Our recruitment process
We’re now accepting applications for our 2027 training contract. Make sure you get your application in before the closing date, 30 January 2025. Click here to apply.
Our recruitment process is designed to put you through your paces, but it’s also about sharing our unique culture with you, so you get a real sense of the firm you might be joining.
To be eligible for our 2027 Training Contract, you must meet one of the criteria below:
If you are applying for one of our offices in England:
- You are currently studying (in your penultimate or final year) or have completed a law degree in England, Wales, or Northern Ireland
- You are currently studying (in your final year) or have completed a non-law degree in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland
You are currently studying (in your final year) or have completed a non-law degree in Scotland - You are in your final year of or have completed an international qualifying law degree
If you are applying for our Edinburgh office:
- You are currently studying (in your penultimate or final year) or have completed a law degree in Scotland
- You have completed a non-law degree and you have started (or completed) the accelerated LLB in Scottish Law
- You have completed an international degree and you have started (or completed) the accelerated LLB in Scottish Law
1. Application form
The first stage of our process is a short application form. You’ll be asked to share details of your undergraduate degree and any further vocational education, your life history, and information as part of the Rare Contextualised Recruitment System, which allows us to understand the context in which your experiences have been gained and enables us to identify top candidates from the widest pool possible.
2. High Potential Assessment
Shortly after the close of the application window, everyone who has applied and is eligible to complete a training contract will be invited to complete our online high potential assessment.
Click here to try our practice test – this will give you an idea of how the online assessment works.
3. Assessment day
If you’ve been successful in the high potential assessment stage, you’ll be invited to attend an assessment day. This will involve a commercial understanding task and some short interviews, as well as giving you the opportunity to hear from a variety of people at WBD and ask them any questions you may have about the firm.
Remember, it’s a two-way process – by the end of the assessment day, you’ll be able to decide whether WBD is right for you – and we’ll have a better understanding of who you are.
4. Work placement week & final interview
Our placement weeks form part of our recruitment process. Our hybrid placement weeks give you a great insight into our business as well as the responsibility and quality of work that is given to our trainees.
The placement week will also involve a final, mostly strengths-based interview, with two of the WBD team. Again, this is also a chance for you to find out more about our business, get a feel for what it would be like to work in our team, and understand if it’s the right place for you.
Because we believe that diversity, social mobility and fairness are vital in the way we – and all law firms – recruit trainees, WBD has signed up to the “Association of Graduate Recruiters” Voluntary Code to Good Practice in the Recruitment of Trainee Solicitors. You can read more about what this means for us as a recruiter and for you as a potential recruit here.
We would like to ensure that this process is as comfortable as possible for you and are more than happy to discuss any adjustments you may need. Please contact early.careers@wbd-uk.com so that we can work with you to support you throughout your application.
Meet our team
