get into a big London firm and if you want to move, you should do it on qualification as that will be the easiest time in terms of you selling your potential. Of course, the job market is crap right now so you might struggle purely because of that.

I think it’s very unlikely. You might have more luck (and earn more money!) applying to a US firm for an area where lawyers are in demand (like funds). There are a few people I work with at a top NY firm in London who went to not great unis.