Exclusive: Additional 10 places sees firm knock Linklaters off top spot
Magic circle law firm Clifford Chance has become the largest training contract provider in the UK, Legal Cheek can reveal, after upping trainee places from 100 to 110.
The revised figure applies to the upcoming recruitment season and sees the Canary Wharf giant pull ahead of its rival Linklaters, which currently awards around 100 TCs annually.
Like with previous years, Clifford Chance says it will review this target at the point it starts to invite lawyer hopefuls to assessment.
It also confirmed around five spots are set aside for IGNITE, a training contract programme it launched in the summer of 2018 which is specifically geared to students with an aptitude for technology.
But Clifford Chance isn’t the only firm upping its rookie intake. Baker McKenzie recently increased from 33 to 44 and Travers Smith moved from 30 to 40, while CMS grabbed headlines last year when it boosted TC numbers by a hefty 25% from 79 to 95.
The Legal Cheek Firms Most List shows Clifford Chance pays its trainees £50,000 in year one, rising to £55,000 in year two. Base rates for newly qualified associates currently sit at £125k following an uplift earlier this year.
