2025 Summer Vacation Scheme

Katten London

Established in 2005, our London office is growing. We provide English and US legal advice to a range of domestic and international financial services institutions, investors, and public and private companies.

Recognized as Transatlantic Firm of the Year in 2022 by Law.com International , we are known for attracting and retaining top talent responsible for managing a variety of sophisticated, high-value matters.

Working closely with our colleagues in the United States and Shanghai, we represent clients worldwide in transactions, asset management, finance and financial restructuring, and other matters requiring multidisciplinary skillsets across a broad cross-section of industries and jurisdictions.

Our practice areas include:

• Financial Markets and Funds
• Corporate and M&A
• Private Credit
• Litigation
• Insolvency & Restructuring
• Employment
• Tax
• Real Estate and Hotel & leisure
• IP, Commercial & Data Protection

Vacation Scheme

Katten’s training contracts are offered to students who take part in our summer vacation scheme, which next year will be taking place from 16 to 20 June 2025 inclusive. The scheme aims to give students firsthand experience of what it is like to train and work at Katten, so you can better understand whether Katten is the right fit for you.

During the week you will sit primarily within one of our practice groups, sharing a room with associates and senior associates gaining invaluable insights into the work they do. We always encourage you to seek out opportunities within other practice areas too — our aim is to create well-rounded lawyers with strong legal knowledge, so both the vacation scheme week and training contract are designed with this flexibility in mind.

On the vacation scheme you can expect to get involved in drafting memos and research, a mixture of individual and group tasks (both legal and nonlegal) and attend various skills sessions on presenting and business development to name a few. Social events including album clubs, the London Legal Walk, small group lunches and networking evenings allow our students to get to know our lawyers, from current trainees through to partners, on a more personal level.

We welcome applications from all degree disciplines. The scheme is open to all graduates, penultimate-year LLB students and final-year non-law undergraduates.

Salary & Benefits

While we can’t say for certain what our 2027 trainee salary will be, our current trainee salaries are outlined below:

• First-year salary: £50,000
• Second-year salary: £55,000
• Discretionary year-end bonus

Upon qualification, our associates enter lockstep compensation until 5PQE. Our NQ salary currently sits at £115,000 per annum.

At Katten, we are proud to offer our employees a complete compensation package — not just a paycheck. This package includes:

• PGDL/SQE course and assessment fees paid
• PGDL/SQE maintenance grant: £15,000 each
• Private medical insurance
• Private GP
• Eyecare
• Life insurance
• Income protection
• Cycle scheme
• Pension scheme
• Gym allowance
• Wellbeing stipend

How to Apply

We welcome applications from all degree disciplines. The scheme is open to all graduates, penultimate-year LLB students and final-year non-law undergraduates. You should have, or be on track for, at least a 2:1 undergraduate degree.

Applications close on 31 December at 11.59pm, and we aim to review all applications by February with interviews taking place in the spring.