Work experience

If you're looking to get a headstart on your legal career, we offer a range of opportunities for you to gain insight into life and work at Lewis Silkin. 

Our four-day work experience programme offers first-hand insight into the world of commercial law, and will see you spending time in a variety of different teams, as well as attending a number of skills workshops.

During our scheme, you will spend your first two days attending various workshops including, but not limited to: 

• Overview of the Various Routes Into Law 
• Application Top Tips
• Building Commercial Awareness 
• Demonstrating Analytical Thinking  

You will then spend your next two days shadowing a member of our team at Lewis Silkin.  Ahead of you joining us, you will be given the opportunity to let us know which teams you would like to shadow. 

With the exception of the “Routes into Law” session, the workshops will focus on transferrable skills, making the scheme beneficial for students who are interested in both our legal and business services teams. 

Our work experience scheme is aimed at sixth-form students (Year 12 and Year 13). All candidates must have the right to work in the UK. 

We will be looking for candidates who express enthusiasm and interest in the legal sector, whether this is towards a future career as a lawyer, or a career supporting a legal practice. 

We are making every effort to make our work experience as inclusive as possible.  

Due to the nature of the programme, the scheme is not suitable for candidates over 18.

In the absence of a formal work experience programme, we would encourage interested candidates to visit our Trainee website where you can find information about how to “meet us” by finding out about the various events our trainee recruitment team are attending, including our Open Evening. You will also find a variety of helpful resources, including hints and tips from our current trainees. Candidates who are successful at securing a place at our Assessment Day will be invited to attend a two-day workshop – this is being trialled in London this year, with a view to develop the workshop program and expand to further offices in the future.

Please note, we have now filled all spaces for our 2024 work placements and are no longer accepting new applications. We will be updating our website with further information on our 2025 placements in the near future.

We ask that you complete a short application form, explaining your interest in a career in law (or a relevant business services function), via our online recruitment system. Further details on how to apply can be found here. 

In your application, you will be asked to let us know why you are hoping to gain work experience at our firm. You will be given up to 500 words to do this.

It would be great for you to use this word count to go through some of the following areas that apply to you:

• Your career ambitions
• What being a solicitor means to you/what working in a law firm means to you
• Are there any specific areas of Law or Business Services that you are interested in?
• What will you bring to Lewis Silkin?
• What do you hope to get out of the scheme?

Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis, but must be submitted at least one month ahead of your preferred placement start date.