Dentons - True Picture

Dentons training contract review 2025

The Firm

They say there’s strength in numbers, and you’ll find nowhere where this rings quite as true than at Dentons. With more than 12,000 lawyers working across over 200 offices in 80 different countries, Dentons is the culmination of more than 40 law firms coalescing since 2013 – a USP that was a clear draw for trainees. All of our interviewees echoed the sentiment, “I liked the international aspect,” as a key draw to the firm for them. The “flexibility” of location was central to their intrigue, not just regarding the option to move between Scotland and England, but also through the firm’s overseas offices where “there were international secondment opportunities when applying.” On the former point, most of the firm’s UK trainees are based down in England – mainly in London with a few in Milton Keynes – with the rest located in Scotland across Edinburgh and Glasgow.

“I liked the international aspect.”

Dentons’ breadth also helps it to be a truly full-service firm, allowing trainees to pick from a good number of practices. It’s easy to assume that the firm may have bitten off more than it can chew with such a spread, though the firm’s numerous Chambers UK and Chambers Global rankings say otherwise… Dentons is, in fact, top ranked in many departments across the UK including in environmental & climate change in London; competition law and rail transportation in Scotland; litigation and professional negligence in the Thames Valley; and hotels & leisure across the UK. Globally the firm also has top rankings including in banking & finance; corporate M&A; and projects & energy in central and eastern Europe.

As enticing as the firm’s practice offering is, it wasn’t just the work that reeled trainees in. Not only did trainees feel they were being offereda more palatable work-life balancewithout compromising the quality of much of the work, Dentons also had a good culture from a people perspective. “They were all quite normal,” one interviewee commented, “It didn’t feel like people were just talking at you!”

The Seats

For each of a trainee’s four six-months seats, seat allocation kicks off about a month or two before the next rotation. Like with most firms, priority is given to second years nearing the end of their training contracts, though all trainees are able to submit preferences. “You rank each seat out of 100 depending on how much you want the seat,” sources explained. These rankings are then fed into an AI system which decides final allocations. We heard most trainees do a banking seat, and that specialist teams like TMT, employment and energy are typically quite popular.

“…a good range of client secondments…”

Secondments follow the same allocation process as regular seats, though there’s a chance an interview may be involved. Dentons offers both client and international secondments, though there were a few qualms surrounding the latter, with sources noting that “there are very few international secondment opportunities for such an international firm.” Previous opportunities at the firm include Hong Kong and a client secondment to Toulouse, though it varies on availability and business need. There is, however, “a good range of client secondments” across a number of practices, including a banking, energy, disputes, derivatives and even a pro bono secondment.

Banking at Dentons covers a number of teams – reflective of the firm’s breadth – and as such “the firm encourages people to keep a broad practice.” In Scotland it’s more of “one big team,” but, similarly to London, there is still a good range of work on offer. Lending & restructuring is one such group that newbies can work across, mainly consisting of real estate financing, acquisition financing and the restructuring of loans. Particularly early on in the seat trainees reported playing an integral part in matter management, including CP checklists,keeping track of information from the other side and drafting ancillary documents like shareholder resolutions, board minutes and security documents.

General lending follows a similar day-to-day oriented around CP checklists for trainees, but with derivatives we heard “it’s quite a complex area.” As a result, “they’re not just throwing you on the deal right away – the team is very good at explaining the basics and sending you resources to go through off the bat.” After this, trainees work on repackaging, writing legal opinions and on minor transactions for LIBOR swaps. “You work across Europe, the UK and the Middle East,” one insider said of the team’s breadth, “and there’s a lot of Islamic finance, so there’s a lot of scope to get that work if you’re looking for it.” The banking practice also has a lot of big-name UK clients including HSBC, NatWest and Standard Chartered Bank, but also advises smaller scale clients; the group is currently advising a real estate client on its entry into a £63.5 million development term loan facility to finance redevelopment of the Bloomsbury House in central London.

Asset finance also sits within the banking practice,but works mainly with aviation clients like Qatar Airways, Emirates, Virgin Atlantic and Airbus. The group is also advising TUI on the set-up of joint venture Fly4 Airlines, including novation of an initial four aircraft and operating leases. “You rarely work with English entities here,” sources noted, adding, “We’re helping clients from airlines to banks with the buying, selling and refinancing of assets.” Again, CP checklists were standard responsibilities for trainees, alongside getting legal opinions.

In true Dentons fashion, “you work with offices across the world” in the firm’s corporate seat. Though “the team is fairly big,” there’s certainly no place to hide. Trainees pick up work from a number of associates in the team, and while “it is possible to cater your practice, the matters you’re placed on are mainly dictated by your supervisor.” Insiders were very positive about the experience picked up from the seat, perhaps thanks to the significance of the deals. For example, the firm recently advised Air Astana on its IPO on the London Stock Exchange – the largest IPO on the LSEG in 2024! Groups in corporate are spread across equity capital markets, PE and M&A. “It’s definitely a seat where they give you things for your level and the complexity increases quickly,” sources noted.Trainees were able to assist with everything from updating company books to research to fact checking drafts and even having a go at drafting themselves.

Real estate is “quite a big team” where trainees can pick up a lot of responsibility early on. “You can work to an associate level if you put yourself out there,” one interviewee proclaimed, citing the drafting and negotiation of leases and asset management as common tasks for trainees. “You get given your own smaller matters to run,” but you can also assist on bigger clients which include household names like TK Maxx, Sainsbury’s and the Department for Work and Pensions. On such matters, “You’re often working directly with a partner and associate,” insiders explained. Trainees aren’t strictly relegated to document review either, as “you’re expected to delegate work to paralegals, which makes real estate a really good seat to train in!” Dentons knack for built environment work means there are also opportunities to do a planning seat, which encompasses advisory, transactional and litigious work. One trainee explained they were able to assist with planning applications, including section 106s, and did “a lot of background research on big developments – figuring out patterns on what different counsels were agreeing to.” Like real estate, the team works with a lot of big high street names including John Lewis and Sports Direct, and they recently advised M&S in the redevelopment of their Marble Arch store. For those interested in the litigious side of property, the contentious construction seat offers opportunities UK-wide for trainees to work directly with courts; “there’s a lot of drafting correspondence to the other side, chasing people, drafting witness statements, settlement agreements and letters of response!”

“…you’re not just abandoned in court all day!”

Continuing on the contentious side of things, the firm’s litigation seat also encompasses arbitration work, and “you’re welcome to get involved in both!” Trainees explained they were able to “observe and have fun (!)” at hearings, in combination with “making notes, reporting back to the team to say what’s happened and finding a document on the spot – you’re not just abandoned in court all day!” Interviewees further praised the responsibility imparted upon them: “You’re not just an admin assistant; you actually have to do law! You need to understand why we’re doing things – witness statements, consent orders – I felt like I was using my law degree a bit more than other seats, going to hearings and going to court.” The practice conducts contentious matters for clients across the firm’s practices including TUI Airways and Vodafone Italia, but perhaps most strikingly Dentons recently was instructed by the Department for Business and Trade to facilitate the Group Litigation Order Compensation Scheme for the postmasters affected by the Post Office Horizon scandal.

Trainee Life

The culture at Dentons is very much a reflection of its practices’ prestige, as most of our interviewers noted the firm’s “hard-working attitude.” That said, insiders made clear, “Nobody’s got an ego problem, so while everyone is here to work hard it’s not their whole life.” One trainee also pointed out that despite the inherently hierarchical nature of law firms, “it doesn’t feel like you’re the bottom of the heap. Everybody is very calm, nothing is a disaster, everything can be worked out!”

Hours can understandably a little longer during pinch points, particularly during closings in the corporate department. On such occasions, however, “people will see that you’re working late and will say please and thank you.” As for in-office time, “you decide when to go in.” While the policy is fully flexible, most trainees reported being in the office three to four days a week, with each team also having an anchor day.

“…they’ll even invite you to events if you’ve left the department!”

Trainees also have the opportunity to work in more than one office, whether that be in Edinburgh, London or Milton Keynes, which gave them insight into each office’s atmosphere. For example, there was the prevailing sense that up in Scotland the smaller office size “helps you feel like you know everybody,” while down in London there were a few more faces to get to know. In either case trainees felt there was a good amount of socialising, with “an emphasis on team building – they’ll even invite you to events if you’ve left the department!” The merging of lots of teams has helped to drive this recently. For example, “contentious construction is now part of projects, so they’ve had huge team events like virtual clay pigeon shooting.” Banking was clocked by a number of trainees as a particularly social practice with an offsite to Brighton, networking with clients with a golfing day – “including lessons for the uninitiated!” – and even a barbecue at a partner’s house! The trainees themselves also have their own socials with a budget from grad recruitment for “a social every season at about £30 to £40 a head,” which tend to take the form of dinners of some kind. “We get on socially and support each other,” but “there is still an underlying sense of professionalism.”  The social side of Dentons is also present in its affinity groups; trainees drew attention particularly to Fusion for Asians and South Asians who have summer dinner and events for Diwali and Ramadan; the Black professionals network; and the Dentons Women group.

Supervision at Dentons is something that differed depending on practice, and something varied a fair bit from person to person. With litigation, for example, “because of the nature of the work people are a bit more involved.” Overall, most of the trainees we spoke with agreed that supervisors “take the time to have meetings once a week and invest in my development – you build a personal relationship with them, and that makes all the difference.” On the formal side the training is “very good” – trainees have departmental training sessions every Tuesday and “you can request trainings, rewatch them, and ask questions about to the knowledge lawyers in each practice.” In addition to this, newbies have to do an “innovation project for each seat,” where they have to present a way to improve processes in the practice to develop their business development skills.

The combination of the training, culture, and work on offer made trainees feel that, at least at trainee level, the compensation is “about right for the kind of firm we are.” It was noted that corporate tends to be a little more hard hitting than other seats, and that at NQ level “with the quality of work we do it’s hard not to feel like you should be compensated more,” but on the whole “we do have a great trainee work-life balance, so it’s alright.”

Qualification itself a formal process.Beginning “about a month into our fourth seat,” trainees can make up to two applications for qualification, complete with a 2,000-3,000 word formand a statement on their motivations for wanting to practice in that particular group. After this, applicants have an hour interview with two partners. Depending on the practice they’re applying for, they might have to prepare a case study to talk through in the interview. “It’s a big stress,” one trainee shared, “but it’s not as bad as applying to the training contract!” In 2024, the firm retained 27 of 34 qualifiers.

How to get a Dentons training contract 

Vacation scheme deadline:

Spring scheme (London and Milton Keynes) – Application deadline: 25th November 2024

Summer scheme (Scotland) – Application deadline: 3rd January 2025

Training contract deadline: 2nd June 2025

Initial screening 

Applying to Dentons begins with an online form. As part of the initial screening process, the firm scores each applicant on a number of core factors including motivation, drive, and commercial awareness. 

Early Careers Manager Rosie Buckley tells us when it comes to past experiences, the firm "doesn't need to see commercial work experience, but is hoping to see that candidates have researched a career in law and have started to develop relevant skills." A candidate's motivation and commercial awareness are drawn out through questions “tailored towards candidates' achievements and their research on commercial law and Dentons.” Whilst the firm does look at academics, “they are not the most important part of a form, and if candidates feel they can submit a strong overall application we want to hear from them.'” 

First-round interview 

Candidates whose forms meet the firm's requirements are invited to complete a Legal High Potential assessment. This assessment includes scenario-based, numerical and verbal questions.

The assessment “looks for candidates who are excited to embrace the future of law and apply their intellect and creativity to a variety of work-related situations.” The questions do not require any prior knowledge or experience. 

Candidates who are successful in the Legal High Potential assessment will be invited to undertake a short video interview.

Assessment Centre 

Hopefuls who impress enough in the first round get a crack at the final stage. Candidates face an assessment centre consisting of a role play exercise, a written exercise, a case study and a final partner interview. 

All in all, “we're looking for ambitious, commercial and forward-thinking candidates because that's what we are as a firm,” Buckley says, reminding applicants that “you've got to want to work for an international firm, as trainees end up getting involved in a lot of cross-jurisdictional work here.” 

Vacation scheme 

In 2025, Dentons will host spring vacation schemes in their London and Milton Keynes offices, as well as a summer scheme in Scotland. On top of getting a taster of the firm's work there are social events and learning sessions dotted throughout the scheme. Our sources' number-one tip for getting the most out of the scheme? “Speak to as many current trainees as possible – that'll contribute a lot to your understanding of what the firm's about.”