Druces LLP - True Picture

Druces training contract review 2025

The Firm 

What do the likes of The Beatles, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the girl gang in Sex and the City have in common? They are all groups of four, of course - and while many will say good things come in pairs, or even threes, the best of groups are those of fours. This is not lost on City local Druces, who with a trainee intake of just two each year, has a group of four trainees at any given time.

But that’s not only where Druces remains true to the rule of four. As a mainstay in the Big Smoke, Druces’ journey from the Dickensian through to 21st Century London is certainly a testament to its foundations, where it has kept its focus pretty simple on just four practices: corporate & commercial; disputes; real estate; and private client.

“It has more of a traditional feel some people will like.”

Druces’ small size in combination with its long history was, in fact, a key draw for trainees we spoke with at the firm. “They’re not stuck in the past,” one insider clarified, “but it has more of a traditional feel some people will like.” With around 40 solicitors, including partners, the firm’s petitenesswas handy for making resourceful connections. So much so, one source highlighted that “everyone is quite friendly, so you don’t have that sense of competition.”

Outside the firm’s walls though, the firm isn’t resting on any of its laurels, as Druces is active in matters with clientele both home and abroad across its four key areas, and its private client work gets a big thumbs-up from Chambers UK: High Net Worth for the quality of its practice. Insiders also told us that Druces’ burgeoning renewable energy work was similarly of high appeal, because even as “they have a large client base in oil and gas, a lot of them are changing to renewable energy,” leaving a lot of opportunity for growth in this area. So, watch this space!

The Seats   

Like most firms, Druces’ training contract follows a format where trainees sit in four six-month seats. But uniquely, trainees are actually fully in the know for how their two years will play out, as newbies are guaranteed a stint in each of the firm’s four practices: private wealth; real estate; corporate; and disputes.

We heard that the firm’s real estate department is “a good place to start because the partners are really dedicated to training.”Trainees get involved in work across the practice which includes acting for borrowers and lenders on acquisitions, construction and development funding, with “a good view of leases and sale and purchase transactions.” The department leads trainees gently into work as “the partner works directly with the trainees, they manage your load and you CC them in all your emails, so they really are checking everything.”  That level of support trickles into the work trainees do, with trainees managing “more essential documents than entire matters.” Before starting in real estate, there is often the belief that “property lawyers are just doing forms all day, but that’s not the case. We are drafting leases, contracts of sale and organising searches, so we are reviewing documents, but we are doing transactions on buying and selling leases and properties.” This means trainees were also drawn into the business of “liaising with the other side on lease terms,” so “you work out what you should agree on and what you should push back on in negotiations.”

The corporate and commercial team covers banking & finance, capital markets, M&A, restructuring and employment, and there is potential for trainees to get involved in each of these aspects. “You get to try out different practices in the span of six months,” one trainee noted, which “includes the smaller teams of banking and finance, capital markets, restructuring and M&A – it just depends on any one day who needs help.” Like real estate, trainees in corporate work directly with partners “who give you drafting of SPAs, joint venture agreements and a lot of company registering work – we handle, like, 60 or 70 companies!” Insiders observed that “everyone is so busy” so, though “there’s less client contact” for trainees in the seat, there’s certainly no shortage of work.

Druces’ private client practice covers contentious and non-contentious work in probate, charities, tax and trusts. “There are no paralegals on the team,” one insider noted, so trainees take on many of those typically associated tasks. “There is a lot of form filling,” another admitted, “but you get to write wills and trusts, and there is a lot of client contact.” We heard that form filling aside, “so long as you show the partners you can do it you get a good mix of work.” The group helps with succession planning, luxury assets, international tax structuring and wealth planning for wealthy individuals who, for obvious reasons, can’t be named. They “often come into the office for a signing or a meeting, so trainees get to sit in on meetings and take notes” – a surefire way to learn quickly on the job.

“They trust you to handle the client you’ve never met before and hang out with them...”

Like the corporate team, disputes is split into sub-teams which consist of commercial, construction and property litigation. There is the potential for trainees to get work from any of these, but for the most part they take on work directly from their supervisors. The day-to-day for trainees consists of a fair bit of drafting of witness statements and defence, which necessitates trainees going to court with counsel. “They trust you to handle the client you’ve never met before and hang out with them,” so “you really develop a lot as a trainee as they have extremely high standards.” Dispute work incorporates arbitration, employment, professional negligence and real estate in the work roster, but trainees are particularly responsible for debt recovery: “a lot of clients hire us but don’t pay, so we’re responsible for suing them.” With the level of responsibility, we were told disputes can be demanding because of the “tight deadlines, needing to be extremely detail-oriented and busyness,” but it’s a team where trainees are driven to learn very quickly.

Trainee Life   

Although we did hear that the disputes and corporate teams can be intense at times, the prevailing feeling amongst our interviewees was that “we have a good balance of work-life… I’ve always been happy with the expectations.” On the odd occasion, one source told us that “sometimes I’ve walked out at 8pm,” but the contracted hours of 9.30am to 5.30pm are typically honoured. “I’ve never had to work until midnight or anything,” stressed one insider, and even if a bit of a late night is needed, another told us that “I’ve gone home to send documents at 10pm, but I’ve not been consistently working until then – if you walk out past hours, partners will tell you not to stay too late.” On the topic of working in-office, for the first six weeks trainees have to go in every day, after which it reduces to three days a week with a firm day on Thursday. This is also subject to practice as well though, so “with litigation you’re expected to be in every day, no matter how long you’ve been at the firm. In comparison, corporate don’t all do their three days a week, so you get a bit less supervision… but you can reach out for it.”

Starting at the firm, every trainee is given a partner supervisor and an associate or senior associate mentor, so interviewees told us that “you have someone the next level down you can speak to instead of a partner.” Everyone we spoke with was keen to emphasise that this structure allows it to be “a very supportive firm where you don’t feel like you’re being tested all the time.” So, trainees generally felt “backed up when needed,” as “supervisors will sit down and talk you through everything, so you get a lot from them.” In the typical manner, every department has a mid- and end-of-seat review and once-a-week check-ins. The only exception is in litigation where we were told “you work so closely with the partner it’s not really necessary.”

“There are people here who have been working together for 20 years, so a lot of people are close and comfortable with each other.”

This supportive atmosphere was also said to be informal too, reflecting in part the fact that “there are people here who have been working together for 20 years, so a lot of people are close and comfortable with each other.” The firm’s small size also helps in this regard, fitting snuggly into the “beautiful” Salisbury House on Liverpool Street. In the office, trainees told us that the vibe at the firm is “quite sociable and they’re always encouraging drinks.”  Overall,trainees were generally pretty satisfied with social events which are organised by the “fun committee – we just started doing end-of-month drinks and we’ve had activities like darts and clay pigeon shooting.”

“There’s not so much pro bono,” noted one source,but we learnt that there is a charity committee. “We have a charity of the year which we raise money for – this year it’s the Trussell Trust,” another trainee told us,where “we do things like bake sales and picnic hampers to raise money.” In addition to this, everybody gets a volunteering day each year where they can dedicate a day to volunteer for a charitable organisation of their choice. Druces is also a member of the Social Mobility Foundation, which aims to break down barriers faced by individuals from less privileged backgrounds – to support this, insiders can volunteer as mentors to undergraduate students from less advantaged backgrounds in things like career guidance and job applications.

On the topic of salary, trainees were fairly satisfied, though some did feel like maybe it “could be a little higher, when you compare it to other firms. It’s not dreadful but it does make you think.” But there was also plenty of acknowledgement that “they don’t work us ridiculously hard,” and trainees understood that “we get paid less because of the good work-life balance – the grass is always greener!” Thinking down the line to qualification, sources appreciated the “really informal” process – “you don’t have to interview, you just chat to HR about where you want to go, and they say to leave it to them!” All of our interviewees were confident about staying on at the firm, for good reason too - In 2024, Druces retained two of two qualifiers.

How to get a Druces training contract

Training contract deadline: 9 August 2025

Applications & assessment  

Druces receives over 100 applications for its two training contract vacancies each year, made up of an application form and covering letter. The recruitment process takes shape in two stages of interviews, alongside an assessment that forms part of the second stage. The first interview is with the head of HR and an associate or senior associate, before successful candidates are asked to complete an assessment and return for an interview with the training principal and another partner. Each interview involves answering questions about your education and work experience, as well as your motivations and ambitions for pursuing a career in law. The idea, according to Druces, is to give the interviewing team and the candidates a chance to get to know each other better.  

Trainee profile & experience  

So, what is it that Druces are looking for in successful candidates? Any experience that enables a candidate to pick up a variety of skills relevant to the job, whether that’s legal experience as a paralegal or legal assistant, or something else. Druces are keen to stress that this sort of experience can be acquired through most work environments, but the important bit is that candidates should be able to express these transferrable skills in writing and in person. Similarly, any sort of environment where candidates can demonstrate they have worked well within a team and can explain how they were able to contribute is also a desirable feature on any application form.