Graduate Recruitment

Thorntons is one of the few full-service law firms in Scotland. It enables us to offer you a genuinely diverse training experience. Our Training Contracts comprise of four, 6 month seat rotations which could include areas such as:

Tell us about you: This is your chance to tell us about yourself. Please remember, there is no ‘typical’ Thorntons Trainee. We want to hear about the skills and life experiences that make you ‘you’ and what you have learned on your journey so far that will make you a great Trainee Solicitor. 

Do your research: Find out as much as you can about us as a firm and think about why we would be a good fit for you. Look at our values – do they resonate with you? Our values are core to our culture, vision and journey and we are looking for people who will share these. 

Highlight your skills: Think of the skills, such as commercial awareness, that you have developed so far in part-time jobs, voluntary work, university societies or life experiences and articulate how these will help you in your next career step.   

Pay attention to the detail: This is a vital skill for lawyers, so make sure to proofread your application before you submit it. 

For those shortlisted after a successful application, the second stage of our recruitment process is an Assessment centre. 

This involves a practical group exercise, two interviews, a written exercise and a group case study/exercise. We feel that this process gives everyone the chance to showcase their strengths, skills and abilities and our Assessment panel, made up of Partners from across the firm, aim to make the experience as enjoyable as possible.

Tips:

Group exercises: 

• Contribute to the task, even if there are some strong personalities in the group! Equally, do not dominate, listen to others and allow everyone to contribute. 
• Take time to read and understand the brief and stay aware of timings. 
• Be friendly, positive and enthusiastic! 

Interviews: 

• Be yourself and be prepared to tell us about your skills, experiences and interests. We are interested in candidates who understand that law does not operate in a vacuum and are interested in the world around them. 
• Be ready to talk about why you want to have a legal career, whether you already have an idea of the type of Solicitor that you want to be, or you are totally open to where your trainee journey make take you. 
• Have some questions ready to ask us, so that you can find out more about us too.

Written exercise: 

• Don’t worry - this isn’t a legal test. It’s about analysing a set of papers, extracting relevant information and preparing a well-written answer to key questions. 
• Keep an eye on the time and try to make sure you complete the whole exercise. 

From day one, we want to look after Thorntons’ people in all aspects of their lives.   As a Trainee Solicitor at Thorntons, we provide financial support by contributing to Diploma fees and offers Trainees who continue their journey with the firm an additional 4 weeks paid leave in their first year of qualification. 

More broadly, we have a wide-ranging benefits package to cover your needs from family, to health and financial.

As well as a competitive salary, we have a contributory pension scheme. To help you maintain your physical health we have a Healthcare Cash Plan which covers things like dental, optical and health screening, and offer a cycle to work scheme.

To ensure you give yourself a well-earned break from work we give you 25 days holiday, which rises with length of service to 30 days – plus 7 days public holiday, and we invest in your career by providing training, development, memberships and career progression.