About

Our Mission

Our mission is to help you get from where you are now to where you want to be as an aspiring solicitor.

Every year, we help candidates secure 100s of training contracts and vacation schemes with the Top 100 law firms - this year, we hope you are one of them. 🙂

Our Toolkit

Dive into a treasure trove of resources right here on our site.

Articles, advice, and free resources created by those who've walked this path: law career specialists, graduate recruiters, trainees, and seasoned lawyers. They've faced the challenges, know how to overcome the hurdles, and now share the wisdom you need for the journey ahead.

We give you the advice we wish we’d had when navigating the graduate recruitment processes.

We know what graduate recruiters want to see in candidates, and our aim is to empower you with clear, actionable guidance to showcase your potential to them.

For those who want more personalised support, our founder, Matt Oliver, also offers one-to-one career coaching (to include TC strategy, applications, interviews and assessment centres).

Our History

Trainee Solicitor Surgery was founded in 2009 by Matt Oliver, a former commercial lawyer, to help aspiring solicitors secure training contracts.

Matt's journey from a state school background and the first in his family to go to university was littered with rejections. After a lot of trial and error, he secured a training contract with a Top 100 UK firm and later landed a dream role in-house with Sky Sports.

As well as developing his resilience, his struggles in securing a training contract taught him a lot about law firm graduate recruitment.

After a decade, he decided on a lifestyle change and professionally re-trained as a career coach. Over the last 15+ years, he has developed a specialism in career development for aspiring solicitors and qualified lawyers (at all levels).

His expertise has guided 100s to secure their training contracts, reviewing 1000s of applications and conducting 100s of practice interviews in the process.

"Working with Matt was instrumental in my success securing a training contract with a top international firm!

When I started my one-to-one sessions with Matt I had previously been unsuccessful in obtaining a training contract at the interview and application stages. Over a few sessions, Matt was able to provide clear, useful advice and pinpointed areas for improvement.

By the end of our time together Matt had helped me secure two training contracts with firms I loved!"

Paul, London

"As a non-lawyer without any recent legal experience, I needed someone to guide me through the application process.

Over a series of sessions, Matt helped me to research suitable firms, write properly tailored cover letters and articulate my career interests at interview.

Thanks to him, I got a training contract at a magic circle law firm on my first attempt."

Will, Oxford

Where to Start?

Your path to success starts here.

Explore our advice, insider TC insights, resources, and career coaching options.

And don't miss our popular essential guides, tailored to different stages in the recruitment process:

• Training Contract Applications
• Training Contract Interviews
• Training Contract Interview Questions
• Training Contract Assessment Centres
• Training Contract CVs
• Training Contract Cover Letters
• One-To-One Law Career Coaching (for training contract and vacation scheme candidates)

Securing a training contract is undoubtedly a mountain to climb, but we know how to get you to the top.

Here’s to your success!