Summer Internship 2025 – Leeds

The role

Overview:

Explore the intersection between law and business. Find out how an international law firm makes an impact in the United Kingdom and across the world. Develop the foundation of skills you need for a global legal career. You’ll do all this and more during your 3.5 weeks internship in our Leeds office.

Your time with us:

This isn’t just a chance to shadow our lawyers. You’ll play a real role in our teams and take on real responsibility from day one. Whether attending court hearings, working with clients, or developing your professional network, you’ll experience the cutting edge of the legal sector and how law can unlock potential across the world and in your own career. That includes seeing how a purpose-led organisation makes a difference through our pro bono work and sustainability commitments.

The internship is your chance to see if law is a career you can thrive in. You’ll be giving your career the best platform by developing your personal and professional skills that will be valued in any sector you choose to continue into.

During the internship, you will:

• Experience the complexities of our work and discover how you can make a real impact around the world. You’ll see how we think across borders to find creative solutions for our clients.
• Join a forward-looking, friendly team while collaborating with colleagues across the world.
• Develop your knowledge and skills through structured learning and development opportunities and our supportive culture.
• Be supported by a strong network of supervisors, buddies, and mentors to develop your confidence and identify your own personal and professional goals.
• Be part of an international early careers community full of talented colleagues who’ll become part of your global network.
• Have opportunities to engage with initiatives beyond your role, including legal tech, sustainability and pro bono work.
• Enjoy a working environment where your wellbeing is always a priority, and your workload will be managed to ensure you can always deliver your best.

You’ll have the freedom to discover your own path and make an extraordinary impact beyond the borders of traditional law. Tomorrow’s legal industry can’t hire yesterday’s skills.

Come and show us your strengths in action, and following your time with us you may be offered a position on our international training programme.

Unlock your potential and start your journey to building a different kind of legal career.

Eligibility:

• If you are studying a law degree: you can apply for the programme if you are a second-year student on a three-year course, a third-year student on a four-year course or are in your final year of study.
• If you are studying a non-law degree: you can apply for the programme if you are in your final year of study.
• You can apply if you have already graduate or a career changer. 
• You must meet the entry requirements via the University of Law website. 
• You must have the right to work for the duration of the programme (35 hours a week) in the location which you have chosen. DLA Piper is unable to sponsor visas for the Summer Internship.
• You are only able to apply once per year, for one of our Summer Internships.

What we look for:

In addition to the eligibility criteria, we’re looking for individuals from a diverse range of backgrounds who have the potential to thrive at our firm.

To succeed on our early careers programmes, you don’t need any specific legal experience or education, but you will:

• Have an interest in international law and business.
• Have a forward-thinking and entrepreneurial mindset and will be excited about doing things differently in the legal industry.
• Be self-motivated by a strong desire to achieve your personal and professional goals.
• Enjoy collaborating with others and will be instinctively socially aware.
• Have a growth mindset. You’ll see setbacks as learning opportunities, and you’ll proactively look for ways to grow and develop.
• Enjoy working in an ever-changing environment.
• Enjoy taking ownership of tasks and thinking critically.

About us:

DLA Piper is a global law firm with lawyers and business service professionals located in more than 40 countries throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. Our global reach ensures that we can help businesses with their legal needs anywhere in the world. We strive to be the leading global business law firm by delivering quality, service excellence and value to our clients and offering practical and innovative legal solutions to help them succeed. Our clients range from multinational, Global 1000, and Fortune 500 enterprises to emerging companies developing industry-leading technologies, as well as government and public sector bodies.

Our values:

In everything we do connected with our People, our Clients and our Communities, we live by these values:

• Be Supportive – we are compassionate and inclusive, valuing diversity and acting thoughtfully
• Be Collaborative – we are proactive, passionate team players investing in our relationships
• Be Bold – we are fearless and inquisitive, challenging ourselves to think big and find creative new solutions
• Be Exceptional – we are strategic and driven, exceeding standards and expectations

Diversity and inclusion:

At DLA Piper, diversity and inclusion underpins how we live our values and everything we do. We believe that everyone has a voice, and that everyone’s voice counts. We know that the rich diversity across our firm makes us stronger, more innovative and creative, which helps us to better serve our clients and communities. We are committed to providing an inclusive working environment and culture across our global firm, where everyone can bring their authentic self to work.

Diversity of perspective, thought, background and culture combine to make us the leading global law firm; that’s why we actively seek to build balanced teams. We welcome the unique contribution that you will bring to our firm and actively encourage applications from all talented people – however your talent is packaged, whatever your background or circumstance and regardless of how you identify.

Hybrid working:

We recognise that people have responsibilities and interests outside of their career and that as a business, we all benefit from working flexibly. That’s why we are open to discussing with candidates the different ways in which we are able to support requests for agile working arrangements.

Pre-engagement screening:

In the event that we make an offer to you, and where local legislation permits and where relevant, we will conduct pre-engagement screening checks that may include but are not limited to your professional and academic qualifications, your eligibility to work in the relevant jurisdiction, any criminal records, your financial stability and work-related references.