Gateley Legal - True Picture

Gateley Legal training contract review 2026

The Firm

“I was looking for a regional firm, somewhere with broad practice areas. A really good culture was important to me too,” detailed one of Gateley’s newest recruits. Tough boxes to tick? Not for Gateley: “The major calling factor for me was work-life balance and how they look after you when they train you,” another trainee who had found their perfect fit at the firm added, “people were genuinely very friendly and welcoming, which is what I wanted. I didn’t want to go to a scary law firm, so that approachability and friendliness was what got me in the door.”

Though based in Birmingham, the firm has offices across the UK, and takes trainees in Leeds, Nottingham, Manchester, Reading and Guildford. Its strengths are apparent in all of them too, with strong Chambers UK rankings for corporate M&A, employment and real estate in both the West and East Midlands, restructuring/insolvency in Yorkshire and the Thames Valley, and banking & finance and restructuring/insolvency in the Midlands.

“I didn’t want to go to a scary law firm, so that approachability and friendliness was what got me in the door.”

Gateley is fairly unique in that it is a listed firm (meaning shares in the firm are bought, sold and traded on the stock market), and its acquisition and integration of other businesses was something that excited trainees: “It’s easy to forget the ancillary businesses we have in our professional services group,” explained a trainee, “but it’s really important for our overall business and the way we want to go about things.”

As the firm’s national training principal, Stuart Evans, tells us, “We’re not just a law firm, we are effectively a full-service legal and consultancy business. The aim is to offer clients not just legal advice, but other advice through our consultancy businesses as well, so that’s our USP.”

The Seats

We heard that a Gateley training contract is pretty structured, with trainees required to complete a contentious, corporate and property seat during their time at the firm. The seats available can differ depending on which office a trainee is based in, and the seat allocation process has some differences based on location too, though generally “you’re put in a random first seat based on business needs,” and second years are usually given priority when it comes to their preferences.

Gateley’s residential development unit (RDU) revolves around (you guessed it) residential developments, all the way from land acquisitions to planning applications. Trainees described work in the seat as “quite black letter law-heavy, not in terms of everything you do, but it’s a lot more law-y than more contractual law seats like corporate or banking.” As one trainee put it: “You do more legally complex work than commercially complex, so it’s very interesting and leads to a huge variety.”

In fact, the work was so varied in the seat that one source told us that “no task is ever the same, which is really good! Every day is different, so you don’t know what you’re going to be doing at the start of the day.” One interviewee shared that they’d been involved in “a lot of forward-thinking prep work in terms of site set-up work, so you’ve got to be very organised in how you’re collecting information and displaying it so that the plot buyer’s solicitors can access it.”

“It teaches you a lot about the law in general. It teaches you a lot about different law firms and how different teams integrate with each other and work with each other.”

Trainees who had spent time in a corporate seat explained that the team is made up of “lots of different partners that do several different things, so you get to see how other people work, and you can work on a variety of deals and clients.” The firm has specialists in the likes of M&A, equity capital markets and corporate governance, but with the firm advising clients from the startup space right the way through, there is plenty of overlap with other teams: “For example, there will likely be an employment aspect, or some crossover with IP, or tax, or banking & finance, you get to meet so many different people across the firm.”

As such, interviewees flagged it as an ideal seat regardless of where they were hoping to qualify: “It teaches you a lot about the law in general. It teaches you a lot about different law firms and teams integrate with each other and work with each other.” What’s more, sources reported “really feeling part of the deal, drafting all your traditional documents like board minutes, shareholder resolutions, and all the ancillaries.” The group recently acted for Inspired Energy on its £26.66m fundraise, providing advice on all legal aspects of the fundraise.

Employment involves a mix of corporate support and litigation. On the corporate support side, we heard that “it’s very much an advice-giving seat, so we’ll have people call up to explain what an employee’s done and ask what they can do. I did like that aspect,” explained a source, “it felt you were actually helping people.”

Where employment tribunals were involved on the litigious side of the seat, we heard that trainees can expect to be doing a lot of bundling, but one interviewee explained that they didn’t mind: “I quite like the process of bundling in terms of there’s a methodical way of doing things and a step-by-step start to finish.” In one recent case, the firm advised the Arts Council of England on a complex race discrimination and constructive dismissal claim.

In banking & finance, trainees were pleased that they’d been able “to work on deals from start to finish and see them through. You see how it all works.” A lot of what the team does revolves around the financial aspects of other practices like corporate and real estate, with specialists in areas like debt finance. “When the big matters are big, they’re very big,” one source told us, “The sizes of the different facilities that are happening really vary, but there’s real complexity to some of the legal arrangements.”

Trainees told us that the main responsibility at the junior end is managing the condition precedents to any transaction, so as one source put it: “I’d have a big checklist up on my screen and then when an email comes in, I’d be the one checking off what documents we’ve got, reviewing everything, and liaising with the client to make sure that we’d ticked it off.” In one recent deal, Gateley’s banking & finance team worked with education recruitment agency TeacherActive on a debt and equity investment from Prico Private Capital.

The firm’s construction practice is split between contentious and non-contentious matters, and trainees can expect to touch on both: “You can be involved in contentious and non-contentious work all in the same day, and you get work right from senior associates to the partner level.” As is often the case for construction-related practices in the UK in recent years, there’s a lot of work around remedial work contracts and fire safety-related issues for some of the largest housebuilders in the country.

In one recent case, the firm represented Aspire Luxury Properties in a dispute with contractors regarding time, money and quality of work. In terms of responsibilities, and interviewee detailed that “the typical day-to-day would involve drafting first drafts of notices of claims, doing sections of letters of claim, letters of response, a reasonable amount of research, and a fair amount of calls.”

Trainee Life

With offices across the UK, trainees told us that their bases were generally in accessible locations and had pretty good facilities too. The Birmingham office had undergone a recent refurbishment and now includes a new social space on the fourth floor which is home to the best coffee machine in the office! The Manchester refurb has also just finished, with the same social space.

Whilst the Nottingham office was noted as perhaps less modern than the firm’s other locations, we did hear that “it’s a really nice building, we’ve got access to all the correct equipment.” As Evans is quick to highlight, the distinction between the offices isn’t as stark as you might think: “Unit profit has always centred nationally rather than with offices, so we’ve always had that element of cross-office work, but since covid that’s skyrocketed.”

Trainees are expected to be in office four days a week with some flexibility, and one acknowledged that “I sometimes moan about that or don’t like it, but I think deep down it’s a good thing in terms of listening to conversations and seeing how things are working. Even if you’re not on a matter, you’re subconsciously picking things up or listening in.”

When it came to working hours, sources were happy that their hours didn’t stray too far from their contracted 9am-5.30pm, and “they’re really good at telling you that you shouldn’t work outside of this unless you absolutely have to.” While interviewees had experienced longer hours, “I’ve probably only stayed until 7pm at the latest,” explained one, “and then it’s very flexible in terms of work-from-home – if you do need to work later, you can definitely be at home doing that.”

Staying late isn’t always a chore, however. One popular event was the firm’s ‘Spark’ networking event, which is run every few months and provides an opportunity for junior lawyers across the firm (and junior members of the firm’s clients) to network with people at the same level.

“Even if you’re due to start in a couple of years, you get assigned someone and they’ll be in touch with you.”

Other social events include monthly payday drinks, and in-office events like “pancakes for pancake day, and we did an Easter egg hunt recently too!” There are also sports teams to get involved with.Trainees are responsible for organising the firm’s CSR events and appreciated that this had given them “the chance to talk to people around the office and meet them outside of work.” One felt that the firm’s “social scene is quite important, which is really nice.”

An interviewee also highlighted the firm’s trainee-buddy system, telling us that “we take our buddy situation quite seriously, so we do meet up and keep in contact! Even if you’re due to start in a couple of years, you get assigned someone and they’ll be in touch with you.” This approachability applies across the firm, with a source sharing that the culture is such that “nothing’s ever too much bother for anybody. The atmosphere’s really nice, so I really enjoy coming into the office.”

On the topic of DEI, trainees shared that the firm has five community groups: ability, inspire, pride, thrive and unity. They told us that ‘thrive’, which focuses on mental health and wellbeing, “sent out stress packs when it was mental health week, and did a Movember initiative for men’s mental health.” “It’s a very inclusive firm,” noted a trainee, “there’s always stuff going on to raise awareness of different things, so I’d say it’s good.”

Another theme that came in for some praise amongst the current cohort was supervision, with one sharing that their supervisors had been “really, really friendly, and I’ve been able to come to them if I’ve got any concerns or queries with my work, and nothing is ever too much trouble for them.” We also heard that training focuses on “the fundamentals at the beginning, but you’re constantly learning throughout the seat which is really nice.”

Further to seat-specific training, trainees shared that theyalso have a graduate development programme split across the year, which focuses on things like “emotional intelligence, managing conflict, and thinking about how you can communicate problems with your supervisor.” Trainees were also pleased that while these sessions were originally online, the firm had responded to feedback and made the sessions in-person for the trainee cohort: “It’s very engaging stuff, you get to talk to people, and you get to see your other trainee friends, which is really nice.”

The firm also hosts an annual ‘Gately Graduate Getaway’ as part of its induction for legal and consultancy graduates, which involved a short trip to the Lake District for some teambuilding!

Trainees across the firm’s office felt that their salary was fair and in line with trainees at other firms in their respective cities. Qualification was a slightly more debated topic, as we heard that the process is straightforward, but “I think from our end as trainees our only complaint is that it’s not fed through very promptly.”

“Communication could probably be a bit better,” agreed one final seater, “but from the sounds of it, it should be relatively easy!” The firm did tell us that the roles are advertised around Easter, with offers going out in June. The process was explained as being straightforward – a jobs list is released, trainees email emerging talent to apply for roles, have interviews with those departments, and are informed of decisions. In 2025, the firm retained 21 of 34 qualifiers.

How to get a Gateley training contract

APPLY HERE 

Training contract deadline: 9th of January

Application Process

Applications are submitted via Gateley’s website, where candidates can specify their preferred office location. The firm welcomes applicants from both law and non-law backgrounds, with no minimum A-level or degree requirements.

Shortlisted candidates invited to an assessment centre over Easter. This includes group and written exercise, plus an interview.

If you’re successful at the assessment centre, you’ll be invited to join Gateley’s one-week summer vacation scheme, held in June and July across the firm’s Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Nottingham, and Reading/Guildford offices. During the scheme, you’ll be immersed in a single department, given real work—drafting client letters, attending presentations, and contributing to live matters.

Training Contract Structure

Gateley offers four six-month seats, with exposure to a variety of legal areas. Trainees receive supervision from experienced solicitors, technical training from professional support lawyers, and quarterly coaching from the talent development team. Mid- and end-of-seat reviews ensure progress is tracked and supported.

Each trainee is assigned a buddy at the start of their contract and may later become a buddy to incoming trainees. This peer support is a cornerstone of Gateley’s collaborative culture.

What Gateley Looks For

Candidates should demonstrate:

• A strong interest in law and business
• Commercial awareness
• Willingness to engage in CSR initiatives like Gateley Gives
• Confidence in networking and client interaction
• A collaborative mindset and eagerness to learn