Clifford Chance is proud to be a founding member of PRIME. Through PRIME, we are committed to ensuring that more people who want to enter the world of law have an equal chance to do so, regardless of their background.

For many years, obtaining work experience in the legal sector depended largely on who you know, rather than what you know. PRIME members have made a commitment to change this by providing fair access to work experience.

Our response to this is our bespoke, award-winning, two-year development programme for year 12 or equivalent students – Clifford Chance ACCESS.

This pioneering programme consists of twelve different components, each focused around specific core areas of your personal and professional development, culminating in the opportunity to secure a place on our ACCESS SPARK programme and ultimately a Training Contract.

Requirements

In order to apply to Clifford Chance ACCESS, you must meet the following qualifying criteria:

1. You are in Year 12 (England and Wales), S5 (Scotland) or Lower Sixth (Northern Ireland)
Unfortunately if you do not meet this criteria then you are not eligible for the ACCESS programme.

You must also meet at least TWO of the following criteria (please tick all that are applicable to you);

1. You are attending, and have attended from age 11, a state-funded, non fee-paying school/college

2. You grew up in a household where no parent or guardian attended university.

3. You are currently in receipt of, or have previously received, free school meals, Pupil Premium, Education Maintenance Allowance and/or a 16 to 19 Bursary

4. You are attending a school or college with;

• A below average A-level or Higher point score; and/or
• low rate of progression to higher education

5. You have been, or are currently, in local authority care (for a period of three months or longer)
6. You are, or have been, a full-time or part-time carer
7. You came to the UK as a refugee or an asylum seeker.
8. At age 14, the occupation of the main household earner (parent/guardian) is considered to be in the lower socioeconomic group which is namely;

• technical and craft occupations such as: motor mechanic, plumber, printer, electrician, gardener, train driver
• routine, semi-routine manual and service occupations such as: postal worker, machine operative, security guard, caretaker, farm worker, catering assistant, sales assistant, HGV driver, cleaner, porter, packer, labourer, waiter or waitress, bar staff
• long-term unemployed (claimed Jobseeker’s Allowance or earlier unemployment benefit for more than a year)

Note: young people who meet the local authority care criterion do not need to meet any other criterion.

"The programme was well-designed to allow you to succeed, encouraging the development of a broad range of skills like confidence, networking and communicating which people can often be might anxious or have less experience with beforehand. Perhaps the biggest challenge was a lack of industry knowledge when doing tasks such as reading through an M&A deal. 

At the time this seemed quite alien to me. However, the sessions provide essential guidance and instructions to equip you to develop those skills in your own time going forward."

"The fact that I was able to attend ACCESS made it feel like a future career at a firm like Clifford Chance was within reach.

Overall, the impact of ACCESS was immense. It played a pivotal role in reframing my outlook of the legal profession as a career that I could not only pursue, but one where it was possible for me to work at a firm that was on the cutting edge of legal developments. For me, the impact it had was immeasurable.

I really benefited from the connections. By being around other like-minded individuals, I was able to build a network of friends and future colleagues whom I could lean on throughout my journey to getting a training contract and beyond."