Clifford Chance

The Clifford Chance Graduate Recruitment team celebrate three wins this month at the 2020 TARGETjobs awards, having been awarded the 'Most Popular Graduate Recruiter in Law' after crunching the numbers from the 75,000+ student votes, as well as winning the awards for best onboarding experience and best social mobility strategy.

The team's recognition as the 'Most Popular Graduate Recruiter in Law' reflects its ground-breaking programmes such as ACCESS, ACCEPT, IGNITE, LIFT, SPARK and global virtual internships. The team is continually innovating and delivering an exceptional experience to aspiring lawyers and current trainees. The 'Best Onboarding Experience' award took into account the firm's strategy to interact with training contract offer holders before they join the firm, and as they join the business. This includes initiatives such as:

• A two-year buddy programme which allows offer holders to see the lifecycle of a TC through the lens of a current trainee.
• A carefully planned cultivation calendar of events supports candidates in growing their network. 
• The LIFT programme which gives future trainees the opportunity to complete internships with internal functions and external partners in areas such as marketing, business development, technology and sustainability.
• Our award-winning Trainee Induction programme is a continuation of the work we do from the point of offer to ensure our trainees join with all the tools and techniques they need to succeed. This three-day programme has been designed with essential input from key stakeholders in the firm – from the London Managing Partner, to trainees who have been through the learning process themselves.

The 'Best Social Mobility Strategy' focused on the firm's ACCESS programme, which is a two-year development programme as part of the firm's PRIME commitment. The ACCESS programme offers meaningful development opportunities and work experience to students from social mobility backgrounds. This pioneering programme consists of seven different components, each focused around specific core areas of students' personal and professional development: ACCESS Development, ACCESS Mentors, ACCESS Experience, ACCESS Tutoring, ACCESS Action, ACCESS Coaching, ACCESS Network.

In addition to the awards, our position in two important graduate recruitment rankings have increased.

• We have been recognised as the Employer of Choice for Law by the Times Top 100 Graduate Employers index, and gained our highest position ever at 24th.
• The UK300 have released their rankings and we've recorded our highest ever spot at 40. These are the rankings from over 75,000 students that inform the 'best graduate recruiter in law' sector award at the TARGETjobs awards.