Magic circle firm reveals where the successful 20 studied.
The winners of this year’s ‘Intelligent Aid’ limb of Clifford Chance’s ‘CV Blind’ competition have been announced, with 20 successful candidates emerging from a field of over 500 entries.
Applicants were assessed on the basis of a 500-word essay question about emerging markets, before 40 were selected to complete an assessment day at the firm’s London Canary Wharf offices. Half of those made the cut, with individuals’ CVs not considered at any point in the process.
Clifford Chance has provided Legal Cheek with more information about the successful 20, including what universities they attended. Here is what the firm’s graduate recruitment team told us:
The successful candidates were a mixture of law and non-law students, with five Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) students among the winners. One current Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) student was also successful.
SOAS (the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London) and Exeter were the best represented universities, with three winners each, followed by King’s College London and Warwick, with two winners each. The other successful candidates came from Manchester Metropolitan University, LSE, Brunel, Cardiff University, Nottingham University, Sussex, Oxford University, Queen Mary, Bristol University and one overseas university.
The overall victor was final year Exeter University philosophy and politics student Jessica Bryant, who recently completed a Clifford Chance-backed social mobility scheme called upReach. Like the other 19 Intelligent Aid winners, Bryant (pictured below) gets a vac scheme place and an interview for a training contract, but as the top performer she also receives £5,000 towards her university fees.
There is more information about Clifford Chance’s CV Blind scheme here, and an interview with a former Intelligent Aid winner here.