Direct Training Contract

Full job description

CMS recruits trainees directly through an assessment day rather than a vacation scheme, and successful candidates also join its CMS Academy, a two-week programme that includes a week's internship in their chosen office. The two-year contract is normally four six-month seats covering at least three areas of law, with part-time contracts considered case by case. Offices in England taking trainees are Bristol, London, Manchester, Liverpool and Sheffield, with listed first-year salaries of 50,000 pounds in London, 43,000 in Bristol and 33,000 in Manchester, Sheffield and Liverpool, plus 13,000 to 15,000 pound grants for SQE or PGDL study. The scheme is open to law students in their penultimate or final year, final-year non-law students, graduates and career changers. Selection runs through an online form, a critical thinking test, a video interview and the assessment day, and the page says applications open on Thursday 1 October 2026 without stating a closing date or the intake year. The FAQ says the firm will endeavour to support a work permit application but that offers are conditional on obtaining work authorisation.