Mishcon strikes SQE training deal with ULaw

Follows similar moves by Clifford Chance, Taylor Wessing and White & Case

London law firm Mishcon de Reya has selected The University of Law (ULaw) to help prepare its future trainees to sit the Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE).

The deal, announced today, will see the firm’s rookies-in-waiting study ULaw’s SQE Master’s in Legal Practice and Postgraduate Diploma in Law from this September. This builds on the existing tie-up in which the law school has provided SQE training to the firm’s solicitor apprentices since 2020.

Future trainees will complete ULaw’s focused SQE1 & SQE2 prep courses as well as additional training on key practice areas, and innovation, technology and legal project management.

The Legal Cheek Firms Most List 2022 shows Mishcon welcomes around 24 trainees through its doors each year on a starting salary of £45,000.

Commenting on the deal, Mishcon partner and training principal Samantha Kakati said:

“We were looking to work with a trainer who shared our values. We have always been driven by an entrepreneurial, tenacious and socially conscious spirit. We chose The University of Law as we felt they are best positioned to help us realise our ambitions in developing our people, nurturing talent and shaping the future of our firm. Together, we will unlock the potential of our future lawyers and champion equity, diversity, innovation and sustainability.”

As more and more firm’s prepare to switch to the SQE pathway, the competition among law schools to secure lucrative training deals is, much like today’s weather, seriously hotting up.

ULaw has struck similar tie-ups with the likes of Clifford Chance, Taylor Wessing, White & Case and Muckle, while rival BPP University Law School has arrangements in place with Osborne Clarke, Dentons, Walker Morris and the City ‘consortium’ — an influential group made up of Freshfields, Herbert Smith Freehills, Hogan Lovells, Norton Rose Fulbright, Linklaters and Slaughter and May.

BARBRI has partnered with the likes of Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (alongside BPP), Baker McKenzie and Reed Smith, while The College of Legal Practice is supporting Accutrainee, Flex Legal and Welsh commercial law firm Acuity Law.