Graduates choose Lidl over Slaughter and May in Times survey
21 September 2012
The annual Times Top 100 Graduate Employers survey has been released with typical fanfare. And as it is dominated by businesses offering good salaries and prestigious graduate schemes, some of the better known law firms have snuck in.
The survey asked 17,000 2012 graduates to name the employer offering the best opportunities for graduates. So no doubt
Allen & Overy will be delighted to have come 31st, between L'Oreal (shampoo) and Lidl (own-brand beans). And the rest of the Magic Circle is close behind:
Linklaters is 43rd,
Clifford Chance 45th,
Slaughter and May 49th and
Freshfields is 52nd.
At least the Magic Circle all beat McDonald's (or McDonald's Restaurants, as the company is optimistically described) which came 55th. However it seems graduates would prefer a McJob to a training contract at
DLA Piper (59th),
Herbert Smith (73rd),
Norton Rose (85th) or
Hogan Lovells (100th).
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Better than working at DLA Piper
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But how do graduates' rosy views of the Magic Circle firms compare to the realities reported by their own lawyers? Well, while the Magic Circle may lead the law firms in the graduate survey, they did not do half so well in the RollOnFriday
2012 Firm of the Year survey. A&O did best of the Magic Circle but only came halfway down the results in 22nd place, and was soundly thrashed by smaller firms such as
Inco & Co, which came top.
And while graduates rated Clifford Chance highly for the opportunities it offers, this year it dumped
almost a quarter of its qualifying trainees. So much for opportunity.