Capsticks has recently welcomed new cohorts for its yearly 10,000 Black Interns and Graduate Scheme programmes. These programmes are important to the firm’s recently refreshed people strategy, which has a key focus on inclusion and career development. 

The firm partnered with the 10,000 Interns Foundation on its flagship six-week programme, 10,000 Black Interns, for the third year, welcoming three interns to their legal and business service teams: Abigail Nkansah-Frempong, Timnit Alemare, in the Leeds office, and Esther Showemimo in the London office.  

The firm’s participation in the 10,000 Black Interns programme has been led by its CREATE (Capsticks, Race, Ethnicity, Allies, Traditions and Equity) employee network, with a primary purpose to help Black students take their first steps toward accessing a career in the legal sector, and to support the Foundation’s mission to unlock opportunity. 

The firm also welcomed its first cohort to the Graduate Vacation Scheme earlier this summer. This year, candidates had the opportunity to spend two weeks on a placement, with consideration for a Training Contract, which included full sponsorship for the SQE. Following their placements, six candidates: Aya Bercovich, Duncan Breakspear, Freya Langstaff, Ivan Steblyuk, Kiera Knott and Olivia Sparkes have accepted two-year training contracts with the firm.  

Martin Hamilton, Managing Partner, said: 

It’s been a joy to support the next generation of lawyers and business services professionals in the schemes we’ve run this summer.  Our interns from the 10K Interns Foundation this year have gained first-hand experience of the work we do and we wish them every success in the next stage of their careers.  A number of our future trainees from this year’s graduate scheme will be joining us at the end of the summer and I’m delighted that the scheme has been such a success.   

Our partnership with both programmes is a key part of making Capsticks an ever-more inclusive place to work. One of our values at Capsticks is to be forward thinking and is seen in our support for the 10,000 Interns Foundation and the continued development of our own our graduate scheme. 

Esther Showemimo, Intern, said:  

Coming from a commercial marketing and life sciences background, my internship at Capsticks through the 10,000 Black Interns programme gave me hands-on experience in the business development and marketing side of a law firm — an area that was completely new to me. It was a great opportunity to be part of a company with strong values and a genuine commitment to supporting next generation talent. Through the wider 10KBI network, I also took part in external cross-firm workshops on topics like ESG, personal branding and goal setting. Hearing directly from professionals across the legal industry exposed me to a wide range of career paths and provided tangible advice that will no doubt shape my post-graduate journey. 

Capsticks’ aim is to be the firm of choice for organisations who work to make a difference. Our purpose is to be the legal advisers that clients want by their side, providing innovative and practical solutions tailored to our sectors’ unique challenges. Our lawyers work together as one team with the same values: putting people first, doing the right thing and always forward thinking.