Bristows LLP - True Picture

Bristows training contract review 2025 

The Firm 

Finding a training contract can be a bit of a balancing act, especially in the City. For many, getting the experience they want can mean sacrificing eight hours of sleep a night. For others, navigating the corporate web is worth a bulky pay cheque at the end of the month. Bristows, however, seems to sum up compromise without sacrifice. Known as the bigwigs of IP, the firm has made a reputation for itself for offering both top-notch legal work and a more than agreeable work-life balance and culture. “My work-life balance is great!” one insider bragged, while another was pleased that this experience comes with “genuinely friendly and very sociable” colleagues. As training principal and tax partner, Miranda Cass, explains, the smaller trainee cohorts help maintain these vibes, and the firm encourages mutual support: “Our aim is to make them a cohesive unit, helping each other out and sharing what they’ve learned. If they’ve done something they think would be particularly interesting, they’ll present on that topic at their trainee knowhow meetings.” 

“They love hiring STEM people here…” 

When it comes to the firm’s work, it’s worth noting that Bristows has a particular penchant for all things tech and life sciences evidenced by its performance in the Chambers UKrankings. Bristows picks up shiny accolades for its national work in data protection & information law and IP life sciences. In the City, the guide recognises its top-notch IT & outsourcing, IP and patent litigation practices. Cass explains that both the contentious and transactional sides of the firm’s practice are booming at the moment and, in particular, “we’re seeing more and more clients investing in new technologies, and acquiring companies that have the tech that they want to introduce into their own organisations. That includes AI tools or generally novel ways of doing business.” With such a focus on the cutting-edge, it’s no wonder that the firm attracts plenty of candidates with technical backgrounds. “They love hiring STEM people here, and half of the cohort has that background,” said one trainee, while another recognised that it’s not a necessity as long as you can “come up with a narrative of why the firm should choose you.” 

The Seats 

At Bristows, trainees can customise their training contract, taking on a mixture of three- and six-month seats. Before newbies join the firm, they’ll chat to graduate recruitment to map out seat allocation for the first year of their training contract, and then repeat this process ahead of their second year. “Working it out a full year ahead of time gives you a higher-level overview of your training contract before you even start,” one trainee explained. The only caveat here is that trainees must complete mandatory seats in patent litigation and either corporate or real estate. 

Client secondments are also on the cards for those who want to go, but it’s by no means a requirement. We heard there are “coveted ones like Google,” but GSK often makes the list, too. Opportunities tend to be transactional or litigious-focused, and there’s an informal application process involved which is just a case of letting the firm know you’d like to go. This means that “you don’t have to send out emails or cold call to make it happen.” 

A seat in patent litigation is always six months long and introduces trainees to one of the core practices of the firm. The team is split across the firm’s life sciences and tech sector focuses. Trainees typically see both sides of the practice, and sources assured that it’s “very wide-ranging. Life sciences can cover pharma and pure biochemistry patents, while the technology team works on anything from wind turbines to scented toilet devices.” As such, clients range from AstraZeneca and Novartis Pharma to Panasonic and Philips. In fact, the team represented the latter in patent infringement proceedings against Oppo, OnePlus and Realme, and continues to work on the FRAND (fair, reasonable and non-discriminable) aspects of the patents. Patent litigation is the biggest – and “arguably the busiest” – team at the firm, so there’s never a shortage of matters flowing through the department. Trainees might see a bunch of cases at different stages, meaning tasks can vary depending on the matter. For instance, in the lead-up to trial, trainees prepare bundles, draft letters and reports, and help set up the courtroom. Newbies do get their fair share of admin tasks, such as taking attendance notes for meetings, keeping track of documents and scheduling calls. Research is another major part of the seat, with one trainee recalling “searching through scientific publications and journals made at the time a patent was granted to see if there was enough information to suggest that an invention might not have been novel.”   

Plenty of trainees had also done a seat in commercial IP/IT/data, cyber & libel. It essentially spans three different teams and, while they might not get an even spread, trainees typically get to try at least a bit of everything. To sum up, the data and cyber side of the work is more advisory, with some crossover into litigation, while the IP and IT teams largely work on various contracts and agreements. One such contract saw the firm help Kraft Heinz take a new hot sauce range into its loving arms in an agreement with Ed Sheeran and his ‘Tingly Teds’ line. When not rubbing shoulders with the stars, the firm has also worked with plenty of other big names, such as Heineken, The Guardian and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society. There’s also a bit of media and defamation work, as if there wasn’t already enough variety! Trainee tasks will naturally differ across the subgroups, but anyone doing a seat here should expect to get familiar working with contracts. In IP, these could be licensing, development or collaboration agreements, while IT works on outsourcing deals and various tech contracts. Newbies are typically in charge of proofreading such documents, but may also get to try drafting some agreements: “I basically solo-drafted one focusing on the IP side of a matter and how trademarks would be implemented properly,” one insider enthused. There are also opportunities for research, particularly on matters related to data protection or other developing areas of the law, as trainees may be asked to summarise legislation or data risks for clients. One interviewee was thrilled to do this for a “cutting-edge AI product which will be headline news!” 

The commercial, technology and copyright disputes team covers a whole range of contractual and tort disputes, as well as mediations and international arbitration. One such example of the latter had Bristows lawyers working across the UK, Germany and Algeria for cloud communications provider Tyntec on a telecoms arbitration against Algeria’s main mobile phone network. Overall, as one source reflected: “What’s great about the seat is that it’s a bit more digestible. You get great insight into litigation without having to get to grips with more complex areas of law like patents.” Trainees who had completed a seat with the team especially enjoyed seeing matters at different stages, getting experience in early strategy, plenty of research and trial preparation. As one source explained: “Those initial stages involve sitting in meetings with a barrister, preparing correspondence to the other side, taking attendance notes at strategy meetings and checking points of law.” Meanwhile, in the run-up to trial, newbies handle bundling, draft letters and instructions to counsel, and organise documents. 

“I’m trusted to email the client a lot more than I thought I would be.” 

A seat with corporate, tax and employment allows trainees to spend three to six months working on a range of the firm’s transactional practices. Although each group does its own work, certain matters might call upon the expertise of members across all three teams for any specialised aspects of a deal. We heard that the corporate side focuses more on M&A, some of which might relate to tech and life sciences, though this is certainly not the extent of the work. Clients include Oxford Sciences and Canon, but the group recently worked with advertising group WPP on its acquisition of the share capital of influencer marketing agency Goat. Trainees are exposed to a range of responsibilities, starting from more administrative tasks such as proofreading, updating Companies House, managing spreadsheets and keeping parties up to date on the status of the deal. Newbies also get to do some legal research, join calls, take part in the due diligence process and reportedly “get a lot more client contact – I’m trusted to email the client a lot more than I thought I would be.” We heard there are plenty of opportunities to hone your drafting skills here, especially on ancillary documents such as board minutes and shareholder resolutions. 

Trainee Life 

Work-life balance was a key theme of our conversations with trainees, who agreed that the hours are more appealing than what you might find elsewhere in the City. We heard there were some slight differences across seats, and patent litigation is most likely to be the busiest of them all. However, most finished a standard work day between 6 and 7pm, and one insider explained that “the latest I’ve left is 9pm, which really isn’t awful.” When things do get busier, trainees might find themselves logging off slightly later than usual, but were clear that “it’s really appreciated. People genuinely recognise it and it doesn’t become a habit.” As such, sources were generally satisfied with the salary, but noted that “you might think otherwise when you’re really busy as we’re a little behind other City firms.” However, another felt that the work-life balance was worth it: “People genuinely do care and, even though they understand the work is important, there’s recognition that life happens and might present challenges beyond our career.” 

When asked to describe the Bristows culture, one trainee told us: “I was shocked on my first day here. I got to the office and partners came up to me and already knew my name. I didn’t expect them to know who I was before I’d even met them!” Evidently, it’s one of the perks of joining a firm with such a small trainee intake, and sources gushed about how close the cohort is as a result: “We try to do monthly socials. We go to board games clubs, and when the year below joined we did some pottery painting so we could get to know them as friends, not just colleagues.” We heard these friendly vibes extend across the firm, too, with trainees describing the people as “wholesome, happy and nerdy.” 

“People sometimes dress up on Halloween and we have a pumpkin carving competition.” 

With plenty of events put on by the social committee, the firm’s got a thriving social life. The black-tie dinner dance event was a highlight for interviewees and comes with a fancy three-course meal. Otherwise, there are plenty of lunchtime goings-on, as well as drinks on the last Friday of the month and various seasonal events. Apparently, “people sometimes dress up on Halloween and we have a pumpkin carving competition.” Each practice group has its own social flavour, so to speak; corporate has done curling, patent litigation has tried kayaking, and “commercial IP loves karaoke. Some trainees do duets with partners, so I mean it when I say they’re approachable!” 

A bunch of social events are hosted in line with the firm’s diversity efforts, meaning there are plenty of cultural celebrations to take part in. “They’ll always announce events for different religious groups, so I never feel different for what I observe,” said one source. More generally, Bristows has a number of affinity groups, including the Turing network for LGBTQ+ members of the firm, and another network for parents and carers. The firm also recently launched its Lyda network, which will focus on racial and ethnic representation at the firm and streamline its initiatives. According to interviewees, it’s already in full swing: “They’re organising more events and bringing in external speakers to talk on different subjects.”  

“Partners would sit down with just us trainees after the day was done, bring some snacks and explain patent law from the very basics.” 

Training as a whole was highly praised by insiders who noted that, while smaller groups may focus on hands-on learning, technical teams place a heavy focus on formal training. Some of this happens on a more casual basis, with one trainee recalling how “partners would sit down with just us trainees after the day was done, bring some snacks and explain patent law from the very basics. That was really helpful and stopped us from going blind into meetings.” 

On top of this, trainees get additional support from their supervisors, whether specifically on their matters or for more general advice. “I have a weekly catch-up with mine,” said one trainee. “It was so helpful telling them I’d like more experience in a certain area and they’d give me advice or ask around – that’s how I got on one of the most fun projects I worked on.” Trainees can also get feedback other senior members of their teams, though some suggested that “it can be difficult to get when people are really busy, but they’re always willing.” Newbies also have two mentors throughout their training contract, one who is there for general guidance and pastoral support, while the other checks in every four to six weeks to talk through training diaries: “Mine’s a senior associate and we go for coffees. Overall, we get two mentors and around two supervisors per seat, which adds up to around ten supervisors I know well and regularly meet up with!” 

When qualification time rolls around, graduate recruitment releases the jobs list and qualifiers are given a month to “digest” it before sending their preferences. There’s no interview, so insiders suggested being “a bit proactive in making it known if you want a seat.” Popular seats vary year by year, while some smaller teams don’t always take on NQs. In 2024, Bristows kept on eight out of nine of its qualifiers.

How to get a Bristows training contract 

Workshop deadlines: IP Workshops 31 October 2024, STEM IP Workshop 13 November 2024, Undergraduate Open Day 31 May 2025 

Training contract deadline: 2 January 2025 

Workshops 

Bristows offers intensive one-day IP workshops to give students and graduates the opportunity to learn more about intellectual property law and the career opportunities available at Bristows. The application process starts with a comprehensive online form where candidates can show their academic background, experience to date, and interest in a career at Bristows. This is followed by a recorded video interview. “We want to see evidence of research into the firm and an authentic interest in the specialist areas that we have to offer,” says graduate talent manager Harriet Jones, touching on the importance of providing answers that are well structured and tailored to the firm. The workshop offers learning opportunities, interactive case studies and networking opportunities between the attendees and Bristows’ trainees and lawyers. This year the firm will be hosting three workshops in winter 2024 and one workshop for first-year undergraduates in summer 2025. 

Training contract applications 

The firm has one recruitment round in the spring, and the deadline to apply for a training contract is 2 January 2025. If you are a non-law graduate completing a postgraduate course that is more than one year of study, or a PhD, the firm advises applying in the final year of your study, so applicants have two years to complete their legal studies and SQE exams prior to the training contract start date.  The firm also welcomes applications from graduates who have already started or completed their legal studies (SQE 1 and/or 2, as well as PGDL and/or LPC). 

Those applying for a training contract begin with a comprehensive online application form, which includes a personal statement. Candidates who clear this first hurdle will be invited to complete a video interview to accompany your paper application. The face-to-face interview process includes two interviews with senior associates and partners of the firm, a written exercise and a problem question exercise. Applicants will also have the opportunity to meet with a current trainee in an informal setting to get their perspective on training at the firm.