Magic circle firm Linklaters develops new legal operations scheme for graduates

A new graduate scheme focusing on project management, lawtech and pricing strategies will be available from Autumn 2020 at Linklaters.

According to the Law Gazette, the new scheme, which does not lead to a legal qualification, will run alongside the magic circle firm’s traditional training contract and will enable non-law graduates to undertake a two-year legal operations scheme and specialise in project management, innovation, knowledge and learning, or pricing.

Linklaters is yet to reveal how much graduates will be paid on the scheme but has explained that its legal operations team is “continually expanding its presence”.

The programme, which is part of a broader push to instil business knowledge in new employees, will involve running design workshops, developing data models and project managing legal matters.

In addition to the new scheme, Linklaters has also created a specific legal operations team which will offer support for clients. More than 400 specialists will make-up the new service.

In a drive to increase commercial awareness among graduates, international firm Dentons also recently announced plans to modernise its training contract, meaning that from September 2020, the firm’s trainees will study legal project management, legal technology and resilience, and their supervisors will be taught about the firm’s values and “the importance of working together”.

According to Dentons, the new programme will turn trainees into “commercially and technically savvy business advisers” and will cover, among other things, artificial intelligence, mental health and wellbeing, and commercial awareness skills.