FAQ
If you are studying a four year LLB, the best time to apply is during your second year. For those pursuing a combined B.A (Law) / B.Com (Law) with LLB, the earliest you can apply is the end of the second year of your BA (Law) / B.Com (Law). If you’re completing the three year post-graduate LLB, please apply during your first year of study.
It is best to apply as early as possible so that, if you are unsuccessful, there will still be enough time to make a new application in the following semester or year of study.
We offer the following Vac Programme options, which may change from time to time:
- Accra (Ghana): June/July and August/September
- Cape Town (South Africa): June/July and November/December
- Johannesburg (South Africa): June/July and November/December
- Kampala (Uganda): dates vary – contact us for more information
- Kigali (Rwanda): dates vary – contact us for more information
- Nairobi (Kenya): dates vary – contact us for more information
- Port Louis (Mauritius): dates vary – contact us for more information
- Windhoek (Namibia): June/July and November/December
Applications for our Vac Programme and Trainee Programme remain open throughout the year, but it is best to apply as early as possible.
The greatest benefit to completing your Trainee Programme at ENS is working on cutting edge, complex legal matters under the tutelage of some of Africa’s leading lawyers. Indeed, we work on some of the biggest, most innovative and most exciting deals, transactions and matters in Africa.
As part of our Trainee Programme, we offer you:
- A comprehensive induction, including technical, social and interpersonal skills
- Employee benefits schemes (including medical aid)
- Continuous development through exposure to high quality matters and group training
- Admin guidance and support for registering your training with the relevant Legal Practice Council
- Accredited in-house Practical Legal Training (PLT), access to past papers and revision classes when preparing for admission examinations
- A fully resourced library (our Infohub)
- A mentor to help you to transition from university to the world of work
You will be provided with the necessary tools to work remotely. Our resources are all linked to the firm’s central network, thus allowing for access to matters, documents, firm info, contacts and all your own data, from almost anywhere.
Each year, we recruit trainees for all our offices throughout Africa.
We do not recruit a set number of Trainees each year and try to find places for them; instead, the number of Trainees is dependent on the specific business requirements of each office and area of practice in any given year.
Our Executives are fully committed to the long-term development and retention of our Trainees. Once we are clear on which areas of practice require Trainees each year, we ensure we recruit the exact number we need. Each Trainee at ENS is then allocated to an area of practice and is trained within that area of practice with the intention of their being retained at the end of their Trainee Programme.
All Executives at ENS are obliged to involve their Trainees as deeply as possible in their practices and their own performance is rated according to the training they deliver.
It is critical that our practitioners develop deep specialist expertise so that they can best serve our clients. We therefore expect our Trainees to spend their entire Trainee Programme within one area of practice. This approach allows you to be exposed to and developed in that area of law for as long as possible.
However, we do rotate Trainees to different areas of practice when circumstances permit. These requests are dealt with on an individual basis, ensuring that you receive adequate training before the end of your Trainee Programme.
When it comes to choosing an area of practice, we engage with you in formal discussions before you start your training in order to determine your personal aspirations and preferences so that we can find the best solution for you – one that allows you to achieve your career goals.
At ENS, we are deeply aware of the socio-economic context in which we operate. We are committed to offering access to justice, free of charge, to qualifying disadvantaged individuals through our two pro bono offices in Alexandra (Johannesburg) and Mitchells Plain (Cape Town).
These offices, which were the first of their kind in South Africa, provide free, high-quality legal services to the community from within the community.
All ENS practitioners in South Africa, regardless of rank, render at least 32 hours of pro bono service per year to this initiative, which is 50% more than is required by the Legal Practice Council. We also provide commissioners for the small claims courts that are run in our pro bono offices.
We have also recently launched a pro bono offering in Windhoek, Namibia.
Through all of our offices, we provide free legal services (pro amico) to a variety of causes and projects, and we donate funding and resources to a number of interest groups and organisations.
Yes, we believe that further study is very important and we encourage specialisation in our attorneys because we want to offer novel solutions and deliver excellence. However, when you are a Trainee, you have more than enough to learn without also having to study in the evenings, so our policy is that further study is encouraged after admission, rather than during the Trainee programme. As long as your course of study is relevant to the work you’ll be doing, we’ll be happy to pay for it, because we want you to be the best you can be.
