Manchester Spring Vacation Scheme 2027

Manchester Spring Vacation Scheme

Our one-week Spring Vacation Scheme in London offers eligible students and graduates the opportunity to gain first-hand insight into life at Kennedys while developing the skills, confidence and connections needed to kick-start a legal career. Applicants should have a genuine interest in pursuing a legal career and be committed to commencing a Training Contract in September 2028 if offered one.

Throughout the week, you'll gain exposure to our work, learn from legal professionals, and experience our collaborative culture. You'll have the opportunity to take part in workshops, skills sessions, and networking events, while building a deeper understanding of the legal profession and our clients' industries.

You'll have the opportunity to:

• Experience work across a range of practice areas
• Learn from legal professionals through workshops and skills sessions
• Connect with trainees, associates, senior lawyers, and partners
• Develop your commercial awareness and understanding of the legal sector
• Build confidence and practical skills that will support your future career

Our 2027 Vacation Scheme is the primary route to securing a 2028 Training Contract at Kennedys, although we may also recruit directly for Training Contracts where business needs require. Please note that participation in, or completion of, the scheme does not guarantee a Training Contract offer. Training Contract offers will be made based on performance during the scheme and the firm's recruitment requirements.

Eligibility:

• Final-year law students;
• Law graduates; or
• Non-law graduates who will have completed a law conversion course (such as the PGDL or equivalent) by September 2027.

Location: Manchester

Dates: April 2027

Applications close: Monday 30 November 2026

Please let us know if you require any additional support or adjustments to enable you to complete your application or participate in the scheme.

About Kennedys

Kennedys is a global law firm with expertise in dispute resolution and advisory services. With over 3,000 people in 45 offices across 18 countries around the world we have some of the most respected legal minds in their field.

Our lawyers handle both contentious and non-contentious matters, and provide a range of specialist legal services, for many industry sectors but we have particular expertise in litigation and dispute resolution, especially in defending insurance and liability claims.

We're a fresh-thinking firm, and we're not afraid to bring challenging new perspectives to the table way beyond the traditional realm of legal services. We empower our clients with a diverse range of ideas, tools and technology to make their lives easier, as well as delivering exceptional results, every time.

What do we have to offer?

We welcome high-performing lawyers, business services professionals, secretaries, graduates and apprentices to join our rapidly expanding global firm. Whatever your role at Kennedys, you'll be involved in exciting and stimulating work, where your input will make a difference.

Our culture and values form a big part of who we are and we take them seriously. We make a difference by being approachable, straightforward, supportive, distinctive and ambitious. Our values are at the core of who we are and what make us a great firm to work with and for.

The Firm recognises the value of investing in our people's development and believes our culture and values contribute to the quality of our work and of our client relationships. With a culture of on-the-job and experiential learning, peer to peer learning, mentoring, resources and tools that enable you to drive your career, we can support your development in your current and future roles.  A variety of other opportunities are available including secondments to clients and our global offices.

We strive to celebrate diversity, empower our people and ensure everyone can bring their authentic selves to work.  We've created a culture based on client service, professional excellence, hard work and trust, where diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) is a key priority.  We recognise that many of our people want to work for an employer that is aligned to their values, which is why we are building an inclusive culture, decarbonising our operations and supporting our people to thrive at work.  Our people are the key to driving this change and helping us to make a difference to our clients, our people and the communities in which we live and work.

Kennedys is an equal opportunities employer and is committed to ensuring our recruitment processes are as inclusive as possible. We expect all employees to be aware of and comply with all relevant policies and procedures within their jurisdiction, including those relating to Information Security, Data Protection and Quality Management, refer any breach promptly to Risk & Compliance and to complete all mandatory training when requested.