The Macfarlanes training scholarship

We want to find and recruit the most talented people to become the future of our firm. The Macfarlanes training scholarship has been designed to tackle the socio-economic barriers that discourage talented students from joining the legal profession.

The firm will support three Brunel law students annually – known as Macfarlanes training scholars – through a fully-funded programme from the first year of their law degree onwards.

The firm will cover the full cost of university tuition fees, alongside paid work experience, a paid placement year at the firm, and mentoring from senior lawyers throughout. This significantly reduces the financial burden faced by many socially mobile graduates when they enter the workplace and gives participants the opportunity to develop their legal knowledge and skills, while building their networks in the profession.

Applications will open in Autumn 2024. 

Eligibility

The Macfarlanes training scholarship is open to first year LLB law students (on either the three or four-year programme) who meet the firm’s social mobility criteria, as set out in Rare Recruitment’s contextual recruitment system. The criteria include:

• lower socioeconomic background; and/or
• receipt of Free School Meals/Pupil Premium; and/or
• first-generation university student; and/or
• state-educated; and/or
• care-experienced status; and/or
• refugee/asylum-seeker status.

Structure

The scholarship lasts for the duration of a scholar’s degree programme. Scholars are selected during their first year of study and are assigned a mentor – who is a senior fee earner at the firm – from the first day of their scholarship. Scholars are mentored throughout their degree and beyond.

In the summer between first and second year, scholars join us for six weeks’ paid work experience. In their third year of study, scholars undertake a paid placement year at the firm. Some or all of the placement year will count towards qualifying work experience (QWE), and scholars will be mentored throughout the placement year to help them get the most out of the experience.

After the placement year and graduation, the hope is for all of our scholars to sit the SQE and join our trainee cohort.

Meet our first cohort of scholars

The first cohort of Macfarlanes training scholars was announced in May 2023. That same month, our scholars – Daniel Benchabbat, Sarah Gashi and Dhruv Kotak – visited our London office for an introduction to the firm and to meet their mentors. In the video below, you can hear from each of our scholars about how they found their first day and what they’re most looking forward to about the scholarship experience.