London quality work in this Bristol based package will have you on the Burge of greatness.
Burges Salmon training contract review 2026
The Firm
In the world of fashion, there’s no accounting for taste. You’ve got to be on top of the trends, styled for success, and fitted for the future. Law firms are no different, which is why with this Salmon, you can be pretty in pink. “It’s probably not an original answer, but I just love the London quality work while getting to be in Bristol,” revealed one of our interviewees, “it’s such a lovely city and just a really nice place to work.”
It’s true, the calibre of work for the area (and don’t forget the firm’s other trainee-based office in Edinburgh) was one of the most prominent reasons juniors wanted to join, but don’t just take our word for it. Our colleagues over at Chambers UK has the firm ranked in almost 40 departments with standouts coming from transport, competition, real estate, restructuring/insolvency, planning, pensions, litigation, corporate M&A, IP, and more.
“Everyone takes an interest and care in your personal life, everyone is class, everyone is lovely.”
Outside of the locale and work, culture seemed to be the biggest draw with one junior pointing out “it can be quite a big ambiguous word generally, but it’s a really attractive quality of the firm.” What does that translate to exactly? Well, one source put it simply: “Everyone takes an interest and care in your personal life, everyone is class, everyone is lovely.” We’re sold on this Salmon!
The Seats
The firm has got itself on the AI train, in terms of seat allocation at least. Trainees use the Ruth software to rank all seat options from one to ten (ten being a yes please, one being a no thanks) and interviewees were fans of the new system: “It’s made the process more straight forward. Everything I’ve been allocated thus far has been ranked above a seven.”
Burges Salmon is one of the rare firms in our guide that offers a six-seat training contract, with that final sixth seat usually allocated for one of three options. The first option, and most common, is a return to the seat they plan to qualify into with sources saying, “it helps you transition to NQ life a bit easier.” The second is a complimentary seat to where the trainee is qualifying, and the third option is a secondment.
On that front, the secondment opportunities vary and are open to both cohorts across offices, a longstanding stint with EDF being the most familiar as “it really fits with Burges Salmon’s ethos.”
If you make the real estate department your home, you’ll find yourself in the biggest department in the firm. The group is made up of a selection of subgroups, but trainees aren’t to worry about such things as they act as a generalist, picking up any available work wherever it comes from. As such, “It was a really busy seat,” explained one source, “which was a great opportunity because I could take on other responsibilities that other people did.”
GLA has been a longstanding client for the firm for many years with several active projects in play. One of which is the development on Albert Island of the first boatyard built on the Thames in over 300 years. The matter is worth several billions of pounds.
Typical trainee tasks include drafting reports on title, working with the land registry, preparing stamp duty returns, research, client contact, option agreements, working on offshore wind farms, proof reading, contacting insurers, getting quotes, and ancillary documents. “I ran a couple of matters more or less by myself,” one proud newbie exclaimed, “if you put your hand up for something, they’ll get you involved.”
Dispute resolution is the second biggest department in the firm and a favourite amongst our interviewees. “They strike the balance of responsibility really well,” one newbie divulged, “I really appreciate the opportunity to weigh in and participate within the team.” There are a variety of subgroups that make up the disputes practice including real estate disputes, IP litigation, general commercial litigation, private client and more.
One source explained the process of work allocation in a bit more detail: “You’re allocated one quadrant within the practice but you do get the chance to get work from the whole team so there is a wide-ranging experience.” Recently, the firm represented the special purpose energy company URE Energy Limited against Notting Hill Genesis over the termination of a long-term electricity supply agreement. The matter was valued at £4.5 million.
The breadth of trainee tasks varied widely and included drafting of letters and notices, attendance notes for clients, working on legislative structure, transport work, asset recovery, contacting chambers, research tasks, business development, and bundling. “Everyone is more than happy to let you get involved in as much as you want,” one junior beamed, “they made a real effort to welcome me to the team.”
“We’re really adding value and it’s a great seat in terms of opportunity.”
The advisory heavy seat of pensions was described as “really fascinating work and really enjoyable” by our sources. “It was quite varied as seats go,” one junior described, “it’s a very technical area and there’s good quality training that comes from that.” A significant client for the firm that most trainees were exposed to was the trustees of the Honda-Group UK pension scheme which has assets nearing £1 billion. Recent work on the scheme has included supporting the trustees with the company’s proposal to close the scheme to future accrual, as well as advisory work on technical aspects of the scheme.
Other streams of work newbies got to tackle were defined benefit pension schemes, business development, public and private sector work, and trustee work. One junior highlighted that there was a bit of autonomy in this team as “a lot of this is up to you; You can go and seek out what you want to do in the group.” Standard tasks include attending client meetings, drafting letters to members and regulators, research tasks, DocuSign, bespoke technical questions, and client contact.
“In some ways it felt like going back to uni days because it was a lot of researching the law,” one interviewee admitted. Juniors also had a lot of praise for the team itself, touting that “everyone was really passionate about the work they do here” which trickled down to the trainees themselves who felt that “we’re really adding value and it’s a great seat in terms of opportunity.”
A stint in the banking and finance seat will see trainees assigned to one of four buckets: real estate finance, corporate finance, project finance, and restructuring and insolvency. A junior will be given a supervisor who is a specialist in one of those four branches which is where the majority of their work will filter in from. Due to the nature of the work in the group, juniors reported that “you do get quite a lot of responsibility because there’s a lot more structured work that a trainee does compared to other seats.”
An example of recent work would be that of the firm’s longstanding client FirstGroup plc on two interconnected projects with a combined debt size of over £200 million. One focused on the acquisition of batteries for EV buses, and the second focused on the funding of electric buses bodies. The two financings were linked through inter-creditor cooperation arrangements.
Rookies will find themselves drafting a great deal of documents and board minutes, as well as managing projects and conditions precedents. For those keen to get stuck in, juniors praised the seat for “being quite fast paced in general.”
Trainee Life
Supervision was overall praised by our interviewees, but the degree to which supervisors were hands-on seemed to fluctuate individual to individual. One source speculated it depended on their seniority which brought with it its own pros and cons: “If you have the most senior supervisor then you have slightly less attention I think, but they also have the most experience and knowledge to pass on.”
Training seemed to be an ever-evolving practice at the firm, largely due to the SQE and the relatively new Edinburgh cohort. Juniors pointed out that overall, the firm is erring on the side of caution as “they’ve thrown a lot of training at us because they don’t want any gaps!” Some newbies commented that occasionally a training session will come too late as they’ll have done that task multiple times by the time the session comes around. The one exception being the banking department: “It’s one of the best training programs out of all the departments, it’s very structured and frontloaded at the start.”
The Bristol office is in the “heart of the city” and is currently going floor by floor for a full office refurbishment. The new improvements are going down a treat with newbies, who pointed out that “it’s fully open plan which is great for juniors. We’ve got a nice cafeteria as well.” While also enjoying the great networking opportunities and great working environment, the Bristolian cohort also took the opportunity to take a playful jab at us London commuters by stating “we don’t have any issues around train strikes, I know that much!”
Those in the Edinburgh office are also being treated to some office construction thanks to the fact “we just keep growing so quickly.” Insiders up north also felt the need to highlight their free coffee machine which was described as “the best perk of the office and one everyone talks about.”
Trainees are expected in the office three days a week (though the Edinburgh crowd saw most people opting for five days in for full attendance!) and most finish times averaged around the 6pm mark with interviewees, signaling “you don’t have to stay super late unless it’s really pressured for deadlines.”Compensation also got the thumbs up, with rookies noting second years were eligible for the bonus scheme and Edinburgh trainees beamed that “I think we’re the highest paid trainees in Scotland.”
“I feel included and that I belong here…”
Of the general firm culture, we heard it all comes back to the trainee cohort where “there’s no competition with other people, and I know a lot of these people are my lifelong friends.” This kind of positivity spread throughout our interviewees who all singled out the culture as a true standout for Burges Salmon: “People make an effort to integrate you from day one in every seat, it’s just a really nice place to be.”
Part of that effort is the number of socials and events put on to bring newbies into the fold, such as the prolific Burges Salmon’s Got Talent charity competition. Outside of that, there are Christmas parties, summer parties, volunteering days, charity dinners, ad hoc drinks, and department specific fests which are “a mix between networking, strategy, and team building.” One interviewee quipped “there’s always things going on” and the firm provides travel and accommodation to the Edinburgh cohort down to Bristol, so they won’t miss out on the big shindigs.
On diversity, sources acknowledged the affinity groups as a plus as well as the celebration of cultural events such as for Chinese New Year and Ramadan. “I can see the firm is driving it a lot,” explained one junior, “I feel included and that I belong here, so I think they take it seriously.”
Trainees were pleased to report that the qualification process was “informal and relaxed” which eased any pre-existing stress. Generally speaking, trainees are advised to have discussions with departments they’re interested in as early as possible. This process was seen very positively by sources, one of whom told us that “some of the partners give up a lot of their time to talk it through with you.”
After that, trainees submit a CV and cover letter sometime during their fifth seat. Juniors breathed a sigh of relief at the fact that interviews weren’t necessary either, as one rookie astutely observed that “the training contract itself is the interview.” Sources were excited at the prospect of a future at the firm, with one exclaiming “I like being part of one firm and a firm that’s growing!” In 2025, the firm retained 89% qualifiers.
Plenty of… ferrets in the sea?
Burges Salmon hosted a ferret training social, which is certainly one of the more abstract and out-of-the-box ideas featured in our guide!
How to get a Burges Salmon training contract
All applications open 29 September 2025
Vacation scheme deadlines (2025/2026)
Bristol:
- 27 October 2025 (winter)
- 5 January 2026 (spring and summer)
Edinburgh:
- 5 January 2026 (spring and summer)
Open days (Bristol: 16 & 18 March 2026
Training contract deadline 2027: 22 June 2026
Application and assessment
This should go without saying but remember to pay close attention to spelling and grammar when submitting your online application, and to leave plenty of time to take the assessment. "We reject a lot of forms instantly because they haven't been checked properly,” says a resourcing business partner, who adds: “The forms that stand out come from people who have done research into the firm beyond what can be found on the recruitment page, and who demonstrate a good understanding of our culture."
Both vac scheme and direct training contract applicants who nail the application stage are invited to an assessment centre, complete with a written exercise, group exercise and interview.
At this point, vac scheme applicants who score highly enough go on to complete their vac scheme (see below). Applicants that are successful after the vacation scheme will be invited back for a training contract interview.
At the interview, candidates are also likely to be asked why they want to live and work in Bristol, but you don't need to have a local connection to be successful.
Vacation scheme
Burges Salmon runs winter (one week), spring (two weeks) and two summer (two weeks each) schemes across the year in their Bristol office. Excitingly, the firm now runs spring and summer vacation schemes based in their Edinburgh office for those wanting to apply for an Edinburgh-based training contract. The firm takes on just 60 candidates in total, spread out across the schemes, in an effort to closely mentor and give enough work to each attendee.
Vac schemers normally visit two departments during their placement and have a trainee buddy on hand to assist throughout. In addition to learning sessions, the firm holds talks that give participants the chance to learn more about specific practice areas. Vac schemers are also taken out for an informal social with their trainee buddies and the graduate recruitment team. Recent trainees gave the programme a big thumbs up: "It's a well-planned scheme, and the work is meaningful.” Indeed, one told of drafting an article for a weekly publication, while another mentioned “writing something that ended up going to the partners,” and a third reported attending court with an associate and helping out on a pro bono project.
The ideal candidate
You'll need at least a 2:1 degree and 136 UCAS points to get a training contract here. In the past the firm has made exceptions, but the vast majority of applicants who don't have the above requirements face the chop.
According to a resourcing business partner, work experience in a commercial environment is something recruiters look out for. “That could come from a law firm or any business really – for example, a part-time job in a shop, an internship in a bank or a stint in sales. Anything that involves providing a service and seeing how that makes money will stand applicants in good stead." Past trainees we've spoken with have beefed up their applications with administrative jobs, paralegal work and time spent with a local Citizens Advice Bureau.
Burges Salmon LLP
Burges Salmon is an ambitious, sustainable and law inclusive firm that ensures its clients, people and wider communities flourish.
Our vision is to be the market-leading independent UK law firm that provides the best proposition for our people and our clients.
By focusing on the markets and areas of expertise where we have extensive knowledge and experience, we achieve the best outcomes for our clients, who range from large organisations, entrepreneurial businesses and public sector bodies, to individuals, families and their global wealth. We are trusted to help them with everything from their everyday legal needs to their business critical issues and all points in between.
With offices in Bristol, Edinburgh, London, Dublin and Cardiff, the firm’s people work wherever clients need them to be, both within the UK and internationally. The firm works across the UK, with lawyers who are qualified to work in all three legal jurisdictions in the UK — England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Burges Salmon’s clients include organisations such as Yeo Valley, EDF, Octopus, Spire Healthcar,e The John Lewis Partnership, The Financial Services Compensation Scheme, FirstGroup, HSBC Bank plc, Virgin GROUP, Costain Group, The Crown Commercial Service, Babcock International Group and Highways England.
The quality of the firm’s expertise is widely recognised across its main departments including corporate and financial institutions, dispute resolution, planning, construction and engineering, projects, real estate and private client. The key sectors in which we operate are energy, power and utilities, financial services, infrastructure, private wealth, the public sector, real estate, and transport.
Burges Salmon’s six-seat training contract is designed to provide you with the greatest breadth of experience possible as a trainee. While traditional training contracts normally include four six-month seats, Burges Salmon’s includes six four-month placements. This ensures you gain the maximum exposure to it’s varied practice areas and experience a wide range of contentious and non-contentious work from across their main departments.
As a trainee you will be given early responsibility balanced with truly open-door support. From the beginning you will be learning from lawyers recognised as experts in their fields who are able to offer the advice and guidance you will need to develop into a trusted business adviser.
You won't find a restrictive hierarchy at Burges Salmon. Throughout your training contract you will be an integral part of the team, working alongside lawyers who are experts in their field and sharing a room with a supervisor who will support your growth and development. Working with a range of associates, senior associates and partners means you hit the ground running and experience a real variety of work from a range of personalities.
Bristol
Every year the firm runs a winter vacation scheme (one week), a spring vacation scheme (two weeks) and two summer vacation schemes (two weeks each), which are open to anyone who is eligible to apply for a training contract – regardless of your degree discipline or the length of time since you graduated.
Edinburgh
We are excited to launch our Edinburgh spring vacation scheme (one week). The firm will be recruiting trainees to be based from the Edinburgh office through the Edinburgh vacation scheme.
You will need to complete a Scots law degree (LLB) and the Diploma in Professional Legal Practice (PEAT STAGE 1).
During the scheme you will have the opportunity to visit one or two departments of your choice. The emphasis is on ‘real work’ and, under the guidance of your supervisor, you will have the chance to attend court or client meetings as well as skills sessions run by trainees and solicitors. In addition to this, there are many social and sports events throughout the placement that offer a real insight into life as a trainee solicitor. Allowance: £375 per week.
Annually reviewed competitive salary, 25 days paid annual leave, bonus scheme, pension scheme, private health care membership, life assurance, mobile phone, Christmas gift, corporate gym membership, sports and social club.
This year the firm will run three presentation evenings in November:
• 7th October 2025 in our Edinburgh office
• 18 November 2025 – in our Bristol office
• 20th November 2025 - virtual
Presentations are given by current trainees, a recruitment partner and the graduate recruitment team about life at the firm and the application process. There are also various other insight events throughout the year including open days and Food for thought' skills sessions. You can find out more by visiting our website.
We want our firm to represent the diverse communities in which we operate and we encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and identities. 98% of our people believe we have an open and inclusive workplace – come join them.
four key areas: gender, disability, ethnicity and LGBT+, all of which are underpinned with the ambition to provide social mobility within each of these groups. Each focus area has a strategic action plan and people-led networks to ensure engagement and support delivery.
We have a Gender Action Plan focussed on delivering gender balance across the firm, particularly in the partnership and senior business professional roles; designing a workplace accessible to those with additional caring responsibilities and ensuring all our people feel confident to progress in the workplace. We have been recognised as a Times Top 50 Employer for Women for the second year running, demonstrating the innovative work we’ve done in this area.
We have strong LGBT+ representation within our organisation. We are long-standing sponsors of Bristol Pride and Edinburgh Pride and we have a people-led network championing LGBT+ issues, BProud. We continue to implement best practice in LGBT+ inclusion through our involvement with Stonewall.
We have a Race Action Plan to continue to improve our ethnicity diversity representation within our workforce. Internally, we have an ethnic diversity reverse mentoring programme for key senior leaders, to ensure they continue to build inclusive and representative departments and processes.
We are committed to employing people with long-term health conditions, disabilities or impairments. We are a Disability Confident Employer, ensuring that we provide best practice in supporting out people and providing any adjustments or tools needed in the workplace.
Social mobility follows through each of our diversity and inclusion strands and we have been recognised as a Top 75 Employer for Social Mobility. We follow best practice, such as the Prime Commitment, and take part in local schemes, such as Bristol Future Talent Partnership and Women’s Work Lab.
We have developed active relationships with a number of community partners and local charities to support our efforts in diversity and inclusion. We continue to work with them to implement best practice for our people. To see the work we are doing in this area, please refer to the Responsible Business Report.
We support our people with a number of internal diversity networks:
BProud is our well established LGBT+ network. BProud welcomes both LGBT+ members and allies. The network promotes a culture where everyone is able to be open about their sexual orientation. BProud members run and attend many LGBT+ events through the year.
BCultured is our BAME network, established in 2018. BCultured aims to promote ethnic diversity and inclusion across all aspects of the firm. Through reverse mentoring, BCultured has helped us to build awareness and better understanding of different cultural perspectives and experiences.
Family Matters is a network that has been established for those with caring responsibilities in the firm. Family Matters aims to provide a space for people to discuss and share experiences openly and hold regular information events.
BEnabled is open to anyone who identifies as disabled, cares for someone with a disability or has a general interest in this area and wants to support the Firm in being an accessible and inclusive place to work. The aim of the forum is to ensure that our working environment is supportive, accessible and suitable for all of our people.
BBalanced is our gender network to help support better gender balance, to identify actions and working practices that better support and enable women in the workplace and to help direct certain benefits, traditionally geared towards a specific gender, more fairly to all.
This Firm's Rankings in
UK Guide, 2025
Ranked Departments
-
Scotland
- Corporate/M&A (Band 4)
- Employment (Band 5)
- Energy & Natural Resources: Renewables & Alternative Energy (Band 3)
- Planning (Band 2)
- Real Estate: £10 million and above (Band 3)
-
South West
- Agriculture & Rural Affairs (Band 1)
- Banking & Finance (Band 1)
- Construction (Band 1)
- Corporate/M&A: £25 million and above (Band 1)
- Employment (Band 1)
- Environment (Band 1)
- Family/Matrimonial (Band 1)
- Information Technology (Band 1)
- Intellectual Property (Band 1)
- Litigation (Band 1)
- Pensions (Band 1)
- Planning (Band 1)
- Professional Negligence: Mainly Claimant (Band 1)
- Real Estate (Band 1)
- Real Estate Litigation (Band 1)
- Restructuring/Insolvency (Band 1)
-
The Regions
- Competition Law (Band 1)
- Financial Crime (Band 3)
- Tax (Band 2)
-
UK-wide
- Asset Finance: Rail Finance (Band 2)
- Energy & Natural Resources: Power, Renewables & Alternative Energy (Band 3)
- Health & Safety (Band 2)
- Healthcare: Private Sector (Band 3)
- Healthcare: Public and Third Sector (Band 4)
- Hotels & Leisure (Band 4)
- Investment Funds: Open-ended Funds (Band 3)
- Local Government (Band 4)
- Pensions Litigation (Band 2)
- Public Inquiries (Band 3)
- Public Procurement (Band 1)
- Real Estate Finance (Band 6)
- Transport: Rail: Franchising (Band 1)
- Transport: Rail: Projects & Infrastructure (Band 3)
- Transport: Rail: Rolling Stock (Band 1)