Leading Spanish law firms look to students from ESADE Law School as one of their first options when recruiting young talent – as evidenced by the success of the most recent ESADE Law Career Fair. A total of 32 law firms, with the Big Four among them, visited the Barcelona campus to meet students graduating in the Double Degree in Legal Practice and other postgraduate courses offered by ESADE Law School.

According to data from the school, some 94% of  ESADE degree in lawyering graduates join leading law firms within three months of completing the entrance examination to the legal profession. In addition, ESADE Law School graduates pass their diplomatic entrance exams in record time (two or three years) and take just five to eight years  to qualify as notaries on average. The main areas where ESADE Law School graduates find work are commercial law (36%), tax law (26%), labour relations (6%), bankruptcy and legal procedures (9%). 

Near to students

‘ESADE is a top-level university that gives students an international outlook, respect for hard work, and extensive technical knowledge’, summarised Anna Ribó, a partner at the Pérez-Llorca law firm. She explained that the Law Career Fair enables her firm to meet students who are ready to begin work. Núria Rexach from human resources at Cuatrecasas believes that meeting students helps her firm to ‘identify and attract the best profiles to form elite teams and provide the best service to our clients’.

José Maria Remacha, a partner at EY and an ESADE academic collaborator, believes it is ‘a great opportunity to share ideas and perspectives on the law world’, and believes that students trained at the Law School are ‘proactive, intelligent and conscientious people’. He also agrees with Rexach, who pointed out that the law degree and University Master Degree in Lawyering offers students ‘itineraries that respond very well to their interests’. He also added that ‘ESADE Careers is a great support centre for detecting those students who can best fit in our team’.

International professional openings

Coinciding with the launch of the new Degree in Global Governance, Economics & Legal Order, the Law Career Fair this year included a series of briefings on career opportunities in consultancies and international diplomatic organisations. A representative of the European Personnel Selection Office – the personnel selection department for European institutions – also participated. For the first time, four law firms based in Madrid participated in the Law Career Fair by offering information sessions to students interested in joining their teams.

The main objective of the fair is to offer the best job opportunities for Law School students – who took advantage of the two-day event to introduce themselves to the law firm partners and managers, discover what profiles they were looking for, and deliver their CVs. ‘The Career Fair at the faculty is the perfect opportunity to get to know law firms, discover what they can offer, and let them see your profile,’ says Laura Plana, a double degree in business administration and law student. Paloma Abril, who is studying a double degree in law and global governance, says that the law firms: ‘tell you about their values and how their selection processes work. This gives you considerable peace of mind’.

The ESADE Law Career Fair is the result of close collaboration between academia and major Spanish law firms. Participating this year were: Allen & Overy, AGM Abogados, Andersen Tax & Legal, Baker McKenzie, BDO Abogados, Cases & Lacambra, Clifford Chance, CMS Albiñana & Suárez de Lezo, Crowe, Cuatrecasas, Deloitte Legal, Dentons, EY, Fieldfisher JAUSAS, Font & Yildiz, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Garrigues, Gómez-Acebo & Pombo, Grant Thornton, Herbert Smith Freehills, KPMG Abogados, Latham & Watkins, Linklaters, Manubens Abogados, Monereo Meyer Abogados, Ontier, Osborne Clarke, Pedrosa Lagos, Pérez-Llorca, PwC, Ramón y Cajal Abogados, RCD, Roca Junyent, Toda & Nel-lo Abogados, and Uría Menéndez y Vialegis Abogados