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HFW Training Contract

Pays £17,500 to £52,000 a year depending on role.

No published policyTraining Contract (September and March intake)

Unconfirmed. HFW publishes no sponsorship policy for its training contract, so we cannot state a firm answer. HFW takes around 18 trainees a year across a September and March intake, with four six-month seats and a guaranteed overseas seat. Trainees are paid £52,000 and receive a £17,500 annual maintenance grant during SQE study at The University of Law, but the page is silent on right to work or sponsorship.

Sponsors grads?
Not published
Pay vs threshold
Clears the threshold
Opportunity
training contract
Pay
£52,000 trainee salary, plus £17,500 per year maintenance grant during SQE study
2027 cycle
No published date as of 1 October 2026
Confidence
high

How HFW recruits

Current London cycle (page undated). 7 stages, from HFW's own careers pages, checked 2026-10-04. Test providers are named only where HFW names them.

  1. The application

    Application form

    Online application covering academics, work experience, and short answers on extracurriculars, motivation for law and HFW, and a commercial topic. Reviewed on a rolling basis.

    “The recruitment process for Training Contracts and Vacation Schemes is the same, assessing all applications on a rolling basis.”
    Source

  2. Virtual assessment centre

    Assessment centre

    Second stage: a virtual assessment centre of about seven hours including breaks, with up to eight candidates.

    • about 420 minutes
    “The second stage of our recruitment process for vacation schemes and training contracts is a virtual assessment centre. The assessment centres typically last for seven hours, including breaks, and we invite up to eight candidates to each one.”
    Source

  3. Written exercise

    Written exercise

    At the assessment centre: analyse a short document and write a short advice letter to a fictional client. No legal knowledge tested.

    “You are given a short document to analyse, and are tasked with writing a short letter of advice to a fictional client.”
    Source

  4. Group exercise

    Group exercise

    At the assessment centre: a group discussion of a commercial scenario, agreeing advice for a client.

    “The group exercise is a discussion around a commercial scenario.”
    Source

  5. Online ability test (Watson Glaser)

    Online tests, Watson Glaser

    At the assessment centre: an online Watson Glaser critical thinking test. The firm suggests a practice test beforehand.

    “An online ability test: We use a test called the Watson Glaser because this is a test that is shown to have “predictive validity””
    Source

  6. Associate interview

    Other stage

    At the assessment centre: interview with one or two Associates based on the application form, with competency and commercial awareness questions.

    “An interview: with one or two of our Associates. We use your application form as the basis for this interview.”
    Source

  7. The Partner interview

    Partner interview

    Final stage for trainees: interview with two London Partners, more commercial, including analysis, problem-solving and professional ethics questions.

    “The Partner interview is the final stage of our recruitment process for Trainees. This interview is with two Partners from our London office.”
    Source

Every programme and stage at HFW

“Our trainees join on a salary of £52,000.”
HFW, from its own careers pages
The catch: Only around 18 trainees are recruited a year across two intakes, and vacation scheme participants are guaranteed a training contract interview, so the small unsponsored-vacation-scheme funnel matters even though the training contract itself is not stated to exclude sponsorship.
HFW early careersVerify on gov.ukSee the licence record

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What HFW publishes about this programme

Checked against HFW's own careers pages on 2026-10-01. Anything not published is worth asking the early careers team before you apply.

  • Visa sponsorship policy: not published
  • Application dates: not published
  • Programme description: not published
  • Duration and start date: not published
  • Who can apply: not published
  • Pay: published
  • Locations: not published
  • Degree requirement: not published
  • Recruitment stages: published

More early careers programmes at HFW

Sources

Verdict last checked 2026-09-23. Application dates last checked 2026-10-01. How we check programme verdicts

Common questions

Does HFW sponsor visas for its training contract?

Unconfirmed. HFW publishes no sponsorship policy for its training contract, so we cannot state a firm answer. HFW takes around 18 trainees a year across a September and March intake, with four six-month seats and a guaranteed overseas seat. Trainees are paid £52,000 and receive a £17,500 annual maintenance grant during SQE study at The University of Law, but the page is silent on right to work or sponsorship.

Does the pay clear the UK Skilled Worker salary threshold?

The pay for this scheme clears the Skilled Worker salary threshold.

What is the catch international students miss with HFW?

Only around 18 trainees are recruited a year across two intakes, and vacation scheme participants are guaranteed a training contract interview, so the small unsponsored-vacation-scheme funnel matters even though the training contract itself is not stated to exclude sponsorship.

When do applications open for the HFW training contract?

No published date as of 1 October 2026. Checked on 2026-10-01 against HFW's own site.

How should I confirm HFW's sponsorship before applying?

Read the specific vacancy on HFW's careers site, ask its early-careers team directly, and check the employer on the gov.uk Register of Licensed Sponsors. Policies and thresholds change, so treat this page as a starting point and confirm for the exact role and cycle.

Related guides

All visa and sponsorship guides

Other law schemes

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Other law schemes we track

Sponsorship data: Home Office register + job ad wording. Not immigration advice, verify on gov.uk. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. How we check this data.