London via the back door: Do I accept my Midlands training contract offer?

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By Legal Cheek on

Sights set on the City

In the latest instalment in our Career Conundrums series, a City-chaser turns his nose up at his Midlands training contract offer.

I have just finished my law degree at the University of Manchester and live in Leeds. Since I can remember I’ve always wanted to live in London and applied in my second and third year for training contracts at most the big City firms. After my first round of applications and with no offers, I felt defeated and fired off some applications in my final year to a few firms closer to home and, hey presto, I’ve been given an offer at a firm in the Midlands. I’m quite pissed off about it because I must have applied for 50+ London training contracts so it’s typical I’d get an offer with one of just two non-London firms I applied for. Part of me thinks I should accept the offer because the firm has an office in London and a few people have suggested I could ask to qualify into its London office, which I think is a good idea. Others say firms discourage and actively block this from happening. If I accept my offer, can I qualify in London? Or will I be stuck here forever?

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