Summer Vacation Scheme 2024

White & Case is a global law firm of more than 2,500 lawyers worldwide. We’ve built an unrivalled network of 44 offices in 30 countries. That investment is the foundation for our client work in over 200 countries today. Complex client projects, nuanced local market knowledge and global capabilities define who we are. Many White & Case clients are multinational organisations with complex needs that require the involvement of multiple offices. As part of our training contract, we offer every trainee a guaranteed six-month overseas seat.

The Work

As a White & Case lawyer, you’ll work on fast-paced cutting-edge cross-border projects from the outset of your career. In London, our key areas of work include: debt finance (including regulatory compliance); financial restructuring and insolvency; capital markets (high yield and securitisation); dispute resolution (including antitrust, commercial litigation, intellectual property, international arbitration, trade, white collar and construction and engineering); energy, infrastructure, project and asset finance (EIPAF); corporate (including M&A, private equity, employment, compensation and benefits, investment funds, real estate and tax).

Summer Vacation Scheme 2025

So, you want to be a city lawyer? Taking part in one of our three annual vacation schemes is the best possible way to experience what our lawyers do every day. Try out real client work and see if our Firm is the right fit for you.

We recruit the majority of our London trainees (on average 80 percent) from our vacation schemes, with 25 participants in each intake. There’s no limit on how many training contracts we offer per scheme, so you won’t be in competition with your peers.

Wherever your career takes you, we guarantee that you’ll build skills and experience that will last:

• Do real client work: draft memorandums; write client alerts; research areas of the law; attend meetings or court hearings, for example
• Learn about different practice areas and deepen your knowledge of the law
• ‘Ask Me Anything’ Q&A session with partners and associates
• Attend social events, including supervisor and buddy lunches, and fun activities such as sushi making
• Build your networks, both professionally and personally
• Receive feedback and advice on your work and performance
• As part of your training contract interview, you’ll have the opportunity to prepare a presentation on a commercial topic

What we look for

White & Case is looking to recruit ambitious trainees who have a desire to gain hands-on practical experience from day one and a willingness to take charge of their own career. We value globally-minded citizens of the world who are eager to work across borders and cultures, and who are intrigued by solving problems within multiple legal systems. They should have an understanding of international commercial issues and an interest in working on big-ticket, cross-border work. We recruit both law and non-law students and owing to the nature of our work, language skills are of interest. Applicants will be welcomed for their individuality, their ability to contribute to the cutting-edge work we do and the energy with which they approach the job at hand. They should have achieved, or be on track to achieve, a solid 2:1, have a positive and friendly attitude, be enthusiastic and work well in teams.

How to apply & deadlines

Our Summer vacation scheme is available to penultimate-year students, finalists and graduates from any discipline. Apply online by 12 January 2025.

If you require any additional support throughout the recruitment process, please contact us to discuss in confidence.