Different types of law firm

[See also: Different types of solicitor]

There are nearly 10,500 private practice firms in England and Wales. It may help you to understand the extent and nature of the solicitors’ profession by grouping them into the following categories, starting with the biggest.

London: magic circle

The membership of this most exclusive of clubs traditionally extends to Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Linklaters, and Slaughter and May. To those for whom bigger is better (bigger deals, bigger money, bigger staff numbers), this is the place to be. Corporate and finance work dominates these firms, as do international big-bucks business clients. By organising their training on a massive scale, these firms can offer seemingly unlimited office facilities, great perks, overseas postings and excellent formal training sessions. Although these five giants top many lists, not least for revenue and partner profits, consider carefully whether they’d top yours. Training in a magic circle firm is CV gold but not suited to everyone. One factor to consider is the requirement to work really long hours to keep profits fat and international clients happy. A great camaraderie develops among trainees, but be prepared to not see your other friends too often…

London: large commercial

The top ten City of London firms (including the magic circle) offer over 800 traineeships between them each year, representing approximately 15% of all new training contracts registered with the SRA. In terms of day-to-day trainee experiences, there’s not such a huge difference between the magic circle and the so-called ‘silver circle’ firms such as Herbert Smith, CMS Cameron McKenna, Hogan Lovells and a few others. Training contracts at these chasing-pack firms are strongly flavoured with corporate and finance deals and, again, international work. The salaries match those paid by the magic circle, which is only fair given that many of the lawyers work equally hard.

London: American firms

Since the 1970s, there has been a steady stream of firms crossing the Atlantic to take their place in the UK market. Currently around 40 of them offer training contracts to would-be UK solicitors, with new schemes popping up all the time. We’d suggest staying eagle-eyed if you’ve a thing for stars and stripes. At the risk of over-generalising, these firms are characterised by international work (usually corporate or finance-led), smaller offices, more intimate training programmes and rather long hours. On the other hand they usually give trainees a good amount of responsibility and, famously, many of them pay phenomenally high salaries. Lawyers at the hotshot US firms frequently work opposite magic circle lawyers on deals; indeed many of them were previously magic circle and top-ten firm partners or associates. The arrival in force of US firms in the mid-90s had a knock-on effect on City law, not least on City salaries, which rose massively in the ten years before the recession hit.

Increasingly, UK and US firms are merging with each other, blurring the definition of which are 'American' and which are not. Some firms are quite happy to be labelled as American; others prefer to be described as 'international'. Look at their websites to get an idea of which term to use.

London: mid-sized commercial

Just like their bigger cousins, these firms are mostly dedicated to business law and business clients. Generally, they don’t require trainees to spend quite so many hours in the office; however, some of the most successful mid-sizers – eg Macfarlanes and Travers Smith– give the big boys a run for their money in terms of profitability. Ostensibly, the size of deals and cases in these firms means trainees can do much more than just administrative tasks. The atmosphere is generally a bit more intimate than at the giants of the City, with the greater likelihood of working for partners directly and, arguably, more scope to stand out within the trainee group. You shouldn’t expect such an international emphasis to all the work.

London: smaller commercial

For those who don’t mind taking home a slightly more modest pay cheque in exchange for better hours, these firms are a great choice. After all, money isn’t everything (note: those of you subscribing to Gordon Gekko’s 'greed is good’ credo see above and read no further). Usually these firms will be ‘full-service’, although some may have developed on the back of one or two particularly strong practice areas or via a reputation in certain industries. Real estate is commonly a big deal at these firms. Along with commercial work, a good number of these smaller firms offer private client services to wealthier people. At firms like these you usually get great exposure to partners and there’s less risk of losing contact with the outside world.

Niche firms

London is awash with firms specialising in areas as diverse as aviation, media, insurance litigation, shipping, family, intellectual property, sport… you name it, there’s a firm for it. Niche firms have also sprouted in areas of the country with high demand for a particular service. How about equine law in Newmarket? If you are absolutely certain that you want to specialise in a particular field – especially if you have already worked in a relevant industry – a niche firm is an excellent choice. You need to be able to back up your passion with hard evidence of your commitment, however. Many of these firms also cover other practice areas, but if any try to woo you by talking at length about their other areas of work, ask some searching questions.

Regional firms

Many of you will agree that there is more to life than the Big Smoke. There are some very fine regional firms acting for top-notch clients on cases and deals the City firms would snap up in a heartbeat. There is also international work going on outside the capital. The race for training contracts in the biggest of these firms is just as competitive as in the City. Some regional firms are even more discerning than their London counterparts in that applicants may have to demonstrate a long-term commitment to living in the area. Understandable, as they hardly want to shell out for training only to see their qualifiers flit off to the capital. Smaller regional firms tend to focus on the needs of regional clients and would therefore suit anyone who wants to become an integral part of their local business community. Salaries are lower outside London, in some cases significantly so, but so is the cost of living. There’s a perception that working outside London means a chummier atmosphere and more time for the gym/pub/family of an evening, but do bear in mind that the biggest and most ambitious regional players will expect hours that aren’t so dissimilar to firms with an EC postcode.

National and multi-site firms

Multi-site firms are necessarily massive operations, some of them with office networks spanning the length and breadth of the country and overseas. To give you just two examples, Eversheds has nine branches in England and Wales plus many overseas; DLA Piper has six in England and many more overseas. These firms attract students who want to do bigger-ticket work outside London – a sometimes unwelcome consequence of which is that they do London levels of work for a lower salary. Some of the multi-site firms allow trainees to stay in one office, whereas others expect them to move around. Make sure you know the firm’s policy or you could end up having a long-distance relationship with friends, family and your significant other while you move to a new town for a few months or are saddled with a punishing commute. The work on offer is mostly commercial, although some private client experience may be available.

General practice/high street

The Student Guide is largely devoted to corporate and commercial outfits. We make no apology for this, but we are mindful of the fact that a huge number of solicitors actually work in smallish high-street firms. We estimate that the firms covered in this guide accounted for around 2,500 of the 4,620 training contracts offered in 2009. Of the remainder, many are up for grabs on the high street. High street practices range from substantial, long-established firms in town centres to sole practitioners working above shops in the suburbs. They act for legally aided clients, individuals funding themselves and local businesses. Staple work includes landlord and tenant problems, conveyancing, personal injury, employment, family, wills and probate, and crime. Given the changes to Legal Aid funding, these firms now need to take on more privately paying and commercial clients just to stay afloat. Be prepared to earn considerably less than your peers in commercial practice, and don’t expect there to be an abundance of amenities or resources in the office. Excessively long hours are unlikely unless you’re on a rota for police station duty, in which case you’ll be paid extra for that.

If you're put off by the corporate jargon, City-slicking lifestyle and big-business attitude of some of the firms in this guide, then life with a high-street firm might be just what you're after. If you want to grow up fast as a lawyer and see how the law actually affects individuals and the community in which you practise, then this is the kind of firm to go for. Larger firms may take up to half a dozen or so trainees a year; the smallest will recruit on an occasional basis. It is in this part of the profession where salaries are the lowest, often the minimum required or recommended for trainees by the SRA.

As of 1 August 2011:

• Minimum salary Central London = £18,590 pa
• Recommended salary Central London = £19,040 pa
• Minimum salary elsewhere = £16,650 pa
• Recommended salary elsewhere = £16,940 pa

Anyone thinking of entering the Legal Aid sector should be aware that dramatic changes are affecting the public funding of legal services. We discuss this in considerable detail elsewhere on this website, and also examine high-street firms in more detail.