Business of Law Firms
Deutsche Bank to offer in-house training contract programme​

By Jake Rickman​

What do you need to know this week?

This week’s Business of Law Firm article will look at the business of law…in house.

On Friday, the European bulge bracket investment bank Deutsche Bank announced it is launching an in-house training contract programme. As reported by The Lawyer, such a programme would place Deutsche Bank among other large corporate groups like BT, Crown Estate, Sky and Vodafone, which offer prospective solicitors an alternative route to qualification outside of the traditional private practice route.

This comes shortly after the investment bank Barclays announced it was partnering with two UK law firms — Simmons & Simmons and TLT — to offer a jointly-structured training contract split between two seats in private practice and two seats in-house.

Why is this important for your interviews?

The traditional private practice route to qualification may be how the overwhelming majority of commercial solicitors qualify, but in-house roles are highly coveted exit opportunities for post-qualification solicitors. This is for a number of reasons, which include:
  • The perception of an improved work-life balance;
  • More diverse work on a daily basis; and
  • Working more closely with a single client (your employer) and assisting on projects from start to finish.
Accordingly, by diversifying the routes of qualification, junior lawyers pursuing in-house trainee opportunities will spend their formative two years of training working closely with a single business.

Deutsche Bank has picked a momentous time to announce the launch of its trainee programme considering the volatility in the international banking market, which has seen the fire sale of rival Credit Suisse to UBS. The issue facing the industry is investor concerns over the value of loan portfolios, which decrease every time interest rates rise and the corresponding impact on liquidity (access to cash) and capital (the value of shareholders’ investment in the business).

Deutsche Bank’s own shares fell nearly 10% when markets opened last Friday morning before recovering by 5.8% by Monday. Whether this is just market skittishness or a portend of something more dire it remains to be seen. However, Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, indicated on Friday that he was not worried and dismissed any comparisons between Deutsche and Credit Suisse.

Separately, along with US rival JP Morgan, Deutsche’s role advising the disgraced late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is facing renewed legal scrutiny.

Navigating the challenges facing Deutsche from the inside is precisely the sort of work in-house lawyers at Deutsche will be doing.