If you are in your first year and planning a career in commercial law, our Vacation Schemes hub covers everything from insight events through to training contract offers.

Most law firm recruitment advice is written for penultimate-year students preparing to apply for vacation schemes. By the time you read it, if you are in your first year, the implied message is that you are too early. You are not. The candidates who secure vacation schemes and training contracts at the most competitive firms are almost always those who started engaging with the profession in their first year, who used early schemes to build real knowledge of specific firms, and who arrived at vacation scheme applications with a level of firm-specific insight that candidates who started preparing in their second year simply could not match.

First-year schemes go by several names: spring weeks, first-year insight schemes, diversity access schemes, open days, and insight days. They differ in length, structure, and purpose, but they share a common function: they are how law firms begin identifying and building relationships with candidates long before those candidates are eligible to apply for vacation schemes.

What first-year schemes actually are

The term covers several different types of programme, and understanding the differences helps you prioritise your time and applications.

Spring weeks are the most substantial first-year offering. They typically run for one week in March or April, are hosted at the firm's offices, and involve a structured mix of work shadowing, skills workshops, commercial awareness sessions, networking with trainees and associates, and sometimes a group exercise or presentation. Some firms pay a stipend for the week. Others do not. Most are residential if the firm's offices are not in your home city.

Spring weeks are competitive in their own right: they receive thousands of applications for a limited number of places. The application process typically involves a written application form (shorter than a vacation scheme application but covering similar ground: motivation, commercial awareness, skills), and sometimes a video interview or online assessment. They are not as competitive as vacation schemes, but treating them as formalities is a mistake.

First-year insight schemes are similar to spring weeks but sometimes shorter (two to three days rather than a full week) and often more structured around education and firm exposure than assessment. The line between a spring week and an insight scheme is blurry and firms use the terms differently, so read each programme's description carefully.

Diversity access schemes are first-year (and sometimes second-year) programmes specifically designed to increase representation from underrepresented groups. Firms running these include Clifford Chance's Aspire programme, Linklaters' Linklaters Connects, Freshfields' Freshfields Advance, and many others. Eligibility criteria vary: some require first-generation university attendance, others are open to candidates from specific socioeconomic backgrounds, and others focus on ethnic minority representation or disability. These programmes typically include stronger mentoring components, longer-term follow-up, and a more explicit pipeline into vacation scheme applications. If you are eligible for any of these, applying is strongly advisable.

Open days and insight events are shorter, often half-day or full-day programmes that give first-year students a taste of the firm without the depth of a spring week. They are generally less competitive to access (some require only registration, others involve a short application) and less directly useful as application material, but they are worth attending at firms you are seriously considering because they provide the specific observations and conversations that strengthen future applications. The person you spoke to, the practice area session that surprised you, the specific question you asked a partner: these are the raw materials of a compelling "why this firm" answer.

Why first-year schemes matter more than most students realise

There are two reasons to take first-year schemes seriously that go beyond the obvious (they look good on a CV).

The first is the pipeline they create. At many firms, a significant proportion of vacation scheme places are reserved for or informally prioritised toward candidates who completed their first-year scheme. This is not always stated explicitly, but it reflects the reality that firms invest in first-year relationships and want to see them develop. A candidate who did a spring week at a firm, built a specific connection to its work, and then applies for the vacation scheme 18 months later with an application that references what they observed and learned during the spring week is a materially stronger candidate than one applying cold. The spring week creates a relationship and a story; the vacation scheme application tells the next chapter of it.

The second reason is application material. The most common weakness in vacation scheme applications is that they are generic: the research is surface-level, the motivation is plausible but not specific, and the firm connection is constructed from things the candidate found on the website rather than things they actually experienced. A spring week gives you real material: you met a trainee who described what a typical day in the disputes seat involved, you attended a session on the firm's infrastructure practice and found yourself genuinely interested in something you had not considered before, you asked a partner a question about a recent transaction and the answer changed how you thought about the firm's positioning. None of that is available from a website. It is available from being there.

When to apply and which firms to target

First-year scheme applications typically open in October or November of your first year and close in January or February, with programmes running in March, April, and sometimes June. Some firms open applications earlier, in September, and the rolling recruitment point applies here as it does to vacation schemes: earlier applications are assessed earlier and places fill up. Checking opening dates in October of your first year and applying promptly is significantly better than discovering the programmes in February when many cohorts are already full.

In terms of which firms to target, the honest answer is that first year is the time to be genuinely exploratory rather than narrowly focused. You probably do not know yet whether you want to work at a Magic Circle firm, a US firm, or a Silver Circle firm, or whether you are drawn to corporate, finance, litigation, or employment. First-year schemes are the right time to find out. Apply to firms that represent a genuine cross-section of the market: one or two Magic Circle firms, one or two US firms, a Silver Circle firm, and perhaps a firm known for a specific practice area you have an academic interest in. The insight you gain from attending across different firm types is more valuable than attending multiple schemes at firms that are essentially interchangeable.

The leading firms running first-year programmes include all five Magic Circle firms (A&O Shearman, Clifford Chance, Freshfields, Linklaters, and Slaughter and May), most Silver Circle firms (Herbert Smith Freehills, Hogan Lovells, Ashurst, Norton Rose Fulbright, Macfarlanes), and a growing number of US firms (Latham and Watkins, Kirkland and Ellis, Davis Polk, Sullivan and Cromwell, and others). Many of these programmes are competitive and require a written application and sometimes a video interview.

How to write a first-year scheme application

First-year scheme applications are shorter than vacation scheme applications and are assessed with the understanding that you have only a year of university behind you. Firms are not expecting the same depth of firm-specific research or legal knowledge that a penultimate-year student would demonstrate. What they are looking for is genuine interest, early evidence of the skills that make a good commercial lawyer, and a credible motivation for applying to this specific firm rather than its competitors.

The same principles that apply to vacation scheme applications apply here, just calibrated to your stage. Specificity still matters: "I am interested in the firm's corporate practice" is weaker than "I am interested in the firm's work in the technology sector, particularly following the recent acquisition it advised on in the semiconductor space, which connects to a topic I studied in my first-year economics module." The research does not need to be as deep, but the connection to something specific and personal still needs to be there.

For the motivation questions, draw on what genuinely drew you to commercial law: a specific module, a book or article that shaped your thinking, a conversation with someone in the profession, a piece of work experience however brief. First year is early, and firms know it. They are not expecting a polished explanation of why you chose commercial law over advocacy; they are looking for early evidence that your interest is genuine and that you are the kind of person who follows through on curiosity.

For competency questions, which some first-year applications include, draw on school, early university, part-time work, and extracurricular activities. You do not have a lot of legal experience yet. What you do have is your A-level experience (extended project, leadership in societies, sports teams, tutoring), your first year of university (academic work, any societies or roles you have taken on, any part-time work), and whatever work experience you have managed before university. Frame these carefully: the bar is calibrated to first year, and a specific, well-framed example from a part-time job is entirely appropriate.

For guidance on how to frame any experience at any stage as compelling application evidence, see our work experience section guide.

What to do during a first-year scheme

Arriving at a spring week or insight scheme having thought carefully about what you want to get from it produces a qualitatively different experience from arriving and seeing what happens. A few things are worth being deliberate about.

Come with genuine questions. Not the generic "what do you enjoy most about your work" questions that every other student asks, but questions that emerge from actual research and curiosity. If you read about a deal the firm worked on and want to understand how the different practice areas coordinated, ask that. If you read that the firm is expanding into a particular market and want to understand how that affects the training experience, ask that. The trainees and associates who present at these schemes are often in their mid-to-late twenties and are happy to talk honestly with someone who has done the reading.

Note specific things down. At the end of each day, write down two or three specific things you observed, learned, or were surprised by. Not "the culture seems good" (useless as application material) but "the associate I sat with explained that the firm's real estate finance team advises on more complex cross-border structures than she expected as a trainee, and that the supervisor relationship at this firm involves more direct access to partner feedback than at firms where trainees feel filtered through associates" (genuinely useful). These notes become the foundation of your vacation scheme application 18 months later.

Build relationships, but naturally. The trainees and associates you meet at first-year schemes are not assessment panels. They are people who were in your position a few years ago and who are usually happy to talk candidly. LinkedIn connections with people whose work genuinely interested you are appropriate and sometimes develop into useful relationships. Following up with a thoughtful thank-you message after the scheme, referencing something specific you discussed, is appropriate and makes you memorable in a genuine way.

Assess the firm honestly. First-year schemes are partly about firms assessing you, but they are equally about you assessing firms. Pay attention to how the people you meet talk about their work, whether the culture feels like somewhere you would want to spend a significant part of your career, and whether the practice areas they discuss genuinely interest you. First year is the time to be discriminating, not to collect schemes at every firm indiscriminately.

What happens after: building toward a vacation scheme application

The period between a first-year scheme in March or April and a vacation scheme application in October or November of your second year is roughly six months. Used well, it is enough time to build the commercial awareness and firm knowledge that distinguishes strong vacation scheme applications from average ones.

The work to do in this period falls into three areas.

Commercial awareness development. If the first-year scheme exposed gaps in your commercial understanding (most do: a session on leveraged finance or a discussion of M&A deal structures can make clear how much you do not yet know), treat those gaps as a reading list. Following the FT's Lex column, reading the Economist on major corporate developments, and using the four-step framework in our commercial awareness guide to practise analysing stories develops the fluency that vacation scheme interviewers test.

Additional work experience. A first-year scheme provides firm exposure but limited legal skills development. The period before a vacation scheme application is the right time to add legal experience: a week at a local solicitors' firm, a law clinic session, a legal research project, or a pro bono role. These experiences provide both genuine skills development and specific examples for competency questions.

Application preparation. Vacation scheme applications open in October of your second year for most firms. That is not much time after returning from first-year exams to write ten or fifteen genuinely tailored applications. Starting the research and drafting process in September means arriving at the application window with notes on each firm's recent work, a clear picture of what differentiates each firm from its peers, and a specific personal motivation for each application that draws on what you experienced during your first-year scheme.

For detailed guidance on the vacation scheme application process, see our how to get a vacation scheme guide.

What if you did not do a first-year scheme?

Many successful vacation scheme candidates did not do a first-year scheme, either because they discovered commercial law late, because they did not secure places, or because they were at universities where the programmes were less prominent. Not having a first-year scheme on your application does not disqualify you from a vacation scheme.

What it means is that the work of building firm-specific knowledge and commercial awareness has to be done through other means: firm events, law fairs, open days, research, and genuine engagement with what firms actually do. The first-year scheme is one route to that knowledge, but it is not the only one.

If you are in your second year and applying for vacation schemes without first-year scheme experience, the advice is simply to be more deliberate about compensating for that absence. Attend any firm events that are accessible, research firms in the depth that a first-year scheme would have provided, and build your application material from what you have done rather than what you have not done.

Ready to start applying?

The Future Trainee Academy covers the full recruitment journey from first-year schemes through to vacation scheme and training contract applications, with guidance from a recruiter who has interviewed over 10,000 candidates. Free to access.

For a structured approach to building the commercial awareness that first-year scheme interviewers and vacation scheme applications both test, see the Commercial Awareness Starter Pack.