Travers Smith LLP - True Picture

Travers Smith training contract review 2026

The Firm

If you’ve ever sat in a lecture at uni and wondered whether everyone else is as confused as you are, then you’ll be well aware that great academic minds don’t necessarily make great teachers. Of course, some are blessed with both, but they are distinct skillsets. The same is true of any kind of teaching and, with so much to learn as a new trainee, it’s more important than ever to have training principals and mentors that are as good at teaching you about what they do as they are at the thing itself.

One of the great selling points of a training contract at Travers Smith is that they have understood this and put it straight into practice: “Everyone is aware of how new you are,” one told us, “they make sure you have structured training programmes alongside your work in a department to make sure the essential stuff is there.” There’s also a guaranteed room-sharing system, where trainees are paired in an office space with senior lawyers, usually a senior and a junior associate. Trainees were quick to highlight its benefits too, from learning by osmosis to developing good working practices.

Travers Smith has also recently increased the number of training principals at the firm to four. One of the group, Dan McNamee, explains that this is to “ensure that we can engage with trainees on an individual level.” The firm is growing across the board too: “We have recently opened an office in Brussels, enabling us to build on our great track record of advising on complex EU merger control matters, investigations and advisory mandates,” McNamee adds. The firm boasts strong Chambers UK-ranked practices in areas like private equity, capital markets and financial services nationwide, alongside a top-ranked commercial contracts practice. There are plenty of acknowledgements across the banking and finance world in London, too, as well as top-tier corporate M&A and pensions offerings. 

The Seats

Ahead of commencing their TC, prospective trainees are sent a form to rank around five seat preferences. The general consensus was that the system works well: “There’s a balance between business need and where you will be a good fit, where training needs to take place next etc. Overall, most people I know have got what they wanted.”

All trainees are required to undertake a corporate seat and a contentious seat. The firm does offer some client secondments, but these are on a more ad hoc basis and usually only take place if something comes up for the client. However, trainees didn’t seem to mind as: “the idea is that we train at the firm. We have a really robust programme, so it makes sense. Plus, there are plenty of opportunities for secondments once you qualify.”

The firm’s tax department is split into two sub-teams: transactional tax and asset management. There is a separate team for the incentives and remuneration side of things, however, we were told that doing a split seat between this and tax is not uncommon. There is the added perk that this would give you two potential qualification options. We were informed that tasks in the tax group tend to be very research-heavy: “There are a lot of fairly large research tasks which require you to dig into the law and provide a surrounding analysis. Associates will trust you to really take ownership of these tasks.”

Trainees reported frequently going through updated government guidance on a variety of tax issues, and there are a lot of opportunities to delve into tax law abroad for international clients. Other tasks include managing the due diligence process, proofreading and bundling. Recently, the firm advised Phoenix Equity Partners on the tax implications of the sale of Global Freight Solutions. 

“…it’s definitely a high-pressure environment, but you’re never left to figure things out on your own.”

Travers Smith’s corporate department sits at the heart of the firm’s dealmaking machine, split between two key streams: corporate M&A and equity capital markets (CME), and private equity and financial sponsors (PEFS). Trainees rotate through either one or both during their seat, gaining exposure to big-ticket transactions and complex structuring work. In CME, we were told that: “it’s definitely a high-pressure environment, but you’re never left to figure things out on your own.”

With tight deadlines and regulatory hurdles to clear, trainees are actively involved in the engine room of deals, helping to draft board minutes, manage document bibles, and liaise with overseas counsel. In one recent deal, the firm advised Mitsubishi on its acquisition of a majority interest in Patron Capital Advisers through the Mitsubishi Estate Global Partners investment management business.

“I was surprised by how often I was pulled into commercial conversations.”

On the PEFS (private equity and financial sponsors) side, the client base is both varied and international, with trainees supporting private equity houses, investment banks, and institutional investors on everything from bolt-on acquisitions to fund structuring. This seat is a great way to understand deal making, as “you get to see how deals are built from the ground up.” We were told by one interviewee: “I was surprised by how often I was pulled into commercial conversations.”“The scale and complexity were eye-opening,” another trainee said, “we were juggling three jurisdictions and daily client calls.” While the pressure is on, trainees appreciate the camaraderie: “You’re busy, but you’re part of a really collaborative team.”

As one trainee put it, technology and commercial transactions is “really interesting, as it could not be broader!” The department is split into three separate limbs, which handle IT, IP and AI issues. The team deals with a lot of commercial contracts and can apparently “handle any query” as a result of its strategic subgroup model. There is plenty of work on emerging issues in the UK and EU on matters such as GDPR, consumer law, trade marks and the legal obligations stemming from them.

For example, for any new policies that come into place, clients will come to the firm to ensure that they are compliant. Typical trainee tasks include proofreading, researching to answer specific client questions, and drafting. Clients include big names such as Yum! Brands (the owners of KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell), Swisscom and Porsche.

Trainee Life

It would be difficult to do justice to quite how popular the firm’s legendary canteen, ‘Braithwates’ (a nod to TS’s legacy name, Travers Smith Braithwaite) is. The canteen provides all employees with three “delicious and healthy” meals per day and TS trainees reported cutting their weekly grocery bill to less than half. In terms of coffee, once again, Travers has you sorted with skilled baristas who provide “excellent latte art.” No sad-looking lattes over here!

The firm's heavy investment in its cafeteria offerings is “emphasised as a way of bringing people together.” Every day, our interviewees described eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner together, allowing them both to socialise and take a breather. “It’s genuinely such good and healthy food, the catering team puts so much effort into it. There was a pancake day spread, hot cross buns, etc. It’s definitely the biggest perk of the office.” There are also different food events throughout the year for cultural celebrations such as Eid and Chinese New Year, which are reportedly well-attended. The firm is also set to move to its new office in Stonecutter Court in early 2026, which has received a £50 million investment for a new fit-out.

“It’s definitely the biggest perk of the office…”

Trainees are expected to attend the office four days a week. This, however, was no hardship: “The free food is such an attraction for me, I come in five days a week!” As McNamee puts it: “We ensure there are more in-person touchpoints for trainees to learn by osmosis from those sat around them, particularly bearing in mind our room sharing system, which is a key part of our lawyer’s development journey - even past trainee, all the way through to partner.”

In terms of hours, everyone is expected to track what they do. It’s important to stress that this is not the same as billable hours tracking, but for the folks at TS it’s good practice for when that time eventually comes. Most trainees we spoke to also reported working around 9am-6pm ish. And time ought to fly by when your colleagues are “overwhelmingly friendly, pleasant and approachable!” There is also plenty of opportunity to bond with your colleagues outside of the office, “there is lots of fun social stuff which isn’t just drinking,” such as trips to the F1 Arcade in the city. And for their toils, this lot are compensated £55,000 in their first year, increasing to £60,000 for second years, and a tidy £130,000 for NQs.

Our interviewees were also happy with the firm's efforts in pro bono. Those that are keen get put on the rota for the trainee advice clinic, where you get paired up with an associate to supervise: “So, we aren’t let loose on these legal clinics, but can definitely get stuck in.” There are also frequent charity events for trainees to get involved in, such as with the firm’s charity partner, Little Village and the Travers Smith Foundation.

Supervisors at the firm are reportedly easy to get in contact with, and most informed us they had scheduled catch-up time once or twice a month. We were also told: “A lot of them will go and speak to people you have worked with and gather feedback on your behalf.” Associates you work with on matters are also more than happy to “go through a piece of work and explain why they made certain changes. They also always tell us thank you for our work on it. They’re so busy, so it means a lot that they give up their time to help us!” Further, there is no need to be “embarrassed to ask for feedback or ask questions. They don’t want anyone to suffer in silence.”

McNamee told us the ease with which trainees can access feedback is by design rather than by accident: “We’re encouraging partners and associates to give more live feedback throughout the seat, as well as during formal mid- and end-of-seat reviews. We want trainees to know what they’re doing well and where they can improve, so they can grow throughout the programme. Clear communication and constructive feedback are becoming core values at every level of the firm, and we want to embed that in our trainees from day one.”

When it comes to qualification, juniors are sent an email at the beginning of their fourth seat explaining how the process will work. There is also a Q&A session as well as the opportunity to meet with the Early Careers team. There’s no formal interview process, and trainees are just required to submit a ranked list of preferences. HR and individual departments will then decide based on performance throughout the TC. In 2025, the firm did not disclose its retention statistics.

How to get a Travers Smith training contract

Travers Smith has up to 35 training contracts on offer and typically recruits most of its trainees through its vacation schemes. However, this year the firm is also running a direct training contract process, which was very successful last year.

The application for both the Direct Process and the Vacation Schemes begins with a covering letter and CV-style information, and the firm generally receives around 3,000 of these each year. “There are no psychometric tests or any of that rubbish,” one interviewee told us. Historically, prospective trainees needed a minimum of AAB at A level and a 2:1 degree (or 2:1 grades to date) to get a look in, but the firm told us that, while grades remain important, they use contextualised recruitment software and take into account mitigating circumstances, so this is no longer a hard requirement.

Those whose applications impress – generally around 130 – are invited to a one-on-one partner or senior counsel interview. According to our sources, "the firm looks for people who can display structure and logical thinking, hold a debate and show they can think on their feet."

From here, the firm chooses its vac schemers, who attend workshops, talks and also get to network and socialise with partners, senior counsel, associates, trainees and graduate recruitment at various lunches and evening events.

A recent trainee had this advice for impressing during the vac scheme: “Relax into the atmosphere and try to be enthusiastic." Another said: “Show that you're bright, ambitious and calm under pressure, but don't take yourself too seriously.”

Those who still want to pursue a training contract after their scheme are evaluated on their performance during the two-weeks and offered from there.