Despite predictions earlier this year that training contract applications would soar as a result of the investment banking industry ­scaling back graduate recruitment programmes, many leading law firms said they received a similar ­number of applications in summer 2009 as in ­previous years, but that they expected a rise next year.

A graduate recruitment partner at a top 15 firm said: “We didn’t get the massive rise in applications we were expecting last year because I think people were put off due to the deferrals and increased competition.

“What we also noticed was many of the weaker candidates just didn’t ­bother applying this year.

“It’s a bit like a pressure cooker at the moment, and next year we’re going to see application numbers shoot up with the big backlog of students who’ve decided to delay their applications.”
A graduate recruitment manager at another firm said there could be a massive ­bottleneck of candidates.

She warned: “Conditions could potentially be a lot worse as gap-year students go head-to-head with ­penultimate- and final-year ­students against the ­backdrop of a contracting training contracts market.”

As a result firms are making students jump through more hoops, with extra ­testing and tougher ­selection procedures.

Herbert Smith is the ­latest firm to add an extra layer to its online application process after piloting a verbal reasoning test on its spring and summer ­vacation scheme candidates ­earlier this year.

Herbert Smith graduate recruitment manager Peter Chater said: “We get so many applications through nowadays that adding this online test will make sure that we’re picking from the best talent pool possible. We want ­quality not ­quantity.”

Berwin Leighton Paisner has added two new exercises to its selection procedure to test for ‘intellectual ­ability’, while LG is in the process of overhauling its entire recruitment process.

DLA Piper has introduced what it calls a “visual ­accuracy test”, whereby students who have successfully completed an assessment day are given a contract to correct for spelling and grammatical errors.

DLA Piper graduate recruitment officer Claire Evans said: “If a candidate’s prepared to jump through hoops like this then you know they’re much more dedicated to a career in the profession.”

Source : The Lawyer

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Partners in Lovells, the City law firm, and Hogan & Hartson, a leading American firm, have approved plans for a merger that will create the world’s ninth-biggest legal group by revenue.

The new firm, which will be known as Hogan Lovells, will have turnover of $1.8 billion (£1.1 billion) and around 2,500 lawyers, ranking it just behind Allen & Overy, the “magic circle” London firm in size.

Merger talks between the two firms were first revealed in October but required the approval of their respective partners, which was given yesterday. The combined firm will begin operating in May next year.

It is the biggest tie-up yet between a US and a British firm of comparable size but senior figures in the legal market said that several other big mergers are under discussion.

David Harris, Lovell’s managing partner, said: “Hogan Lovells presents a compelling proposition to our clients and to the market more generally.”

Lovells had fallen behind its “magic circle” rivals in recent years, with its turnover of £531 million last year less than half that of rivals such as Linklaters and Clifford Chance.

Hogan & Hartson, headquartered in Washington, is the 22nd-largest law firm in the US with revenue in 2008-09 of $922 million.

Source : The Times

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