The 2016 edition of Chambers Student Guide is out.

New this autumn

Human rights watch: four new law firms reviewed

Leigh Day represents the Davids against the Goliaths, protecting the rights of the many, not just the privileged few. "The firm's work embodies the very values that attracted me into law in the first place,” a trainee told us.

Just next to Euston station sits a firm that's “challenging the status quo and representing the underdogs” – and chucks its tenacious trainees right into the action. Hodge, Jones & Allen's first Chambers review.

“It takes a lot of passion to do this job and do it well;” you're bound to like Bindmans if you care about the rights of man and woman.

Legal aid cuts have prompted a lot of changes at Fisher Meredith, but this London public interest firm is still "amazing for your professional development," agree trainees.

New options outside the Circle Line

Check out Blaser Mills, where trainees spend a whirlwind two years ricocheting around the Chilterns.

Growth is on the cards for Cambridge-headquartered Taylor Vinters, which has doubled its London business and significantly upped its international work.

Ambitious Thomas Eggar has the South stitched up with a neat patchwork of Home Counties offices.

“I applied to Stephens Scown because I wanted to be in the South West, working for an employer which has the interests of the community at heart,”

Regional firm Geldards has healthy financials and growth on the cards, not to mention fast-track career opportunities for trainees.

Following a successful merger with London-based Moorhead James, Cambridge mid-sizer Hewitsons is gearing up its presence in the capital.

It's red-hot. It's straight off the press. It's the new guide. Ask your careers service for a copy.

The 2016 edition

Personal recommendations are your true ally. Amid the noise of slick marketing campaigns and vendetta-review websites, listening to someone you trust is the only reliable way to understand your future employers. Word-of-mouth accounts are powerful, but they come replete with horror stories of burn-out City life, myths of ogre partners, or glittering reputations based on a single anecdote.

In researching this edition of the Chambers Student Guide, we asked our trainee and pupil interviewees to tell us in the bluntest terms about their employers – about everything they love and everything they loathe. Each law firm and chambers review is the real-life experience of many, but presented in a balanced, considered, and comprehensive form. No other source anywhere can come close to this level of insight.

This guide might be the most useful thing you read this year, so get stuck in, and we wish you all the best with your career.

Antony Cooke – Editor

Chambers Guides

Chambers and Partners publishes guides to the legal profession around the globe, covering over 190 countries. All our guides have one thing in common: they are independent. No one’s money can influence what we say about them.

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Trainees tell it like it is...

Wondering how to choose between the five magic circle firms? Allen & Overy's trainees tell us: "You have to ask, 'Which has more senior associates barking at you late at night? Which has the most good eggs in it?'"

“We blindfolded our senior partner and had a circus act throw knives at him.” Is anarchy gripping Macfarlanes? Not for the moment, we were relieved to hear: "We're still quite old-school in some ways – Macfarlanes' version of dress-down Friday is taking off your tie."

*TOP READ: Sullivan & Cromwell is "very focused on making sure we're doing interesting things,” say the first generation of trainees at this prestigious US shop.

"They really push 'HPC': High Performance Culture. It essentially means trying to excel at everything. We're kind of indoctrinated about it! We all giggle about it internally, but the firm is pretty serious about it." Grads at Simmons & Simmons keep it real...

The Tower of Babel by Pieter Bruegel the Elder White & Case's trainees tell us about the value of languages in law.

"Every day of December we open the door of a different office, and they'll have decorated inside. It's basically an excuse for a quick 4pm piss-up." Herbert Smith's newest recruits continue their creative, goal-oriented streak.

The 2016 edition of Chambers Student Guide is out.

It's red-hot. It's straight off the press. It's the new guide. Ask your careers service for a copy.

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