Burges Salmon LLP - True Picture

Burges Salmon training contract review 2025 

The Firm 

The City can sometimes feel like a saturated market. With lots of big fish in the pond, and plenty of little ones too, it can be hard for a law firm to make a big splash. Enter Bristolian local Burges Salmon, who, in face of City firms completing merger after merger, international opening after the other, is managing to make waves from a different pond altogether. That’s right, just this last year the firm made a net profit of an incredible 46%, making it the fastest growing firm of the top 50 UK firms. With just four offices across the country, and an extra base in Dublin, the firm proves that sometimes big things can come in small packages.  

So, what goes into the makings of such success? Firstly, something must be said of its practices. In Chambers UK, Burges Salmon comes out top in every sector in which it operates in the South West. The firm also picks up nods for rail and public procurement UK-wide, as well as energy and natural resources and pensions litigation. This did not go amiss amongst trainees, who told us that “I knew I didn’t want to work in London, but wanted big quality work.” 

“On the open day, it just clicked.” 

But that’s not all Burges Salmon has up its sleeve, as for many it was the promise of a supportive culture with a solid work-life balance to match it: “From my experience and what I’d read before, you’re doing the London work here but the hours aren’t so bad.” Indeed,the culture really lived up to our sources’ expectations, one shared that “on the open day, it just clicked, I thought this was the kind of people I wanted to be speaking with at work.” Another simply surmised that, “they stand out as a firm that takes care of its employees.” 

The Seats 

Burges Salmon’s six-seat training contract model is another factor that drew in some trainees. Before each seat, including their first, trainees list their top three choices for seat allocation. “You’ve got to be a bit tactical about it because some seats are very popular in terms of demand versus seats available, so you have to put down first choice every time to have a chance,” advised one source. We heard some smaller departments like employment and family are consistently oversubscribed, but others vary year on year. We learned that trainees can be “no choiced” into a particular department: “I think it is common to have one no choice seat out of your five or six,” but “everyone has managed to do their number one.” This is because, like many other firms, “they prioritise second-year trainees, sometimes you have to be a bit patient.”  

Somewhat uniquely, most trainees will return to the department into which they’ll be qualifying for their sixth seat. “They’ve said that we’re being treated more like NQs now, more independent, contacting clients with less supervision,” noted one current sixth seater. Another described it as a “massive pro” to return to their chosen department for a refresher ahead of being an NQ there. The firm also offers secondments, mainlyto clients in the energy sector, such as BP and EDF. These secondments are open to all trainees as part of the general seat allocation process. 

“You’re really crucial throughout the transaction.” 

“From a learning perspective, it was unbelievable,” enthused one trainee about the firm’s banking and financeseat. Within this team, work is broken into real estate finance, project finance, corporate banking, and restructuring and insolvency. Recently, the team advised Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust on the refinancing of its multicurrency revolving credit facility. Trainees’ work largely depends on their supervisor, but “anything related to ancillary stuff would be the normal thing” day-to-day, alongside document management.This seat was said to be “really nice because you’re really crucial throughout the transaction.” Before joining the team, one trainee had “a general idea it was going to be super intense and long hours and everything else, but when I got into it, it was quite chill.” The team has a “very sociable culture” with “lots of outings and gatherings,” such as team lunches after completions.  

We heard a seat in dispute resolution at Burges Salmon right now is a bit different to a traditional disputes experience, because they “seem to be doing quite a lot of inquiries at the moment,” the most high-profile of these being the Post Office inquiry. In general, the department has been “super busy” with everyone working “flat-out.” As a trainee, “you get put into a sub-team, but you get told you are free to pick up work from other teams,” those teams being TPPL (transport, procurement and public law), investigations and inquiries, commercial and finance, real estate disputes, pensions, private wealth and agriculture (PPWA). Trainees reported gaining drafting experience, attending meetings with clients, carrying out admin tasks and “a lot of research tasks because a lot of disputes are on niche points of law or facts.”  

Our interviewees raved about their time with the pensionsdepartment. Even those who found the work wasn’t necessarily for them, told us that “I don’t have a bad word to say about the team.” Seniors are “good at giving you responsibility to draft things early, the work is challenging and technical.” Given it’s more of a technical area of law, one source told us that “you can’t be sending stuff out to clients as early in pensions, but they get you on call with trustees.” The work ranges from governance for long-term clients to “much larger scale projects like buy-in and buy-out projects that can be worth hundreds of millions of pounds.” Sometimes trainees carry out research for trustees who “come to us with a niche question.” Clients include the Honda Group’s and Luton Airport’s pensions schemes. The department has a range of good training opportunities: “In first few weeks there were sessions on every aspect of pensions law because it’s so complicated.” Trainees are encouraged to get involved business development as well, including attending events in London and helping to produce the department’s podcast. 

“…the firm expect you to come in with enthusiasm, the rest you can learn here.” 

The projectsteam covers everything from energy, rail, defence, environment and healthcare, and trainees can work across all these areas. “I really enjoyed projects, it was different from how I expected. I thought it was all energy, defence, rail but there were also bits you could get involved with healthcare, childcare – working with councils,” said one source. There are plenty of training sessions on the different areas, “so you have a better understanding of the industry and the law around it.” One source added that “with projects you’re looking at areas you haven’t been taught at uni, there’s no expectation you’ll come in with experience, the firmexpect you to come in with enthusiasm, the rest you can learn here.”  

Trainees tend to receive a lot of work from their supervisor, but there’s also a capacity inbox, “the only caveat is that for defence work you need security clearance.” Much of the department’s work is in the renewable energy sector, for example it is advising Blue Gem Energy, Total Energies and Simply Blue Energies on the UK’s largest floating wind project. Trainees particularly enjoyed being involved with renewable energy projects. One said: “You can see the positive work a bit more with environment work. For example, you can understand how the work you’re doing avoids a disaster to a village and helps with the green agenda, the green movement, it’s interesting to see that in society a bit more.”     

“When I first got into real estate, they got you going from day one, which was really good,” said one trainee. This team is split into three areas: general commercial (landlord tenant investment work and a bit of RE finance), energy, and agricultural and strategic land. We heard “general is the easiest for trainees to get involved in and the best because you can focus more on the transactions before you get into the specifics.” The department advises on projects across the country, from Translink’s future-facing Weavers Cross re-development project in central Belfast, to advise Cardiff Parkway Development Limited on a new business park on a green field site in the Cardiff/Newport area. Closer to home, the department advises the University of Bristol and Bristol City Council. Trainees have two supervisors “because it’s such a big team.” Sources found this useful, “particularly for annual leave and work from home days” because “there's always someone in the office” to supervise their work.Half of that work typically comes from supervisors and the rest from other members of the department. At first, trainees mostly draft land registry forms then progress onto more complex tasks like drafting leases. They reported “really good drafting experiences” where seniors “sat there and explained it.” In fact, one said, “I learned loads in RE, it is probably the one seat I learnt most in.”  

Trainee Life 

“Busy at Burges Salmon is always going to be reasonable.” 

Though there is plenty of work for trainees to get stuck into, we were told by sources that “busy at Burges Salmon is always going to be reasonable.” Trainees are expected to record 40 hours of work per week and this includes non-chargeable work, training and pro bono. Though it wasn’t uncommon for our interviewees to have a few midnight finishes in full on seats like banking and dispute resolution, they did note that “if you have plans there’s no anxiety about telling someone‘I can’t work past 7pm because I have another commitment.’” Trainees also felt they were well compensated for the time they put in too, one insider explained that there is a “recognition that you're expected to work quite hard for that salary, so that’s not an issue for most people.” On top of this, sources felt that the firm culture helped in this respect too as the “culture is really friendly, so it’s like you’re getting paid some of your salary in having great hours and a great culture.”  

Trainees can participate in a wide range of social activities, from theatre trips to taking flower arranging classes. Departments have Springfest, Summerfest and Oktoberfest where they’re “taken out of the office for the day as a team building exercise,” which is often volunteering day followed by an activity like go-karting, surfing or ninja warrior.The firm also has a scheme called BSocial which “costs about £2 per month” and gives members “access to lots of discounted events with the firm and in your social life” outside of work. Other “B” groups include the BSustainable group, which is “a committee to try and promote sustainability at the firm.” The BCultured group, which promotes diversity in the firm, which puts on events like an Iftar night during Ramadan where a MasterChef finalist prepared food for participants. 

“Trainees definitely do a lot together,” explained one source, this includes a firm tradition of a weekend where all first-years go away together. On top of this, “everyone is supportive of each other, when in a seat with another trainee, you’re helping each other out and balancing work.” People from the Edinburgh office frequently visit the Bristol office for fundraising events and parties, and trainees go down for a week during induction as well, so “they do try to make sure it’s not seen as a distant office.” Certain departments like corporate and real estate work closely with the Edinburgh office too. 

Another part of what makes the culture so great at is that supervisorsare “focused on the long term and making sure you don't burn out.” One source said: “They really look after you, we joke about it: we’re the year sevens that have just joined the school, the babies, like when the year sevens join and you’re told ‘be nice to them and look after them’, it’s exactly like that.” Whether appraisals are a formal or informal experience very much depends on the supervisor. For example, “some get you out for coffee and it ends up being a nice meeting talking about what you want to do,” whereas “some people have it in the office.”  

The Bristol office is currently undergoing a renovation to switch to an open plan layout. Trainees were fans of this because “open plan gives you the opportunity to move between teams slightly better” and “you can overhear things which help you learn.” There will be more greenery, including a moss wall, and rumours of a sand pit. On top of this is a new section of the canteen “which is almost like a gourmet stand” which offers fancier lunch options like steaks and bao buns. How often trainees had to come into the office typically depended on the department, but generally, we heard that trainees are expected to be in “around 60% in the office, but it’s not a hard and fast rule.”

“They really look after you.” 

At the start of the training contract, sources noted that “we had a really good induction, lots of tech training.” After that, trainees generally receive training sessions in the first few weeks of each new seat and sessions every few weeks throughout their time in the department. “I think it’s great, in banking especially, that’s such a brand-new area for some people and there’s so much terminology to learn,” shared one newbie.  

Toward the end of the contract, “they give you a few chats as you enter second year about what to expect” from the qualification process. Trainees only apply to one team and have to submit a CV, which consists of their grades in each department, and a cover letter “about why you want to qualify into that team.” It’s “not too intense, no interview,” but trainees are “expected to have chats with the trainee partner or head of team or let your supervisor know you’re interested ahead of the process.” We heard not everyone got their first choice for qualification “but in the end it’s worked out well for everyone.” Trainees ultimately thought they were likely to remain at the firm for a long time: “I do really like it, I definitely can see it long term, for sure, because you’re treated so well here, well supported and the work is interesting.” In 2024, the firm retained 24 out of 24 trainee – a full house!

How to get a Burges Salmon training contract 

All applications open 1 October 2024

Vacation scheme deadlines (2024/2025)

Bristol:

• 28 October 2024 (winter) 
• 10 January 2025 (spring and summer) 

Edinburgh:

• 10 January 2025 (spring) 

Open days (Bristol: 24 & 26 March 2025; Edinburgh: 4 March 2025):

• Bristol: 17 February 2025
• Edinburgh: 4 February 2025

Training contract deadline 2027: 20 June 2025

Application and assessment 

This should go without saying but remember to pay close attention to spelling and grammar when submitting your online application. "We reject a lot of forms instantly because they haven't been checked properly,” says a resourcing business partner, who adds: “The forms that stand out come from people who have done research into the firm beyond what can be found on the recruitment page, and who demonstrate a good understanding of our culture." 

Both vac scheme and direct training contract applicants who nail this stage are invited to an assessment centre, complete with a psychometric test, written exercise, group exercise and interview. 

At this point, vac scheme applicants who score highly enough go on to complete their vac scheme (see below). Applicants that are successful after the vacation scheme will be invited back for a training contract interview.

At the interview, candidates are also likely to be asked why they want to live and work in Bristol, but you don't need to have a local connection to be successful. 

Vacation scheme 

Burges Salmon runs winter (one week), spring (two weeks) and two summer (two weeks each) schemes across the year in their Bristol office. Excitingly, the firm now runs a spring vacation scheme based in their Edinburgh office for those wanting to apply for an Edinburgh-based training contract. The firm takes on just 50 candidates in total, spread out across the schemes, in an effort to closely mentor and give enough work to each attendee. 

Vac schemers normally visit two departments during their placement and have a trainee buddy on hand to assist throughout. In addition to learning sessions, the firm holds talks that give participants the chance to learn more about specific practice areas. Vac schemers are also taken out for an informal social with their trainee buddies and the graduate recruitment team. Recent trainees gave the programme a big thumbs up: "It's a well-planned scheme, and the work is meaningful.” Indeed, one told of drafting an article for a weekly publication, while another mentioned “writing something that ended up going to the partners,” and a third reported attending court with an associate and helping out on a pro bono project. 

The ideal candidate 

You'll need at least a 2:1 degree and 136 UCAS points to get a training contract here. In the past the firm has made exceptions, but the vast majority of applicants who don't have the above requirements face the chop. 

According to a resourcing business partner, work experience in a commercial environment is something recruiters look out for. “That could come from a law firm or any business really – for example, a part-time job in a shop, an internship in a bank or a stint in sales. Anything that involves providing a service and seeing how that makes money will stand applicants in good stead." Past trainees we've spoken with have beefed up their applications with administrative jobs, paralegal work and time spent with a local Citizens Advice Bureau.