Wilsons - True Picture

Wilsons training contract review 2025

The Firm

Sit down and watch a David Attenborough program for long enough, and you’ll soon be reminded that there’s something comforting about someone who’s been around for a while. Salisbury-based Wilsons started life almost 300 years ago as a law firm for landed gentry, but far from being left in the past, the firm’s private client offering continues to be heralded as a national leader outside of London by Chambers Hight Net Worth. Over the years, the firm has expanded its practice to include a more commercial wing, but the folks at Wilsons have retained their strength in areas like agriculture & rural affairs and educational institutions. Trainees were quick to point out that charity clients continue to underpin the majority of the firm’s work, and it’s not surprising either, given that the firm scoops a top-tier Chambers UK ranking for its work in the sector.

“There’s a wide range of practice areas. I didn’t want a little high street firm, I wanted somewhere more established.”

It’s worth noting that the firm takes on a tiny number of trainees each year, usually around four or five. As one trainee put it: “The size is big, but not overwhelming. It is very people based, with a good culture where everyone is friendly and talks to each other.” All trainees join the Salisbury office, and while Wilsons does also boast a small office in London’s famous Lincoln’s Inn, we were told that visits here are few and far between. Don’t let images of cathedrals and countryside give you the wrong impression however: “There’s a wide range of practice areas. I didn’t want a little high street firm, I wanted somewhere more established.”

The Seats

Upon starting at Wilsons, your first seat is assigned to you. Before completing their first seat, trainees are given a list of available seats which they can submit their preferences for, “which they will do their best to accommodate.” Of course, at a firm the size of Wilsons, there may not always be availability in particular departments, but trainees were unanimous that the firm always tries their best. Because of the firm’s small intake, we heard that you can expect to work directly with partners, and sometimes even independently, “as opposed to work just ending up on your desk from higher up.” Some of the more common seats that prospective trainees might expect to come across include Court of Protection, probate, property, litigation, and trusts & tax.

One of the departments that embodies the firm’s charities emphasis is probate. Name a charity, and Wilsons probably have them on their roster: the British Heart Foundation, Shelter, RSPCA, Macmillan Cancer Support and Guide Dogs to name a few. The probate team essentially work to ensure that the will that someone leaves behind is valid, ensuring that the money they leave to (in this case) charities, ends up where it should. Trainees in the seat will “regularly update the charity contact, draft inheritance tax forms and conduct research tasks, as well as meet clients.” As the seat progresses, you will be “given a lot of responsibility and independence, as well as some complicated estate management work.” Where the validity of a will is challenged in court, work is handed to the contentious trusts & probate team. In one recent case, the firm represented a major UK military charity in a case where the solicitors who drafted the will lost the original, meaning the firm had to find evidence that the execution of the will had actually taken place before the charity could benefit financially.

“…you are managing a really important part of someone else’s life.”

Court of Protection work is another area of strength at Wilsons, which covers cases where specialist lawyers work to ensure that a client’s wishes are respected in instances where their mental capacity is diminished. It’s sensitive stuff, and this kind of work requires “a significant amount of legal drafting,” giving the newbies plenty of opportunity to get stuck in. One trainee noted that the work in this seat was “particularly interesting,” especially when the current cohort were “trusted to go to London alone to serve notice to clients and write attendance notes.” Of course, Court of Protection cases are extremely sensitive, so there isn’t much by way of publishable examples, but we heard that, for trainees, it came with “a lot of corresponding with clients and loved ones, you are managing a really important part of someone else’s life.”

The property seat at the firm combines Wilsons’ main focuses: “It’s so wide-ranging,” one trainee told us, “it’s like three departments in one: farms and estates, commercial, and residential.” Because Wilsons boasts plenty of agricultural expertise, a lot of property and land sales revolves around farming (as the ‘farms and estates’ sub team name suggests). We heard that the seat is a mix of assisting partners on work at first, however after a few weeks trainees may “be given some matters to carry forward on your own, like purchase and sale, residential property, business tenancies and things like that”. The work also ties into charity work, where interesting disputes can occur. In some cases, this might be “where a property needs to be sold, and a charity is the sole beneficiary”. Typical trainee tasks in the seat tend to be drafting communications before they are sent off, thought they were always checked beforehand.

The property and commercial litigation practice at Wilsons covers work on a range of disputes, even for non-commercial organisations like charities and schools where they are involved in commercial activity. Of course, for a lot of these clients, disputes arising from the supply of products or services, reputation management, data protection compliance, and shareholder relationships arise in much the same way. Trainees reported assisting partners on a range of tasks: “It requires a lot of oversight,” one explained, “but there’s a lot of drafting, letters of advice, and attending courts with senior fee earners.” The tasks were varied, but the general consensus was that “it’s helpful to see how the whole process works.”

Trainee Life

Wilsons’ Salisbury HQ is located in the heart of the city, meaning most of the firm’s trainees can walk to the office in “five to ten minutes.” The current cohort was quick to comment on the large, bright windows and helpful private spaces for phone calls. As Wilsons’ training partner, Charlotte Watts explains, the aim is to foster a “very friendly culture within the firm”, where trainees can be open about the questions they have in the office context. Trainees are expected to be in the office as much as possible to ensure the “quality, face-to-face training,” the firm hopes to provide. That said, the goal is to remain flexible, with trainees able to work from home where necessary, or in cases where “doctor’s appointments and family visits” make things more difficult.As the office is mostly open plan: “Most partners don’t have their own offices. Even where they do, unless they have a meeting, you can go in whenever, and they are happy to help.”

“It’s the little things that make a difference. The week of Easter, we came in and there were easter eggs on all our desks.”

The trainees we spoke to told us that hours at the firm tend to settle at your average 9 am to 5pm - Dolly would be proud! In fact, interviewees said that this helped to create a “healthy culture” when it came to a work/life balance at the firm: “They once told me to go home on a Friday at twenty past five. I have only stayed late occasionally, and they appreciate it when you do. You are not chained to your desk.” What’s more, we heard that the firm goes out of its way to create the sort of environment that its employees want to spend time in: “It’s the little things that make a difference. The week of Easter, we came in and there were easter eggs on all our desks.” If that wasn’t enough, “then, in the afternoon, they came round the office with a little drinks trolley and handed out crème eggs.” The firm also hosts a monthly mental health coffee morning with pastries, orange juice and all the trimmings.

One of the key themes to emerge from our interviews was that “it seems like everyone in the firm, even the managing partner, has expressed an interest in my development.” For each seat, trainees are assigned a new supervisor, who schedules in a “very useful” weekly catch up to answer questions and make sure you have a clear understanding of what you’re doing. As trainees progress, the meetings become more ad-hoc to work around needs and availability. The general direction of these meetings followed the same pattern: “We run through our to do list and we can bring up any personal matters, the idea is really just to discuss anything we need. It is really helpful for our development”. The firm also hosts webinars across departments where “they go through things that might have cropped up during the LPC again, which is helpful,” alongside optional IT training and mandatory commercial skills training provided by the Law South Group.

When it came to salary, trainees felt well compensated for the work they do, with trainee salaries increased this year to match cost of living rises. “I can finally start paying off my student loans” joked one trainee. Hooray! Come qualification time: “I think the majority of people will hope to stay. It is slightly unclear at the moment as to what teams will have availability, but I would certainly like to.” Of course, with the firm on the smaller side, not every department will have the availability for an NQ, so there can be competition where multiple trainees are interested in the same qualification spot, but “if they can keep someone on, they will.” In 2024, the firm retained oneof its three qualifiers.

How to get a Wilsons training contract

Vacation scheme deadline (2025): 31 March 2025

Training contract deadline (2027): 30 April 2025

Applications

Applications for Wilsons' training contracts are found on its website and must be completed by 30 April 2025 for its 2027 start. For those interested in the vacation scheme in 2025, the application must be in by 31 March 2025.

The firm runs an assessment day, in which 12 to 14 people are invited and complete both individual and team tasks.

The vac scheme

The firm’s vac scheme runs over a single week in June, during which each person will spend one day each in five different teams throughout the week.