Friday 31 July is training contract application deadline day at most of the big firms. In a market where, according to a recent Sweet & Maxwell survey, there has been a 150% jump in the number of applications per training contract vacancy, prospective trainees will need all the luck they can get.

But it's not all bad news. After all, most law firms are at least still recruiting, with those responsible for graduate recruitment keen to emphasise that the 'two years in advance' model means that trainee recruitment is relatively detached from the present state of the economy.

Still, with more wannabe lawyers than ever – the increase is partly attributed to a rush of applicants away from harder-hit areas such as investment banking – it's inevitable that there'll be an inordinate amount of unsuccessful applicants kicking around at the end of the 2009 recruitment round.

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