A global law firm with a London office offering first-year workshops, paid vacation schemes and a trainee associate programme.
Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer, known as HSF Kramer, is an international law firm that advises businesses, governments and financial institutions. LawCareers.Net says its profile is particularly strong in energy, ESG (environmental, social and governance, meaning how companies treat the planet and people), infrastructure, resources and technology. It lists 25 practice areas, including dispute resolution (helping to settle legal arguments), corporate, finance, competition, intellectual property, employment and tax.
The firm is more than 170 years old and in its current form is the result of a transatlantic merger between Herbert Smith Freehills and the New York firm Kramer Levin, which created a firm with more than 2,700 lawyers across 26 offices. LawCareers.Net says its only UK office is in London (Exchange House, Primrose Street), where its training also takes place. It lists about 125 trainees, 554 partners and around 2,100 staff.
The vacation scheme page describes its values as being human, bold and outstanding, with the tagline 'Your growth. Our ambition.' The early careers pages say the firm invests in trainees' personal and professional growth, values people's differences and has a 'high-performing culture'. These are the firm's own words.
Trainees can spend time in a wide range of departments (11 seat options are listed) and take client secondments with banks, consultancies, energy and media companies, or overseas secondments in places such as Dubai, Hong Kong, Paris, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo. The firm runs a pro bono programme (free legal help for people and charities who could not otherwise afford it) and the Roger Leyland Memorial Scholarship for Black and minority ethnic students.
The firm has routes for students in every year (as at 2026). A two-day first-year workshop in London gives fast-track entry to the next year's vacation scheme, with travel and accommodation covered, and there is a campus ambassador role. The 2027 summer vacation scheme in London lasts three weeks with two practice-area seats and pays £500 a week; it is open to penultimate-year students, finalists and graduates in any subject, the firm typically asks for AAB at A-level and consistent 2:1 marks (around 63 percent), and applications close 1 December 2026. Good performance may lead to the Trainee Associate Programme, which LawCareers.Net lists at £56,000 in the first year and £61,000 in the second, with the firm paying law conversion and solicitor exam fees. School leavers can apply for a six-year London Solicitor Apprenticeship: starting salary £28,000 plus a £3,000 sign-on bonus, study with BPP towards an LLB in Law and Legal Practice, and qualification as a solicitor through the SQE. It asks for AAB at A-level and seven GCSEs at grade 6 or above including English and maths, and applications open on 26 October 2026.
Website: www.hsfkramer.com
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