At Charles Russell Speechlys, we look to grow our own and support you to build your career with us.

We offer a range of graduate and apprenticeship opportunities across our offices that aim to nurture and develop our talent, whether you are are finishing college, a graduate or ‘career changer’.

We are looking for talented individuals who are aligned with our values of being Authentic, Collaborative, Committed and Forward Looking, helping us to unlock and grow value for our clients. An important part of this is championing our inclusive culture and focus on being a sustainable business.

Training with us

Training with us means you’ll not only get a breadth of experience, working for individuals and large commercial companies, but high-quality work and a high level of responsibility, regardless of which programme or location you join. You’ll have support through your supervisor, wider team and Early Talent Team, and be encouraged to own your development as part of our structured review processes alongside the support of the CRS Business School.

We also expect you to get involved beyond the day to day work through our Responsible Business activities, whether that’s through our pro-bono practice, volunteering with our CRS Foundation, or getting involved in Diversity and Inclusioninitiatives. You can find out more in our Annual Review.

As part of any Early Talent programme, you’ll also join our CRS Business School Ignite programme, which is specifically designed to support this stage of your career, focusing on your wider development around interpersonal and organisational skills, alongside understanding how we operate commercially as a business. As you progress, you’ll undertake further development programmes at each stage of career. 

You may also be keen to explore our range of secondment opportunities if you are applying for a Solicitor Apprenticeship or Training Contract – they will help you build a wider skillset and see things from a client’s perspective, or will enhance your international outlook by gaining exposure to work in a different jurisdiction.

Eligibility to Our Programmes

Do you have minimum grades?  

Yes, for our Apprenticeships we have minimum GCSE and A-level grades. For our Training Contracts we have minimum A-level and University grades. Please look at the below pages and FAQ pages to see these.  

UK and Hong Kong Placement Schemes and Training Contracts

We offer Training Contracts and Placement Schemes in our London, Cheltenham, Guildford and Hong Kong offices. You’ll need to be in your final year of a non-law degree, or penultimate or final year of a law degree, or have already graduated to apply. We will support you with your remaining post-graduate legal studies, as well as your 2 years training at the firm. 

We are recruiting for our 2028 trainee cohort.

Please remember that we recruit two years in advance, and you must be eligible to start your training contract in September 2028, i.e. at least in your penultimate year of your law degree, or final year of your non-law degree.

We appreciate you may choose to use a range of sources and generative AI tools to support you during our application process. As one of our four values, Authenticity is important to us, and we still want to hear your voice and critical thought. See our guidance here on how to use AI responsibly and ethically to support your applications.

Please also take your time to prepare your application and consider the wording carefully to answer all of the question. We don’t recruit on a rolling basis, but please bear in mind we cannot consider late applications once the deadline has passed, so please ensure you leave enough time to submit your application.

Please note, the application deadline is midday (UK time) on 15th January 2026.