Nepotism is apparently alive and well at Mishcon de Reya, with allegations of skulduggery in last month's summer vacation scheme.

Mishcon took 18 students on its much sought-after summer scheme. The firm stated that it was geared towards students who are looking for training contracts to start in 2013, but that didn't prevent it from taking on two students who are applying for 2014 starts. One of whom is the son of a head of department at the firm, and the other his best mate. Hmm.
 

Mishcon yesterday

Of course it's entirely possible that the students were amongst the best candidates who applied. But it certainly looks shabby, and for this reason many City firms have a policy of not employing the children of partners. Even if they come up with ingenious ways of getting past this: RollOnFriday has heard of a reciprocal arrangement between two Magic Circle firms which, allegedly, employ each other's offspring.

A spokesman for Mishcon said that "all our vacation scheme students meet our minimum criteria. We have an open policy with regard to all applicants who are assessed on merit". And on their ability to call senior partners "mum" or "dad", of course.