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Students, Trainees & Judicial Clerks

Attracting and developing talented professionals who are committed to excellence is critical to our success. We offer students, trainees and judicial clerks unparalleled opportunities for interesting work, a supportive and collegial environment, and a promising pathway to career development.

Our summer program and trainee program give an immersive experience. We provide real-life insight into the workings of an established, broad reaching law firm and the chance to share our commitment to client, public and community service. Each office creates a unique program of events, giving law students a taste of life and work in that office.

Our summer associates and trainees are given high-quality, challenging assignments and work directly with senior lawyers across practices and industry groups on complex and, frequently, cross-border matters.

We know that former judicial clerks bring valuable real-world experience to our legal practice. Your experience, skills, and knowledge add to our rich and dynamic culture and contribute directly to our ability to meet the diverse needs of our clients. We've established a legacy of attracting and retaining former judicial clerks. Morgan Lewis is proud to have more than 150 former judicial clerks.

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  • Learn More About Our Global Reach

    • AT A GLANCE

    At a glance

    * Our Beijing and Shanghai offices operate as representative offices of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP. In Hong Kong, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius is a separate Hong Kong general partnership registered with The Law Society of Hong Kong. Morgan Lewis Stamford LLC is a Singapore law corporation affiliated with Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP.

    Say Hello to Opportunity

    Class of 2027, we are so excited to meet you and introduce all that Morgan Lewis offers to US law students! Together we can work toward your summer and post-graduate goals. Use our roadmap to get to know our firm and navigate key dates and milestones in the application process:

    Infographic - Datasource Item: Law Student Recruiting Timeline

    Download the Law Student Recruiting Roadmap >

    Summer Associate Program Overview

    We offer an innovative work experience for second-year law students – one that combines a rich summer experience with hands-on, in-depth work at Morgan Lewis and targeted professional development and training.

    Our Summer Associate Program starts with an experiential get-together where firm leaders and all summer associates from across the US gather for a multiday orientation and bonding program.

    Our kickoffs have happened everywhere from the beach in Santa Monica, where we went barefoot and had a beach olympics, to major urban centers, where we planted trees for the community. Wherever we gather, the goal remains the same: to introduce our summer associates to the firm, to our summer program, to our unique firm culture, and to our enthusiasm for working together.

    We encourage all our lawyers to become involved with public service at the earliest stages of their careers. Our Summer Associate Program provides summer associates the opportunity to participate in hands-on legal clinics and to join ongoing pro bono representations across the firm. For more information on our Summer Program, reach out to a recruiting contact.

    Our program provides Summer Associates with the opportunity to spend all 10 weeks working on real assignments and engaging with lawyers and clients in one of our US offices. At the end of the 10-week period, law students leave with a very clear picture of the day-to-day life of a Morgan Lewis attorney.

    Vault #2 Best Summer Associate Programs

    ML Training Experience

    Professional development begins with our summer associates, through our Summer Academy. The academy offers an introduction to the firm’s professional skills curriculum: client service, legal writing training and presentation skills.

    Upon joining us as an associate, our lawyers continue with our Academies throughout their careers, attending the New Lawyer Academy, our Midlevel Academy, Senior Academy, and Trial Academy.

    Career Path

    Whether you join us as a summer associate or trainee, from a judicial clerkship or as a lateral attorney, there is a career path at Morgan Lewis for you.

    Career Path

    Former judicial clerks bring valuable real-world experience to our legal practice. Their experiences, skills, and knowledge add to our rich and dynamic culture and contribute directly to our ability to meet the diverse needs of our clients. Because of this, we've established a legacy of attracting and retaining former judicial clerks. Morgan Lewis is proud to have more than 150 former judicial clerks.

    To serve the diverse needs of our clients, we actively seek lawyers with experience as judicial clerks from both state and federal courts, as well as administrative agencies such as the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

    We recruit judicial clerks into specific practices and offices.

    Career Path

    Whether you join us as a summer associate or trainee, from a judicial clerkship or as a lateral attorney, there is a career path at Morgan Lewis for you.

    Career Path

    Morgan Lewis has international programs for students in Frankfurt, Munich, Hong Kong, London, Paris, and Singapore. Each program is designed to give law students real world experience with a genuinely global perspective.

    Frankfurt and Munich Referendare Program

    The Frankfurt and Munich offices offer interested and promising German Referendare (legal trainees) who have already completed a station in our German offices the opportunity to work in one of our US offices during their elective station. The typical Referendare has received excellent training in German law, but has not been trained in the US or in any other common law system. This program helps bring a global dimension to your education.

    As a Referendare, you will spend your first three weeks in the Morgan Lewis Frankfurt or Munich offices, where you will receive an overall orientation. You will then spend approximately two months working with a partner in one of our US offices, who will serve as your mentor. You will be given many opportunities to experience the similarities and differences between German statutory and American common law. While in the US, you will work on active cases and be immersed in the day-to-day business of the firm.

    For further information, please contact Dr. Ulrich Korth, partner and sponsor of the program, at our Frankfurt office.

    Hong Kong Trainee & Internship Programme

    Each year Hong Kong office recruits up to four trainees across our two internship intakes, recruiting candidates who show us their team spirit, commercial awareness, resilience, and passion for a career in law.

    All of our trainees spend two years across four different practice areas, including seats in banking and finance, corporate transactions, litigation, and investment management. While classic “seat” allocations bring a practice area focus to each six-month phase of your training, the versatility and integration of our lawyers ensure that you will have a varied workload and regular exposure to diverse learning experiences. Trainees also may have secondment opportunities to Morgan Lewis’s other global offices during their contracts.

    INTERNSHIP PROGRAMME

    Our vacation schemes are a great way for you to gain genuine insight into life as a trainee in the Hong Kong office. Our programme runs in June and December of each year, with up to 12 places offered in each scheme.

    During the scheme, you will be given as much hands-on experience as possible and will be supervised by a mentoring partner who will provide advice and guidance throughout the placement. You could be conducting legal research for live deals/cases, attending client meetings, sitting in on conference calls, or drafting engagement letters during your time at the firm. You will have the opportunity to attend a number of seminars and workshops, including presentations from each of the Hong Kong office’s practices and a Q&A session with some of our trainees. We also organise a number of social events during the scheme, providing you with the opportunity to meet many of our partners, associates, trainees, and business support staff in a more informal setting.

    Vacation scheme students are assessed for a training contract during the course of the placement. Assessments vary each year, but typically will include a comprehension or written exercise, a research activity, and a group presentation, as well as a partner interview at the end of the scheme.

    HOW TO APPLY

    Internships & Training Contracts

    Our internship and training programmes are open to penultimate-year law students and graduates. Each internship will run for four weeks during the summer (June to August) and during the winter (December to February). Training programmes are two-year contracts. The application period for training contracts and/ or winter internships is February through May. The application period for training contracts and/ or summer internships is November through January.

    Hiring Criteria

    • Consistently strong academic
    • Strong communication, interpersonal, and legal research skills
    • Ability to think analytically and demonstrate commercial awareness
    • High level of fluency in written and spoken English and Putonghua

    If you meet the above criteria, please send a cover letter describing your career goals, your academic transcripts, and a CV indicating your language skills to our recruiting department at HKRecruiting@morganlewis.com.

    If your application is successful, you will be invited for an interview held with one to two partners at the Hong Kong office.

    Download the Hong Kong Trainee & Internship Programme brochure

    London Trainee Programme

    Trainees in our London office work directly with senior lawyers across practices and industry groups on complex and, frequently, cross-border matters. We offer a hands-on and varied experience where trainees build a thorough understanding of our firm’s business and of working with international, high-profile clients.

    Engagement and teamwork are the foundation of the training you will experience at Morgan Lewis. You can expect to be an active member of a busy team and play a real part in doing challenging legal work. While classic “seat” allocations bring a practice area focus to each six-month phase of your training, the versatility and integration of our lawyers ensures that you will have a varied workload and regular exposure to diverse learning experiences. We currently offer seats in Antitrust, Corporate & Business Transactions, Finance, Investment Management, Labour & Employment, Litigation, and Structured Transactions, IP as well as the occasional client secondment in London. The majority of our trainees will also undertake a secondment in one of our international offices, including Dubai and Singapore.

    Pay and Benefits

    Candidates who have accepted a training contract offer with Morgan Lewis will receive a maintenance grant (paid in instalments), as well as the full payment of fees for both the PGDL and SQE. The firm does not provide retrospective funding for law school fees or maintenance grants.

    1st year salary: £57,500 per annum.
    2nd year salary: £62,500 per annum.
    Qualification salary: £173,000 per annum.

    Benefits include life assurance, private medical and dental insurance, pension, and income protection.

    Applications for our 2027 Training Contracts open on 14 October 2024 and close at midnight on 25 June 2025. Applicants will first need to complete the online application form, the second stage of the process is a phone interview with HR and if successful candidates will be invited to an assessment centre, which includes a partner interview, group activity, written exercise, and discussion panel with partners.

    Apply for a training contract starting in August 2027 here >>

    Summer Vacation Scheme

    Our two-week summer vacation scheme provides students with the opportunity to learn more about the firm, meet some of our people, and gain insight into life at Morgan Lewis. During the scheme, students will be given as much hands-on experience as possible, as well as be given the opportunity to attend seminars, workshops, and various social activities. Summer scheme students will be assessed for a training contract during the course of the two-week placement.

    Applications for our 2025 summer vacation scheme in the London office open on 14 October 2024 and will close at midnight on 24 January 2025. Obtaining a spot requires an online application followed by a telephone interview with HR and then a partner interview.

    Apply for a summer scheme here >> 

    What we look for

    Candidates applying for our open day, summer scheme, or training contract will need a strong academic record, including a minimum of AAB at A Level (or equivalent) and a 2:1 (predicted or gained) in their undergraduate degree.

    Our online application form is the first opportunity for you to provide us with information that will help us to get to know you. We look for a range of prior work experience (a mixture of law and non-law), volunteering and extracurricular activities to demonstrate the development of your skills and experience. In particular, we are looking for candidates to show us their commercial awareness, team spirit, resilience, and passion for a career in law.

    Applications for both our summer scheme and training contract programmes are open to penultimate year law students, final year law, and non-law students and graduates. If you have not completed a law degree in England and Wales, we will require you to complete the Post Graduate Diploma in Law (PGDL), before commencing the SQE. If you have any queries on either our summer scheme or training contract recruitment process, please contact the graduate recruitment team at: LondonTrainingProgramme@morganlewis.com.

    Open Days 2025

    Our Open Day runs in the spring of each year. The one-day programme is a great way to learn more about Morgan Lewis as a firm and about commercial law in general.  We will introduce you to our key practice areas in the London office and give you the opportunity to meet with some of our trainees during a Q&A session. You will also sit down with some of our trainees over an informal lunch, before attending a number of skills sessions.

    Our Open Days are open to those in their first year of a law degree, or penultimate year of a non-law degree.

    Apply for an open day here >> 

    Applications will open on 14 October 2024 and close on 15 January 2025. Telephone interviews take place in February.

    Download the London Trainee Programme brochure

    Singapore Trainee Program and Internship

    Get a head start and enhance your appreciation for the practice of law at our Singapore office. We offer a practical training programme that gives outstanding students an opportunity to get hands-on training in regional and international transactions and cases. Successful candidates are talented law students with strong academics, drive, and curiosity, who are eager to learn.

    The Morgan Lewis Stamford Practice Training Contracts programme offers trainees maximum exposure through a rotation of all our practice groups. You will receive support from senior lawyers, practical scheduled training modules covering major aspects of corporate, commercial, finance and dispute resolution practice, and a dedicated mentor for career guidance.

    • Attractive honorarium through the Practice Training Period, currently set at S$2,000/month
    • Reimbursement of compulsory course fees upon retention
    • A market-leader for annual packages of newly qualified lawyers

    Our internship programmes run from May to August. Send applications by mail or electronically to:

    The Recruitment Director Morgan Lewis Stamford LLC 10 Collyer Quay Level 27-00 Ocean Financial Centre Singapore 049315 Email: singaporerecruitment@morganlewis.com

    Applicants should include: Cover letter stating your preferred area of practice, a recent photo, your Curriculum Vitae, transcripts of results achieved in your LLB examinations to date, and copies of “O” and “A” level certificates.