About

What is Advocate and am I eligible to apply?

Advocate is Rare’s new and exclusive development programme for British students from under-represented ethnic minority backgrounds who are interested in commercial law. The programme is sponsored by three top City law firms and run by Rare.

You must be in your first year of a three-year undergraduate course or second year of a four-year undergraduate course to apply. We will give priority to students who also meet the following criteria:

• You are from an under-represented ethnic minority (Rare’s Race Fairness Commitment identifies Bangladeshi and Pakistani heritage students as being especially under-represented in law firms.)
• You were a UK student and were in receipt of free school meals between the ages of 11 and 16
• You have spent time in local authority care
• You are, or have been, a parent before the age of 21 or a registered carer
• You came to the UK as a refugee or asylum seeker
• You attended a low performing school or college
• You grew up in a household where no parent or guardian had attended university

You will need ABB or equivalent at A-Level, or at least 34 IB points to apply. We will take into account your background and any mitigating circumstances applicable.

What will the programme involve?

Competition for vacation scheme places is fierce. The application and interview processes are rigorous. Top law firms use a range of assessments including ability tests, case studies and commercial awareness interviews. These assessments measure ability but, inevitably, having confidence and social capital can give students an advantage. This programme aims to enable Advocate students to develop their enormous potential.

Participants will receive:

• Individual sessions with our expert coaches: Cary Kochberg, former partner at Hogan Lovells; Andrew Lilley, former managing partner of Travers Smith and current Head of Employment at Deloitte Legal; Rita Dev, former lawyer and global training and development specialist at Allen & Overy, Ian Stanley, former corporate partner at Allen & Overy, Imogen Moss, former Real Estate Partner at Allen & Overy; Steven Gilberg, former commercial litigator at Clyde & Co and founder and CEO of an insurtech startup and Salome Coker, a corporate finance solicitor with over a decade of experience in private practice and in-house roles. In these sessions, students will be challenged to enhance their knowledge of and ability to talk about complex commercial, economic, and political issues in a confident manner. These sessions will prepare you, not just for the application and interview process, but for a successful career in commercial law.
• Access to exclusive events with our founding partner firms in their London offices. These sessions will involve partners, associates, trainees, and members of the graduate recruitment teams from the firms, providing students with exceptional networking and learning opportunities. All travel expenses for these events will be paid by the founding partner firms.
• Individual support and guidance from our expert law team at Rare throughout the application and interview processes and beyond.

Religious Inclusion Pledge

We recently carried out a research piece focused on ‘The experiences of British Bangladeshi and Pakistani applicants to commercial law firms’. This built on our 2021 research piece ‘One of us? The Experience of Jews and Muslims in City Law’. In response to the findings, we have launched a Religious Inclusion Vacation Scheme Pledge to ensure that vacation schemes are inclusive of candidates who practice a religion. The Advocate partner firms have signed up to this pledge. Amongst other things, it provides that firms will organise events that are focused on inclusive activities held at venues that are not primarily alcohol focused and will provide clear messaging to everyone involved in the scheme that vacation schemers are welcome to pray during the working day and acknowledging that they may be fasting for religious reasons.

When can I apply?

Interested students should apply between 25 March and 6 May 2024. We will review and interview applicants on a rolling basis.

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