AS Aspire

September - December 2024

Virtual

What is AS Aspire?

AS Aspire is a leading, exclusive 4-month programme for selected Aspiring Solicitors members which includes the opportunity to attend bespoke AS firm events, receive careers and employability coaching from our expert legal coaching team and participate in legal mentoring schemes. This includes the chance to benefit from career strategy sessions, mock interviews, CV and application review and assessment centre preparation, as well as the opportunity to attend specific firm open days and be mentored by one of our partner law firms or legal teams.

What does AS Aspire include?

AS Aspire is the leading UK coaching programme developed by former lawyers at leading UK law firms that will strengthen your applications and improve your chances of securing vacation schemes and training contracts.

Bespoke employability workshops from AS coaches focusing on law firms’ end to end application processes
Firm-specific mentoring schemes including: Black Aspiring Solicitors Scheme (BASS), Ethnic Minority, Social Mobility, STEM and Disability Schemes
Corporate mentoring schemes: including leading law firms partnering with clients (often FTSE 100 companies) providing participants with in-house and private practice mentors
Unique events and insight days with law firms
1-2-1 Mock interviews for those who reach assessment centre
Application review
AS Aspire members will be eligible for our leading coaching and mentoring programmes, some of our work experience programmes and the majority of firm insight/open days. Eligibility for employability appointments (including coaching appointments) will be decided on a case by case basis by the AS team

Eligibility

To apply for this opportunity, you must:

Be an Aspiring Solicitors member (from at least one of our underrepresented groups)
Must not have accepted a training contract with any law firm or legal team
Must not have been on Aspire previously
Must have an interest in pursuing a legal career in the UK or Ireland
Must be eligible to apply for a vacation scheme in the 2024/25 academic year. This means you will need to be one of: a penultimate and final year Law undergraduate, a final year non-Law undergraduate, a graduate of any degree, a postgraduate student (including GDL/LPC/LLM or other post graduate degrees), a career changer or someone who has completed a degree and is working.) Anyone who will be in their first year of a Law degree or first/second year of a non-Law degree in 2024/2025 is not eligible
Must be resident in the UK or Ireland in the academic year 2024/2025
Ideally be physically be present in the UK between September 2024 until December 2024 (to attend interviews and/or vacation schemes in person)
Must have received ABB at A Level (or the international equivalent) (please note we genuinely take into account mitigating circumstances and usually enjoy 30-50% NRG participants)
Must have received or be on target for at least a 2.1 degree classification (please note we take into account mitigating circumstances)

What is the application process?

Stage One – Register your interest and personal details: submit a short form registering your interest for Aspire including your personal details. This takes a few minutes only. AS will use this to review whether you are eligible.

Stage Two – Application form: in early July 2024 eligible applicants will be sent the Aspire application form which will need to be completed within 10 days. All applicants will need to confirm their first year grades across all modules at the time of applying.

Once open, registrations of interest will be screened on a rolling basis so the sooner you register your interest, the better. Registrations of interest will close strictly on 28 June 2024, after which the Aspire application form will be sent to eligible members.

For further opportunities, interviews may also be conducted.

When will Aspire run?

Early September to early December 2024.

Sign up deadline

28 June 2024 at 5pm.

A massive thank you to all the Aspire coaches for every single second they have spent on helping students like me in navigating such a complex and competitive process of applying to law firms. Their support has been invaluable. I previously had no access to the legal profession and would often find it demotivating to even start researching firms. But with the help of the AS coaches, I have been able to make that first step towards to researching and drafting applications. Thank you once again for all your hard work. I have thoroughly enjoyed each and every session!

The best part of the program for me was the opportunity to articulate my responses to one of the AS coaches, and have them provide live feedback. My main takeaways from the program are that I feel more confident in answering questions in applications, more confident articulating myself in an interview setting, and I now have a comprehensive understanding of the application process.