At Shakespeare Martineau, we believe in nurturing talent at every stage of the journey.
Whether you're just starting to explore the world of law or you're ready to kick-start your legal career, we offer a range of opportunities designed to give you real-world experience, insight, and growth.
From insight evenings that provide a glimpse into life at a leading law firm, to Work Simulation placements where you can see our teams in action, we give you the chance to immerse yourself in the legal world. Our summer intern programs are perfect for those looking to dive deeper, with hands-on projects and mentoring to guide you. If you're interested in building your career from the ground up, our legal and business apprenticeships offer an excellent blend of work and study. And of course, we have our training contracts. Apprenticeships and training contracts provide practical training, support, and opportunities to develop into a qualified lawyer.
Whatever stage you’re at, we’re here to help you discover, learn, and take every opportunity.
Training Contracts
We offer ambitious legal talents a dynamic two-year training program across diverse practice areas, fostering collaborative problem-solvers who drive their own development.
Apprenticeships
From law to business operations, our apprenticeships blend four days of hands-on work with one day of funded study, offering qualification pathways while earning.
Insight evenings
Our inclusive insight evenings offer aspiring legal professionals direct access to our team's experiences, career paths, and application guidance, reflecting our commitment to diverse talent.
Coming soon...
SMART job simulation
Our free SMART job simulations provide realistic, self-paced legal and commercial scenarios, offering diverse talent hands-on experience and mentor feedback.
Coming soon...
Summer intern programme
Our 6-week summer internship offers real legal experience, client exposure, and networking opportunities, serving as a springboard into our supportive culture..
Coming soon...
Paralegals
Our paralegals gain diverse legal experience in a collaborative environment, supporting qualified lawyers with substantive work from day one.
Coming soon...
At Shakespeare Martineau, we’re more than just a full-service law firm.
We’re a team of passionate professionals, dedicated to helping businesses, families, and individuals navigate life’s big moments—both personal and professional. From our 12 office hubs nationwide, we deliver bespoke legal solutions designed to empower our clients and help them succeed.
What sets us apart? We don’t just focus on the bottom line. As a B-Corporation, we’re committed to making decisions that positively impact not only our clients, but also our people, communities, suppliers, and the environment. It's about balancing purpose, people, and profit—ensuring that we create meaningful change while delivering exceptional results.
We hold ourselves accountable through our responsible business ambitions that help us to drive positive change in our local communities and the wider business championing our pro bono initiatives, charitable giving and volunteering initiatives. We’re building a legacy of responsible business and contributing to the communities we care about.
Whether you're at the beginning of your career or ready for a new challenge, join us in making a real difference—both in the lives of our clients and the communities around us.
Explore a law career where purpose meets potential
Training contracts
We are dedicated to nurturing talent, fostering growth, and shaping the future of the legal industry and we look for individuals who will thrive in our culture, be a team player, and are eager to develop their career with us.
As a trainee solicitor with us, you will gain hands-on experience within four of our teams across the business in 6-month rotations across the two-year training period, with secondment opportunities where possible. Our trainees take charge of their career and are passionate about their professional development. We encourage our trainees to demonstrate an eagerness to learn, a creative approach to problem solving, an eye for detail and collaborate and communicate effectively within their team to ensure they thrive with us.
What we are looking for
In addition to our core values, we also want to see a range of skills and attributes. There is no definitive list, but if you can display some of the below traits throughout your time with us, then you will be on the right track:
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Dedication
Can you demonstrate that you have the dedication to keep going with your chosen career path when challenged?
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Inquisitive
It's important that we all remain curious. This isn’t limited to keeping up to speed with your chosen area of law, but also looking for new ways to challenge ourselves both professionally and personally.
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Creativity
Don't worry, we’re not looking for you to be able to get out a palette and easel, but we want you to bring fresh ideas to the table and tackle challenges in new and novel ways
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Positivity
A career in law isn’t an easy one, but that’s part of what makes it so rewarding! Staying positive in the face of adversity is what is going to be able to set you apart from others.
Key dates
Applications open
Monday 21 Oct
Closing date
Friday 6 Dec
Assessment centre
w/c 20 Jan
Final interviews
w/c 27 Jan
Offers
Friday 31 Jan
Apprenticeships
We believe that talented and ambitious individuals will thrive with the right investment and support.
Through our range of apprenticeship programmes, we offer you the opportunity to gain the qualifications and experience needed to excel in a leading law firm, all while earning a salary.
Solicitor Apprenticeship
Over six years, you will immerse yourself in the world of law, dividing and balancing your time between working with colleagues and focused study. The programme is carefully designed to equip you with everything you need for a successful legal career from working across a variety of teams, networking, building your skills and progressing in your studies towards qualification.
Four days each week will be spent working in practice groups on real projects, live deals, and interesting cases for clients, rotating between teams and gaining valuable insight into the services we provide. This exposure will help you develop a comprehensive understanding of how we operate, expand your knowledge and skills as a solicitor, and demonstrate your capabilities at the highest levels.
One day per week will be dedicated to studying with our training provider, where you will work towards an LLB (Hons) Law and Legal Practice and a Solicitor Level 7 Apprenticeship, covered by us and while earning a salary throughout your training.
Business Apprenticeship
Our business operation teams in Finance, IT, Business Support, and HR offer a range of apprenticeships from Level 3 to Level 6.
Four days each week, you will work in your team, engaging in real projects and immersing yourself in the daily activities of a leading law firm's business operation teams, with one day per week dedicated to studying with your local training provider, allowing you to enhance your career with a qualification in your chosen discipline.
Explore a law career where purpose meets potential
Diversity, Equality and Inclusion
We are proud to foster a community at Shakespeare Martineau that is built on equality, diversity and inclusion and continuously challenge ourselves on how we can continue to grow and encourage candidates of all backgrounds to pursue a career with us.
We were recognised as having strong socioeconomic diversity in August 2023 by Law.com International and ranked first for representation of those from non-selective state schools at partnership level, 87.6%. We are passionate about improving social mobility and continue to ensure our empowered working approach is embedded across the business, enabling our people to balance their home and work life in a way that suits their individual needs while meeting the needs of their clients.
Responsible Business
In January 2023, we became certified as a B Corporation, demonstrating our commitment to making business a force for good and being purpose orientated in everything we do. For us, responsible business is how we seek to do business, by proving business can be both purposeful and profitable.
By placing people first, we have been listed in Best Companies as one of the top 100 best large companies to work for in the UK. We also ranked as a top 25 law firm, top 75 East Midlands company, top 75 West Midlands company and top 50 large London company to work for.
Read more about how we operate as a B Corp and our responsible business impact in our latest impact report >
What’s happening at Shakespeare Martineau
We value being able to provide opportunities for our people to drive positive change across our communities, which is why we introduced hub-based volunteering to support local communities and causes in each office hub.
We have 40 responsible business champion leads across our 11 UK offices who lead our local charity partner relationships for fundraising and volunteering and offer two days of volunteering to everyone across the firm.
We are passionate about supporting and inspiring young people into employment which is why we have a structured schoolwork experience programme and participate in the 10,000 Black Interns programme for six weeks over the Summer.
Our values guide us and reflect who we are
Everyone shares the same values and lives by the same Culture Code. It guides the way we work, behave, and hold each other to account. And shows up in everything we do.
Authentic
We are open minded and confident in ourselves while always valuing diverse perspectives.
Collaborative
Sharing knowledge, and working together as a team, we bring our best to every client.
Trusted
We do the right thing, not the easy thing, integrity is everything for us, our words and actions match.
Brave
We love exploring ideas, pushing boundaries, driving change for the benefit of all.