Training Contract - 2025 - Acuity Law

Deadline: 15 January 2025

Applications for training contracts are open!

At Acuity Law we recognise that our people are our biggest asset and are committed to developing our junior talent by offering a full and varied training programme for aspiring solicitors and lawyers.

Nowadays there are multiple routes to entering the legal profession and we have opportunities for those who wish to pursue the following routes:

• Legal Practice Course followed by a 2-year Training Contract
• Solicitors Qualifying Exams with 2.6 years of Qualifying Work Experience
• Chartered Legal Executive – to become an advanced paralegal or a specialist lawyer

What We Are Looking For

As a future Acuity solicitor, you will have a strong academic background, a keen interest in the commercial world and the appetite to challenge and innovate. With a passion for all things legal, Acuity trainees will be able to demonstrate practical work experience in a commercial environment, legal or otherwise.

What to expect

Our training contracts are based at our Cardiff head office but there may be the opportunity to do a seat in our other UK offices. We also occasionally have client secondment opportunities.

We try to give our trainees the opportunity to develop their own careers by choosing which departments they wish to cover during their training contract. Therefore, whilst we will allocate your first seat, you will be invited to put forward your preferences for the remainder of your training contract with us.

Our training contracts adopt a hands-on approach as we believe that you learn more by getting fully involved from the outset. You can also expect high levels of client interaction, partner-led supervision and engagement and real responsibility from your training contract.

You will receive regular and constructive feedback from your supervisor or other senior lawyers in the team and you will be allocated a buddy for each seat, most of whom have trained with us.

Acuity culture

We are a team of lawyers that like to do things a little differently. Our team of 100+ exceptional and instinctively commercial lawyers have an entrepreneurial spirit and an appetite for better legal services.

As an innovative firm, we adopt a hybrid approach to working and encourage our trainees to work flexibly where possible, in addition to being able to benefit from valuable office time. Whether you prefer being office-based every day or working flexibly, we work with you to ensure the best learning experience possible.

We have done away with a strict dress code and entrust our people to dress appropriately for the day ahead; sometimes this will mean jeans and sometimes it may mean a full suit.

With an array of Acuity committees comprising Acuity colleagues’ firm-wide, there is plenty of opportunity to get involved. From legal bake-offs, summer parties, quiz nights, ‘Wellbeing Wednesdays’ to our annual netball tournament, there is plenty of opportunity to build great relationships with your colleagues.

As legal change-agents, our thought leadership and innovation initiatives provide the ideal opportunity to challenge the status quo and to partner with some of our industry-leading experts. Whether you enjoy producing podcasts or penning legal articles, we encourage our trainees to broaden their interest beyond the realms of the traditional legal world.

With a passion for providing bespoke legal solutions, designed with our clients in mind, you could be the pioneer of the next Acuity product. We recognise that our trainees are often best placed to innovate and challenge and we actively engage our trainees in new product development.

We understand that pursuing a career in law can be difficult to access for certain individuals and we have a discretionary fund available which we can utilise to aid with social mobility and to help break down the barriers some face with entry into the legal profession.

Application process

All applications must be made via our online process. Please do not sent a CV and covering letter as we are unable to accept these

• Applicants who pass the initial application stage, will be invited to undertake a series of e-psychometric tests and a short video interview.
• An assessment day will then be held consisting of group and written exercises, verbal and critical reasoning tasks, and an opportunity to meet our current trainees and junior lawyers within our firm.
• Final interview with our HR Manager and a selection of Acuity Partners
• Offer will then be made to successful applicants

Who should apply

An Acuity Trainee should have a natural drive to succeed, an inquisitive nature, a strong academic background and committed interest in developing a long-term career with us. For us, your training contract is only the start – we are able to offer an exciting and fulfilling defined career path once qualified and so we are looking for candidates that want this too.

You will ideally have:

• A minimum of 3 A-Levels or equivalent at grades BBB or above;
• A degree level at 2:1 or above or working towards (unless there are genuine mitigating circumstances).

We are looking for you to demonstrate a real commitment to a career in commercial law by gaining experience and taking commercial modules on your LPC (as applicable).

If you have previously applied for a training contract and have been unsuccessful then please note the following.

We appreciate that it often takes several rounds of applications before successfully securing a training contract and do not want to discourage you from applying to us again if you feel Acuity Law is the right fit for you – we recognise this is part of the learning process. However, we will only consider a new application from you if you have gained significant work or volunteering experience (at least six months), achieved an award for your academic achievements or addressed any obvious shortcomings since your last application.

If you are in the same position as you were when you previously applied, then you will unfortunately not be considered on this occasion.