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Aspiring lawyers blitz City firms with doughnuts in TikTok stunt
Two women drop pastry boxes at leading Square Mile legal practices, using social media clips to try to catch recruiters’ attention
Jonathan Ames, Legal Editor
Thursday April 30 2026, 6.50pm, The Times
With starting salaries for City lawyers approaching ÂŁ200,000, competition for jobs is fierce, prompting two prospective candidates to employ a novel approach to getting noticed.
In arguably the most modern spin on a job application, two young women have posted videos on TikTok as they blitz some of the biggest law firms in the Square Mile, dropping off piles of boxes of glistening Krispy Kreme doughnuts.
In one video, posted under the name Alini on the social media site, the women say their mission is: “Making law firms hire us with doughnuts.”
Image description: A woman sitting with a Krispy Kreme box holds a sign saying "Your Next Solicitors (once you hire us)."
Alini’s friend joined her on the stunt
To a background track of Chuck Berry’s Johnny B. Goode, they place a sign next to a box of doughnuts that reads: “Your next solicitors (once you hire us)”.
In another, one says, “The job market is crap; let’s see what we can do about it,” adding: “Every graduate in London knows how hard it is to get a job nowadays, so we have done the only logical thing, which is: show up on the doorstep with doughnuts in hand. And what better place to get them from than Krispy Kreme, because who would say no to that?”
Legal profession experts have pointed out that competition for junior roles at leading City firms has become even keener with new technology. “AI continues to reduce the number of trainee positions,” said Chris Clark, the director of Definitum, a head-hunting consultancy.
The women filmed themselves handing over boxes at two prominent firms, Freshfields, a member of the elite “magic circle” group, which last year recorded an annual revenue of about £2.25 billion, and Addleshaw Goddard.
While Addleshaw Goddard had a more modest revenue of £500 million last year, the prospective trainee solicitors note in the video that the reception team at the firm is “so nice”.
They add: “And look at us smiling through the whole entire thing — like, what are you smiling for? You don’t have a job.”
The TikTok video was unearthed by the website Legal Cheek, which has a history of highlighting novel approaches by wannabe lawyers” to get noticed by prospective employers.
In 2018, it reported on Jordan De Leon, a law graduate from Anglia Ruskin University who stood outside Liverpool Street railway station in the City dishing out copies of his CV, while clutching a sign stating that he was after an “entry level” legal job.
As with many practices in so-called “big law”, the largest and most prestigious law firms in the US, the trend for unique pitches for jobs seems to have started in the US.
In 2013, the law graduate Brian Zulberti sent a mass email to law firms in Delaware in which he posed bare-chested with boxer shorts sitting low on his hips. The image included a handmade sign that read: “Hire Me!!! No… as a lawyer … not a [sic] escort…”
Training places at City law firms have historically been highly sought-after but a combination of US firms fanning salary inflation and social media has spawned increasingly resourceful efforts by job-hunters.
The top of the City pay tree is dominated by US firms, nearly 30 of which offer starting salaries to newly qualified solicitors of between ÂŁ157,000 and ÂŁ180,000.
Image description: Two women deliver Krispy Kreme doughnuts to law firms.
However, American firms offer only a few training places each. Many more places are available at the London firms, but the highest-paying — the magic circle players A&O Shearman, Clifford Chance, Freshfields and Linklaters — all offer starting salaries of £150,000.
While those salaries are significantly higher than the starting wages of most graduates, there is a price to pay for those who get the jobs. Trainees and junior qualified lawyers in the City routinely work at least ten-hour days and often longer, and law firm partners are also frequently required to weekend shifts.
Clark had a word of warning for the women’s stunt. “Getting the prospective firm to notice you is key,” he said. “The issue with offering confectionery is that the firm might think you’re a doughnut!”