Summer vacation scheme - UAE | A&O Shearman careers

Experience what it means to be empowered

Our vacation scheme is designed to show you exactly what it’s like to tackle exciting challenges every day and experience global success as part of our friendly, supportive and dynamic culture.

Program overview

What you’ll gain

Every year our summer vacation scheme invites students to immerse themselves in the day-to-day life of A&O Shearman, offering a front-row seat to live matters and first-hand exposure to the truly international scope of our Middle East practice.

Work experience

From the outset you will be matched with a dedicated trainee ‘buddy’ who will answer questions, share practical advice, and help you feel at home. You will also sit alongside an associate who will act as your trainer, guiding you through live transactions and providing continual feedback. Informal coffees and lunches with your team, dinners with your trainee ‘buddy’ and a variety of social events will give you ample opportunity to build relationships and experience our culture.

Beyond your seat-specific work, you will collaborate on a client-pitch project that sharpens your research, teamwork and presentation skills while introducing you to the breadth of our clients and practice areas.

Your performance throughout the scheme will form the basis of our assessment for securing a training contract with the firm.

Program details

Academic qualifications

We welcome applications from penultimate and final-year students, as well as recent graduates, from any university or degree background. You should have AAB at A-level (136 UCAS points or equivalent) and have, or be on track to achieve, a 2:1 undergraduate degree or equivalent. You should also have at least seven GCSEs at grade 6 or above, including maths and english, or equivalent.

We take into consideration mitigating circumstances.

Candidates must be fluent in English. Arabic proficiency is preferred but not mandatory.

Personal skills

We seek candidates who demonstrate strong personal skills alongside academic ability. Evidence of these skills is valued in our vacation scheme applications.

Application window

More details coming soon.

Scheme dates

More details coming soon.

Tips, insights and advice, direct from our team

Who better to learn from than the people already here? Our videos feature tips, insights and advice straight from our colleagues, helping you navigate applications, interviews and everything in between. Real people, real experiences, real advice to set you up for success.

The anatomy of a deal

This video breaks down the complexities of a transaction to show how all the parts fit together for corporate lawyers.

Hervé Ekué

Hervé shares three of the cases that have shaped his journey, from specializing in debt capital markets and derivatives through to becoming global managing partner of the firm. Hear the cases that define a hugely successful career in global law.

Belong. Excel.

Discover what it means to be part of A&O Shearman.

Application process

Online application

You will be required to submit an online application which details your work and education history.

Assessment

You will then be sent an email which will contain a link to complete our online experience, which includes situational judgement questions, verbal and numerical reasoning items and two short motivation questions to complete via video. The online experience is untimed and should take around 45 minutes.

You will need to complete your application and online experience ahead of deadline.

You can read our preparation tips on situational judgement tests or take a practice test.

Interviews

If your application is successful, the next stage will be a virtual assessment centre, comprising two interviews.

The first interview is based on a commercial case study, where you’ll have time to work through a brief and prepare a short presentation to deliver to your interviewer.

This will be followed by a discussion on the key points from the case study.

In the second interview, you will be asked a series of questions based on scenarios you may encounter as a trainee.