Legal Summer Placements

A summer placement is a chance to work with people at the top of their profession, and get a flavour of life at a commercial law firm.

Applications for our 2026 legal summer placements are now closed.

We offer paid summer placements in June in our Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen offices; and in June and July in our London office. They give you the opportunity to work in one of our legal teams for three weeks. You’ll also receive high-quality training on a wide range of legal disciplines, delivered by experts in those fields. You will be allocated a ‘buddy’ who will keep in touch daily and help you to get the most from your time with us.

All in all, it’s a thorough introduction to our firm and our teams. It’s also a great way to kick-start your career with us, as all placement students get the opportunity to be fast-tracked to the fourth stage of our Trainee Recruitment Process.

Not everyone is eligible, and there is a thorough application process.

Who is eligible?

In Scotland

Third-year (or above) Scots Law LLB students
First-year (or above) Accelerated LLB students

In London

Second-year (or above) English LLB students
Graduate Diploma in Law Students

Inclusive recruitment

We want our recruitment process to be as inclusive as possible and allow everyone to show us their strengths.

We use the Rare Contextualised Recruitment system to ensure we recognise a candidate’s potential by taking account of their socioeconomic and educational background.

We are also a Disability Confident Leader, which means we’re keen to support applicants who may need adjustments to help them during the recruitment process. Contact Jaimee-Leigh Lawrence if you need any adjustments to support you during any stage of the process.

Application process

The application process has three distinct stages:

01 Application Form

Once our summer placement process opens, you will find a link to our application form here.

The form will ask you to provide information about your time at university, any work experience you have, your skills and extracurricular activities.

What we’re looking for from you

Organisational skills – planning and prioritising your activities to work effectively.
Commercial awareness – understanding what we do and how we work with clients.
Communication and interpersonal skills – communicating well in writing and in person, showing attention to detail and working collaboratively with others.

Tips for your application:

Complete the application form in full – don’t miss anything out.
Answer the question. Make sure you provide us with relevant information and think about the skills we’re looking for.
Check your spelling and grammar – and then check again. It may seem obvious, but spell Shepherd and Wedderburn correctly!
We want to hear about all your work experience (paid, unpaid, legal and non-legal), so don’t leave anything out.
We know you’ll probably apply to a few firms, but please don’t copy and paste your answers. We want to know why you should work for us.

02 Online Testing

If you are successful in the application stage, you will be invited to undertake testing via SHL, an online assessment provider. We use SHL’s G+ test, which assesses numeric, inductive and deductive reasoning.

You have will three days to complete this, and we recommend that you practice by doing some mock assessments first. You’ll find some here.

03 Assessment Centre

If you pass the test section, you will be invited to attend an in-person interview with two members of the firm – one who is legally qualified and one who is part of the graduate recruitment team. The interview is split into two parts.

Presentation

At least three days before your interview, we will send you a description of a legal issue. Your presentation should be five minutes long, and should describe how you would approach and resolve this issue. Your presentation will be scored on timekeeping, structure, clarity and relevance to Shepherd and Wedderburn.

Interview

A more traditional interview will follow your presentation. It is natural to feel nervous during an interview, but rest assured that our interviewers want to hear from you so that they can find out more about you, your skills and your experience. So try to relax and be yourself.

01 Application Form
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01 Application Form

Once our summer placement process opens, you will find a link to our application form here.

The form will ask you to provide information about your time at university, any work experience you have, your skills and extracurricular activities.

What we’re looking for from you

Organisational skills – planning and prioritising your activities to work effectively.
Commercial awareness – understanding what we do and how we work with clients.
Communication and interpersonal skills – communicating well in writing and in person, showing attention to detail and working collaboratively with others.

Tips for your application:

Complete the application form in full – don’t miss anything out.
Answer the question. Make sure you provide us with relevant information and think about the skills we’re looking for.
Check your spelling and grammar – and then check again. It may seem obvious, but spell Shepherd and Wedderburn correctly!
We want to hear about all your work experience (paid, unpaid, legal and non-legal), so don’t leave anything out.
We know you’ll probably apply to a few firms, but please don’t copy and paste your answers. We want to know why you should work for us.