The way into this firm is through the work.
Every pupillage at Thomas Philip begins with a litigation trainee placement. Not a filing exercise, real files, real research, real drafting, supervised by the lawyers running the matter. It is how we find out whether you can do this, and how you find out whether you want to.
The litigation trainee programme, start to finish
Our target for reviewing and responding to every application
Of applicants receive a written outcome, including those we decline
Stages, published in full, from application through to pupillage
Five stages. Nothing hidden.
Everyone starts with a four-week litigation training programme. Do it well and you are offered a paralegal role; pupillage follows from there. There is no route around the first step, and we would rather you knew that before you applied than after.
Submit your application
Your details, your education, and eleven questions under a 40-minute clock, one of them a short client call, scenarios from the actual job, a letter to check for errors, an email to fix, and an argument to pull apart. Copy and paste are disabled. The written answers are the assessment.
Assessment and shortlisting
Every application is assessed against the published criteria. We use an AI-assisted first read to make sure nobody is skipped and everybody is measured the same way, then someone at the firm reviews the result before any decision goes out.
A place on the programme
Candidates taken forward are offered a place on the four-week programme, with a named supervising lawyer. There is no separate interview stage: the assessment and your documents are what the decision is made on.
Four-week litigation training programme
Live litigation matters, legal research, drafting, preparing case files, attending client meetings. You are supervised, and you are given real responsibility. Four weeks is short on purpose: it is long enough for both sides to know. The role is part-time, 8am to 12pm, paid RM250 a week. An optional class runs before the day starts, 7 to 8am, if you want it. At the end of the month, trainees who have done well are offered a paralegal role.
Pupillage consideration
At the end of the placement your performance is reviewed. Candidates who show genuine legal aptitude, professionalism and commitment are considered for pupillage at the firm.
What a litigation trainee here actually does
The training programme is litigation, and only litigation. You are not kept away from the substance either: you sit on live matters from the first week.
- Legal research: issues put to you directly by the lawyer running the file
- Drafting: correspondence, submissions, and first drafts of court documents
- Case file preparation: bundles, chronologies, and evidence review
- Client meetings: attending, taking notes, and following up on actions
- Court attendance: observing and assisting on active matters
- Supervision: a named lawyer responsible for your work and your development
We will tell you how you are being judged.
Most firms will not. We think a candidate is entitled to know what is being measured, who decides, and what happens to their information.
The same criteria for everyone
Every application is scored against one published set of criteria. No application is skimmed because it arrived late in the pile or on a busy week.
AI assists the first read
An AI first pass scores each application against those criteria and writes a short reasoning note. It surfaces candidates, it does not decide them.
A person makes the decision
Someone at the firm reviews every assessment and can override it in either direction before any outcome is sent to you.
Your writing carries the weight
The written answers are the assessment. They tell us more than a transcript does.
You get an answer
Every applicant receives a written outcome, including those we do not take forward. No silent rejections.
Your data stays with the firm
Your application is held by Thomas Philip and used only for recruitment, in line with the Personal Data Protection Act 2010.
Applications for the litigation trainee programme are open.
Eleven questions and your documents, in one 40-minute sitting. We aim to come back to you within seven days.