City boys and West End girls
Located in London"s leafy Gray's Inn, Wedlake Bell straddles the City's legal quarter and London's West End. The location of this 231-year-old firm is significant. It’s a firm grounded in tradition but with increasingly modern leanings. Private client and property make up just over half of the practice while, broadly speaking, corporate, commercial, IP, pensions and employment make up the rest. Training principal Hilary Platt gives us some more detail: "The private client and corporate sides of the business support one another very well. Inevitably, the nature of the private client team's work is completely different, but that doesn't preclude all of the teams working well together in terms of cross-referrals. It's mutually very beneficial."
Six months in a property-related seat is likely. This can be in commercial property, construction or residential, the last of which forms part of private client work. Other seats include corporate, corporate tax, business recoveries, pensions, IP, employment and private client. Unique opportunities further complement the training contract. For example, because the firm advises a trade union, members of the union are each entitled to one free hour of legal advice. A hotline straight to the trainee desk means they can get calls from anyone from “a bathroom tiler to someone who owns a small business,” and must promptly “come up with pragmatic solutions.”
Trainees in the “buzzing” commercial property group work with “large property funds,” allowing new starters “an awful lot of responsibility, as you will work on matters from start to finish.” The “excellent” team recently acted for Warburg-Henderson KAG on its acquisition of the N1 Shopping Centre in Islington for £112m. Wedlake Bell is also ranked by Chambers UK in various subgroups of property, including property finance, property litigation and construction. This last is the smallest property-related department in the firm's armoury, with only one partner and two associates, but the team advises some major clients on purchase matters and disputes. Trainees reported working on “big commercial refits,” as well as hospital renovations for “big healthcare clients.” Recently, the team advised Bupa on the construction of a new Brighton HQ and the roll-out of its new wellness centres. When Spire Healthcare bought Bupa's hospital portfolio, Wedlake Bell handled the rolling upgrade of their facilities. Trainee work includes “drafting appointment contracts for the architect and the structural engineer,” and “reading through precedents and basically turning the brief into a contract.”
Together in electric DreamWorks
Trainees in the corporate seat “have a real appreciation for the transactions” they do. There is a wide variety too – the department has worked on M&A deals, IPOs for AIM-listed companies and the disposal of some private finance initiative projects. When Wedlake Bell received Swedish musical instrument manufacturer Elektron as a fresh client, it acted on the company's takeover of Hartest Holdings and then on the subsequent placing to raise £3.4m, generating an end value of £8.2m. Within these transactions, trainees report “much more drafting than expected,” as well as “putting together the stock transfer and running completion matters.”
The commercial team's client list is “top-class.” Tesco, Aquascutum, cheapflights.com and DreamWorks are only a selection. The IP team acted for Which? in relation to a leak of extracts from the 2011 Good Food Guide that ended up on the internet. Since the extracts were published by an unknown blogger, proceedings had to be initiated against “persons unknown,” and a sleuth-like campaign to uncover the source was conducted through Twitter and Facebook (the perpetrator was eventually caught). WB's IP lawyers also act for BMW and its associated companies, including Rolls-Royce, on trade mark infringement of brands and for protected car designs. If what they handle is mainly 'soft' IP, trainees can see contentious and non-contentious work depending on what their supervisor is doing. They “draft documents and get in touch with clients," and praised the work, supervision and downright wisdom of the IP whizzes: “You'll pass them in an office,” mused one, “and they’ll just be sitting there, thinking.” Deep stuff.
Private client, public house
The firm's private client department acts for bankers, politicians and aristocrats, but on the contentious trusts and probate side WB may be representing little old ladies, as “few high-street firms will deal with wills when it all goes wrong.” That’s not to say there aren’t still high-value disputes going on. The firm is acting on behalf of the estate of an aviator who died in a light plane crash in 2009 and whose assets (worth £14m) include the Bossington estate in Hampshire. It also represented a client who had been gifted works of art (intriguingly spread across the world) by his late father-in-law, a renowned sculptor. The sculptor's daughter (and the client’s soon to be ex-wife) then denied him access to these gifts.
Trainees working on disputes may draft instructions to counsel and go before a district judge. Because “we offer a full service,” they may find themselves on some interesting errands: one “went to a dead person's house to meet a valuer,” another “went through a client's bank statement, cancelling all her direct debits to charities as they were eating up all of her money.” On the non-contentious side of probate, the firm worked on the execution of a £93m estate, which included a penthouse, Scottish fishing rights and £27m worth of art.
If working in the corporate team can occasionally mean “a 21-hour day,” then a late finish at Wedlake Bell is normally 8 or 9pm (and trainees reported usually being out of the door by 6.30pm). As with any small firm with a significant private client practice, there is “a great premium placed on manners.” One source explained: “The firm does market itself as somewhere clients will enjoy their dealings, and they do seem to enjoy working with us. In fact, the only time you would ever be shouted at is if you were rude to a client.” Trainees, we can therefore vouch, are all “friendly and outgoing,” can “handle themselves well in social situations and are necessarily entrepreneurial, since the ability to attract clients is key.” Platt added: "We're looking for people who are clear about the sort of firm we are, who can cope well with responsibility, and who will be a good cultural fit."
Socially, Wedlake Bell hires the Oval once a year for a client cricket tournament, and is involved with various charity events. On top of once-a-month firm drinks, there's “lots of scope if you want to play netball or do a quiz night.” Informally, there are frequent pub sessions, where “as a trainee you're just not allowed to buy yourself a drink.” If there are some more old-fashioned departments within Wedlake Bell, they do not affect the naturally open culture. “There's no invisible barrier” when talking to partners.
There were no second-year trainees in 2011, but generally speaking qualification prospects are good, and four of six stayed on in 2010.
And finally...
"Trainees have the opportunity to become more involved in business development in a firm of this size. Trainees have more client contact so there is more scope for participating in business development."