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Graduate recruitment

Graduate recruitment

We’re always looking to the future, and we want to take the best people with us. We invest time and resources in nurturing talented individuals we think have a bright future. Is that you? 

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Our values

Everything we do at Muckle is underpinned by four core values:

  • trust – we trust each other to do the right thing
  • teamwork – we are one team and work selflessly for each other
  • responsibility – we are self-starters and take responsibility for how we work together and communicate
  • care – we care about our people, clients and community

If you like the sound of that, you can see what our values mean to us below.

What is 'The Muckle Way?'

What is 'The Muckle Way?'

The Muckle Way is all about setting our compass. Making sure that, no matter who you speak to, you get the same personal, high quality experience that's uniquely Muckle.

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The training programme

Our training programme is designed to provide you with invaluable experience of commercial law, working as part of a highly motivated and tight-knit team.

Generally speaking, trainees get to spend six months in four different practice areas.

We’ll organise your professional skills course and make sure you get first-class legal and non-legal training from your own personal mentor, partners and team members.

There’s a detailed induction programme, lots of business training and enjoyable challenges on top.

There are two application routes:

  • Training contract via a 2 day vacation scheme
  • Training contract via a 5 day vacation scheme

We are offering a 5 day vacation scheme and a condensed 2 day vacation scheme for those who are unable to attend for a full week  – while we would encourage attendance on the 5 day scheme where possible (as it gives you and us the best chance to see if the firm is the right fit for you) we appreciate that this isn’t always possible - for example if you are in full time employment.

We will therefore prioritise our 2 day vacation scheme for those in full or part time employment.  Ultimately, which scheme you attend will not impact your progression through the recruitment process.

What is the vacation placement?

Each year we invite about 20 students to experience a vacation placement in a ‘trainee’ capacity before a training contract begins in earnest.

It’s a great opportunity to get to know our distinctive Muckle culture, see what we do and the clients we do it for.

To help you settle in, current trainees are assigned as ‘buddies,’ helping students find their way around and answering questions about life as a trainee.

We offer a 2 day or 5 day vacation scheme.

The recruitment process

We know that securing a training contract can be a nerve-wracking process, so we go out of our way to make it as friendly and enjoyable as we can.

If your initial application progresses, we’ll invite you to interview. Successful candidates will then take part in the vacation placement scheme.

If you’re successful following the vacation placement scheme, you’ll have a final interview. 

Applicants successful at the final interview will receive their training contract offer soon after.

The schedule for every part of this process are shown in Key Dates below.

We appreciate that candidacy is a competitive environment, and believe feedback is very important. If at any stage you’d like to request constructive feedback, the Graduate Recruitment Team is always happy to provide it.

Interviews

Applicants go through an informal first interview process.

The first in-person interview with two members of the Graduate Recruitment Team is about 45 minutes long.

At Muckle, it’s important to us for people to feel relaxed – we know it’s a tough time so we don’t want you to worry about preparing a presentation.

Instead, the conversation centres around submission documents, motivations to join the firm and why you’ll be a good fit.

Later, applicants who pass the interview and vacation placement scheme will have a final interview, this time with Stephanie Brown, head of our Graduate Recruitment team and Jason Wainwright, our Managing Partner.

Once all the interviews are finished, we call each applicant individually to let them know their fate.

How to apply

The application process is now closed. We recommend that you sign up below to be reminded when applications open.

Key dates

30 November 2023

Applications for our 2026 training contract open
26 January 2024 Deadline for our 2026 training contract

19 February 2024 – 1 March 2024

Interviews for the training contract starting in 2026
28 & 29 May 2024 2 day Vacation Scheme 
30 & 31 May 2024 2 day Vacation Scheme 
w/c 3 June 2024 5 day Vacation Scheme 
w/c 10 June 2024 5 day Vacation Scheme 
w/c 17 June 2024 5 day Vacation Scheme 
21 June 2024 Drinks evening
1 & 2 July 2024 Final interviews for training contract starting in September 2026
Graduate Recruitment FAQs

Want to apply for our Graduate Recruitment programme? That’s great! We’re sure you have a lot of questions. You can find the answers to all of our graduate recruitment Frequently Asked Questions here.

Next steps

Using our application form is the only way to apply. Although applications are now closed, we recommend that you sign up to be reminded when applications open again next year.

If you’ve got any questions at all, please contact Judith Birkett in our Graduate Recruitment team or email [email protected].

We can’t wait to hear from you.

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Provide your contact details and we'll be in touch when applications open.

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