Firms can surf Web for traineesA former Eversheds solicitor has launched a curriculum vitae (CV) Web site that will give law students a chance to fish for training contracts on the Internet.Law students can post their CVs free, but only law firms that have paid a registration fee of 99 can access them.Founder Lisa Preston said: 'I got the idea because of my own experience, and really just remembering how difficult it was trawling through The Legal 500 and then sending out CVs and covering letters.'She would not comment on the number of law firms that have signed up, but said a number in the Birmingham region had already joined.

But City firms were sceptical.

The personnel director at one magic circle firm said: 'I really can't see it is of big interest to us.

These are people who are at law school.

Most of our people will have been found before law school, provided we have got our recruitment figures right.'Another said: 'We get 800 applications for 20 places.

Why would we be interested in somebody who just sticks their CV on the site? They can e-mail their CV directly to us.

I wonder what value this is adding.'College of Law career adviser Jenny Goddard said: 'The bigger firms probably have got the whole thing sewn up and would expect people to apply by CV and cover letter or application form.

They expect them to target their applications to that firm.' She predicted that smaller firms might be put off by the charge, and warned students that posting their details on the Internet means that any firm can gain access to the information.Ms Preston responded: 'They have a lot of politics and a lot of organisation, but we anticipate that we will get a lot of the larger firms joining.'Anne Mizzi