Spring vacation scheme 2025 (Edinburgh)

Are you ready to dive into the life of an award-winning law firm voted as RollOnFriday 'Best Law Firm to Work at 2024' for the third year in a row?

During the scheme, you'll engage in meaningful work, and have the opportunity to attend client and department meetings as well as skills sessions to gain a genuine insight into Burges Salmon and the legal profession. We've also factored in time for you to enjoy social and sports events to get to know your colleagues and immerse yourself in our firm's culture.

This year, we celebrated five years of remarkable success and growth in Scotland since opening our Edinburgh office in 2019. This milestone highlights the firm's strong organic growth and its establishment as a leading law firm in the Scottish market.

Why apply to Burges Salmon for a training contract?

High profile clients ?: Our teams have worked with top-tier clients like Octoups, BayWa, Santander, and The Crown Commercial Service.

Innovative projects ?: Be part of groundbreaking projects in the renewables sector, including Scotland's largest airport-based solar project and one of Europe's largest battery energy storage systems.

Dynamic team ?: Join a growing Edinburgh team of over 90 professionals, including recent strategic hires that enhance our expertise in areas such as energy and pensions law.

Commitment to ESG ?: Contribute to initiatives promoting biodiversity, like our partnerships with the Scottish Wildlife Trust and Edinburgh Zoo.

Application process

Application details:

Submit your written application by clicking the 'apply now' button.

No tests required at the application stage.

Assessment centre dates:

Successful applicants will be invited to attend an assessment centre on either 4, 5 or 6 March 2025 (in-person only, Edinburgh office).

We recommend that you keep these dates free in the event that you are invited to attend an assessment centre. If you can't attend on these dates, we won't be able to progress your application.

If successful after the assessment centre, you will be invited to either our week 1 or week 2 vacation scheme.

Vacation scheme process:

Our Spring vacation scheme is taking place 7 - 18 April 2025.

If you impress us during your vacation scheme, you could be invited back for a training contract interview – a significant step towards your legal career with us.

If we decide we're right for each other, you'll be offered a training contract.

Disability Confident Leader

As a Disability Confident Leader, we actively encourage individuals with disabilities, long-term health conditions, or impairments to apply for our roles. We regularly implement adjustments throughout the recruitment process to support all candidates effectively.

We invite you to disclose any disability, long-term health condition, or impairment so that we can provide tailored support during your application. We can make bespoke adjustments to assessments, interviews, and other stages to ensure you have an equal opportunity to excel in our recruitment process.

Applicants with a disability who meet our minimum scoring criteria will be offered a place at one of our assessment centres.

An example of an adjustment we can provide at an assessment centre is additional time to complete the written exercise.

Application eligibility

We are excited to be recruiting trainees to join our Edinburgh office in September 2025, September 2026, and September 2027. For 2025 applicants, please apply to our Spring vacation scheme. For 2026 & 2027 applicants please apply to our Summer vacation scheme (16 - 27 June 2025).

If you are applying for a September 2025 start, you must be in the process of completing or have completed the Diploma in Professional Legal Practice.

We will support any future trainees who are due to join us in 2026 and beyond in the completion of the Diploma in Professional Legal Practice.