Middle East Summer Vacation Scheme and Training Contract

During the two-year Middle East Training Contract, you will experience the challenging high-performance world of commercial law and gain the breadth of experience you need to emerge as a confident solicitor in England and Wales. You will have four six-month rotations, the first rotation being spent in our London office and the remaining three in our Middle East offices, giving you the opportunity to explore the firms practice areas. Seats choices will be within our core areas of Corporate, Global Financial Markets, Real Estate & Construction, Projects, and Litigation & Dispute Resolution. You may also have the opportunity to undertake a client secondment. Trainees receive a salary of 340,000 AED in their first year, 355,000 in their second year.

Our two-week and three-day Summer Vacation Scheme from Wednesday 17th June Friday 3rd July 2026 is designed to offer outstanding opportunities for you to experience what a career at Clifford Chance involves. You ll gain insights into our exciting, stimulating, and challenging work. You will be close to the action and will have the opportunity to work with experienced lawyers in two of our key practice areas. Throughout the Scheme, you will also receive the support of a supervising associate and trainee 'buddy' who will help guide you and will be someone who you can turn to at any stage. The expectation will be for you to be eager to learn, ask questions, and immerse yourself as much as possible. There will be many opportunities for networking and socialising with Clifford Chance employees in our Middle East offices and you are encouraged to make the most of these and your time with us. The Scheme can lead to a Middle East Training Contract interview. You will be paid AED 3,250 for the Scheme and where applicable, flights and accommodation to partake in the Vacation Scheme will be covered.

Who you will work with

During your Training Contract, at the start of each seat, you will receive specialised training in that sector and a dedicated supervisor. Throughout your Training Contract, you will be closely supported by the Early Talent Development team, your Supervisor, Resource Manager, and your Monitoring Partner. They will all be available to act as mentors and advisors on a full range of subjects, but it will be up to you to make the most of this support network. You will have access to learning and development support from the Clifford Chance Academy, arguably the legal sector's leading in-house learning and development facility.

During your Vacation Scheme, you will be supported by a supervising associate who will set tasks, provide feedback and be able to provide insight into their experience and career in the relevant practice area. Your dedicated trainee buddy will guide you through your tasks and will be on hand toa answer any queries, legal and otherwise. Between the two, you will gain a snapshot of life and work at different stages of your career as a Clifford Chance lawyer.

What you will do

Whilst your experience in each seat will be very different, in all of them you will develop your legal and business skills, gain insight into our high-profile clients, and enhance your commercial awareness. The tasks you undertake could include drafting and proofing documents, conducting due diligence on a client's acquisition target, attending client meetings, preparing documents for a court hearing, researching titles and leases on a real estate portfolio, or creating a data room ahead of a major transaction. During your Training Contract, you may even run some smaller transactions for our clients These are just some examples of the breadth of work you may be involved in as a trainee. During your Vacation Scheme, there will be opportunities to attend firm presentations and ask questions about our practice areas, business professional teams and our Training Contract, as well as networking and socialising with Clifford Chance employees in the UAE.