Withers LLP - True Picture

Withers training contract review 2025 

The Firm  

“I knew that I didn’t want to do predominantly corporate-facing work,” one trainee told us, “I always wanted to work with people.” And that, helpfully, just about summarises what Withers is all about. Perhaps unsurprisingly, private client is the name of the game at Withers. As training principal Natasha Stourton puts it: “We’re focused on the individual, but we look to provide them with legal advice in all aspects of their lives.” Indeed, across several different practice areas at the firm, there’s a “private client spin,” making even the likes of corporate work a little different to your standard City practice. It wasn’t something that was lost on trainees either: “I was drawn in by the private client focus. Other departments came about over the years due to that work.” There’s also plenty of more niche practices on offer too, from international arbitration to rural real estate and charities. 

“I was drawn in by the private client focus. Other departments came about over the years due to that work.”

Withers features heavily in the in Chambers High Net Worthguide, with top-tier rankings in areas like ultra-high net worth family/matrimonial finance, private wealth law, private wealth disputes, high value residential real estate and private client tax. Across on the Chambers UK guide, the firm does just as well, with highly ranked practices in court of protection, tax fraud and art and cultural property law, as well as a top-ranked charities offering.  

Withers UK contingent is split between offices in London and Cambridge, but traineeships are only available at the London office. That said, Withers is a long way from a small footprint, with 17 offices in Asia, Europe and North America. 

The Seats  

Withers has a relatively small trainee intake of 12-14 a year. At each seat rotation, we heard that trainees list three preferences, the only requirement being that every trainee does a contentious seat: “You submit a 100–200-word justification for choosing the seats you have, to show why you are keen, alongside an in-person chat with HR.” The general consensus was that your chances of getting your choices were quite good: “They take into account that the 2nd/3rd/4th seats are the most important for qualification.” In each rotation, there is also the opportunity to go on secondment to the Milan office for a corporate seat, and Hong Kong has been available in the past. Client secondments also come up fairly regularly.  

“It’s this interesting world that most people don’t know about but that’s really high stakes.” 

The litigation arbitrationdepartmentis split into (you’ll never guess) litigation and arbitration. Trainees are assigned to one or the other (usually a ratio of 2:1), but there are opportunities to pick up work from the other side. We heard that the “work is very varied because we do quite a lot of public international and investor state litigation,” which meant working with “slightly different rules” than a lot of the legal work on offer in the UK. The litigation team also take on media and civil fraud work. On the litigation side, typical trainee tasks included bundling and preparing court documents, and there was the opportunity to take part in discussions with counsel and clients. The icing on the cake? Attending court, which one trainee described as “a fun day out.” By contrast, arbitration involves more research tasks and reading and cross-checking documents, so “if you’re the kind of person who enjoys getting down into the detail, it’s a good seat.” As one source put it: “Everyone who does it realises that it’s this interesting world that most people don’t know about but that’s really high stakes; suing governments, governments against governments, governments doing things in the middle of nowhere.” One recent example saw the firm represent the Qatar National Bank against the Republic of South Sudan and the Bank of South Sudan in connection to a failure to repay a loan. Alongside these kinds of cases comes “a lot of human rights work, and a lot of ESG,” one trainee told us, “you feel like you're able to do beneficial things in the team.” Several trainees reported that this department has a reputation within the firm for working the longest hours. “Expectations are very high. They throw themselves into the work and want you to do the same.” 

“…you do get the sense that this is the highest profile work there is.” 

The private client and tax department is the largest at the firm. Consequently, it has as many high-profile clients on the books as you can imagine, everyone from “an actress, a musician, Lords and Ladies and entrepreneurs,” to “wealthy City types.” As a result, “you do get the sense that this is the highest profile work there is – the percentage of people we represent from the Times rich list is huge.” Trainees can get involved in everythingthe department has to offer, such as working on wills, powers of attorney, and corporate-tax related cases, since many clients have made their wealth through business. As one trainee put it: “It’s nice in private client that you see the full process,” from the initial client meeting, through to writing a first draft and researching different scenarios and their tax implications, to taking the final document to the client for them to sign. Even outside of corporate-related work, “everything is driven by tax, you’re thinking about how to make it tax efficient,” shared one trainee, “I love the tax stuff, it's very interesting, it’s like a puzzle.” Trainees also do “random bits of research” to answer questions from clients and work with local counsel when managing clients’ assets abroad.  

Teams like charities, tech and corporate all sit under the broader ‘business’ umbrella. Starting with the straight corporate practice, trainees work on everything from your standard M&A and banking to public-listed company work, which are often split into separate departments at other firms. The department even work with the original founders of large corporations. As a result, the work on offer is varied and there’s the chance to “get involved in what you want.” Trainees reported drafting different kinds of documents, such as board minutes, stock transfer forms and sale purchase agreements. In one recent deal, Withers acted as advisor on the €110 million sale of the EastHorn contract research group to Novotech, a matter which spanned a whopping 15 jurisdictions. As for team culture, “the team seem really friendly, which I hadn’t really expected from a corporate team,” shared one interviewee. A charities seat was described as “a good little secret,” which, according to one, most trainees didn’t know was an option before joining the firm. The sub team works for a number of household name charities like the RSPB and Cancer Research UK. For a trainee in the seat, your bread and butter is drafting the documents that are required to set up and charity and accompanying policies. For existing charities, it means writing advice notes, preparing for pitches and meeting clients. According to one trainee, there’s a “really good range” of work and a “high level of responsibility” due to the small size of the team. We heard Withers’ charities work “links in with private client” where there are tax implications at play.  

Real estate is divided into several sub-departments covering commercial, residential (also known as private) and rural real estate. The residential and rural teams work in the same office space, so trainees in one team often pick up work from the other, meaning they’re “never short on work.” We heard that “a lot of weird stuff comes up, especially in rural!” As a general rule, rural real estate is a mostly transactional seat, but trainees also help “field a lot of questions from long-term clients,” which is “interesting if you like research.” Trainees reported trips to archives to trace land rights back as far as the Middle Ages and even a case where the team had to work out who had the ownership rights over the fish in a pond - “it’s definitely not like M&A!” Hours can “vary hugely” between residential and rural real estate because rural work, we heard, is slower paced. The residential team advises wealthy individuals and families on purchasing properties (think Mayfair apartments and Grade Listed buildings with multi-million-pound price tags). Trainees liaise with clients, report on purchases and help close deals. They felt they were “given a lot of autonomy,” which “helps you grow into it.”  

The firm’s family practice encompasses legal work around finances, children, prenups, surrogacy and divorce. For those “interested in people,” we heard “it lived up to my expectations and more, it was fascinating.” It’s worth noting that given the sensitivity of the cases, trainee tasks are very much targeted at the trainee level, so it’s worth “keeping in mind that what the associate is doing is what you would be doing” upon qualification. Of course, the downside of this is that we heard trainee tasks in the seat can get a little “repetitive,” from bundling and taking attendance notes to drafting a diarising key dates. But that’s not to say that trainees in family are short of interesting work: “You get to go to consultations with clients and court,” one trainee told us. Trainees praised the training in the department too, with the general feeling that “you’re being taught by people at the forefront” of family law in the UK. 

A practice that benefits from plenty of crossover with family law is trusts, estates & inheritance disputes(TEID). In short, the practice revolves around the kind of disputes that arise when the contents of a will are contested, whether as a result of fraud or a simple mistake. There’s also quite a bit of overlap with charities too. One source described TEID as a “linking team”: they’re a “niche team in what they do, but link nicely into the other work at the firm.” As a result, there’s plenty for trainees to get involved in, including representing the UK’s richest man – Indian-British businessman Gopichand Parmanand Hinduja - on matters relating to his family’s wealth and estate management. 

Trainee Life 

According to the current crop, one of the standout features of life at Withers is progression: “Withers has a lot of people who have gone up the ranks, and that’s indicative of the supportive working culture here.” Another said, “the people are what make it for me.” The social life of the firmis mostly informally organised between trainees. As one explained: “Our intake is very sociable with each other by virtue of all having done the LPC together.” Departments also put on social events, for example, drinks to mark a trainee finishing a seat in their department, drop-in lunches and Christmas dinners.  

Trainees are generally expected to be in the office two days per week.When asked about office perks, one said, “there aren't any big perks, but that’s reflective of that they don’t want you sleeping here!” But free barista coffee and subsidised lunch food - “£4 for a nice big salad” - sound pretty good to us! Hours can “vary from department to department quite wildly,” trainees in some departments were able to go home at 5pm but others were working much later. According to those we spoke to, contentious teams “bring up the hours for the whole firm.” On average, trainees finished between 6.30 and 7pm. But, as one trainee clarified: “In most departments, you’re going to have much better hours than you would elsewhere” - a key factor in the fact that trainees were unanimously happy with their salary.  

As one source put it: “There is quite an intense learning programme at the start of each rotation,” and “inevitably some learning on the job.” Trainees also participate in department-wide training. “Private client training stands out,” said one trainee, and there is the opportunity to learn from the “impressive” knowledge of senior lawyers when it comes to “very niche” areas of law during regular discussion sessions. Supervisors“all adopt different approaches, but broadly, they’re there to answer any questions you have.” There are some supervisors “who give you most of your work, and others who prefer to let you have exposure to the team, letting you get on and find your feet.” Trainees also have a junior associate as a buddy who “you could ask a stupid question if you needed.” 

“I’ve never had negative feedback, always positive or constructive, to help you develop, not tear you down.” 

Appraisals consist of feedback from everyone who has worked with the trainee, making it “a little like getting a school report.” One interviewee told us: “I’ve never had negative feedback, always positive or constructive, to help you develop, not tear you down.” We heard the qualification process is slightly different depending on the department, with some requiring a CV, a presentation, a written exam or an interview. Sources told us that since firm budgeting decisions aren’t made until June, “you are quite in the dark about which teams are hiring and which aren't,” which was a source of frustration for some of our interviewees. However, we also heard that the training principal has been making changes based on trainee feedback to improve the process this year. As for long-term prospects, one trainee said, “at the moment I can’t see any reason why I would want to move away from Withers, it’s top tier in the areas I’m interested in.” In 2024, the firm retained 11 of 13qualifiers.  

How to get a Withers training contract

Training contract deadline: 31 March 2025

Vac scheme deadline: 12 January 2025

Applications

The online application form includes the standard 'why law?' and 'why Withers?' questions. Applicants can also expect to be asked an unusual question. Have a good think about that one; think outside the box and relate it to yourself. An online test (a strengths-based assessment, which aligns with Withers’ values and the behaviours and abilities needed to excel as a trainee at the firm) rounds off the initial application.

Interviews

Those who impress on paper are invited to a first interview, which takes place with a partner and a member of HR who will ask questions surrounding the application form and various competencies. From here, vac schemers are chosen.

Meanwhile, direct training contract applicants who are successful at the first interview go on to complete an assessment centre. Candidates are given a week to prepare for a ten-minute presentation on one of six topics. Jaya Louvre's (head of talent acquisition and diversity) advice for impressing? “Put the research in and make sure you're knowledgeable about your subject – the partners will grill you about it!”

Recruiters told us that Withers is looking for candidates who are “bright, enthusiastic and personable.” They also mention the firm warmly welcomes those with language skills – Italian, Russian and Mandarin speakers are especially in demand. And remember that “if you put language skills down on your application form, expect to be tested on them.”

Vacation scheme

Withers runs two one-week vacation schemes, usually in the spring and over the summer. Participants split their time between scheduled sessions and one department where they are assigned a supervisor. “You don't know what it's like to be a solicitor in practice before you actually spend some time in a firm, so it's a good opportunity to get an inside view,” reflected one recent trainee. “I was trusted with taking attendance notes and completing some research tasks.”

Chambers Student Training Principal Interview 2025

Firm: Withers

Interviewee/Role: Natasha Stourton, training principal

Chambers Student: How would you describe the firm? How would you describe its position in the market?

Natasha Stourton: Withers is a full-service private client firm. We’re focused on assisting individuals, whilst also looking to provide them with legal advice in all aspects of their lives. That might range from addressing personal issues to do with family and succession planning, through to advising on their philanthropic interests, representing them in litigation or a corporate transaction. I would like to think we stand out in the private client market as an international firm with 17 global offices, and working in 60 different regions. In terms of size, we’re on the larger end for a private client firm, mid-size for the City. We offer the culture of a mid-sized firm.

CS: How would you describe the training environment/culture that you have aimed to create at the firm?

NS: We have a comparatively small intake and we spend a lot of time and put a lot of effort into choosing the right people. We are looking for people who can hit the ground running because we have a very flat structure and a trainee will be involved in client work from their first day in a seat. A lot of support is provided for them to help with that – guidance and more practical support that comes with being in a team. Our culture is based on having a diverse workforce. Everyone has a common goal in terms of the service we want to provide, but besides that we’re really keen to benefit from the perspectives that come from all sorts of different backgrounds.

CS: What’s the current set up with remote working for trainees? Is there a set number of days where trainees are expected to come into the office? / How has the pandemic impacted the way the training contract is run?

NS:  A lot of trust and autonomy is given to our trainees in terms of how they manage their working day/week, but we encourage them to discuss and agree a suitable working arrangement with each seat supervisor to ensure they strike the right balance between appropriate in-person supervision and remote working.

CS: Are there any compulsory seats?

NS: The only requirement is that every trainee does at least one contentious seat, and we make it clear what the options are for those.

CS: We heard that trainees can go on secondment to Milan and that pre-COVID there were some other destinations available as well. Is the firm thinking of keeping just the Milan secondment or are others likely to be possible again in the near future?

NS: Milan is a given and there is a secondment opportunity there every seat rotation, as well as potentially other secondments. It isn’t so much a pre-/post-COVID question, it’s just down to business needs, whether that's Hong Kong, Geneva or other offices. Client secondments also come up as clients let us know they have a need for a trainee.

CS: What sort of person thrives at the firm? How can a candidate really impress at interview?

NS: To thrive at the firm just requires a really open-minded, positive attitude towards things. Someone who will thrive is willing to give everything a go but is conscious of the bigger picture and is proactive and responsive. Saying “yes” when opportunities arise and not being too prescriptive in what you what is essential. You might find something you like even more than you thought.

It stands out when someone isn’t prepared: the basics of “why do you want to be a lawyer?”, “why Withers?”, who Withers’ clients are. These questions are a given and when you can’t answer them, that sticks out. I like people who share a bit of themselves. You can have the perfect answer to something but we’re also looking to find out about your personality. Culture is so important at Withers.

CS: Does the firm have any set recruitment targets around diversity?

NS: We don't have set targets. I’m genuinely of the view that if you meet the academic thresholds  it’s more about looking for the right person. Diversity doesn’t come from having quotas but being open as an interviewer. If you’re conscious of the circumstances of the applicant, you’ll get the right person.

CS: And finally, do you have any advice for those thinking about pursuing a career in law? Either at your firm or more generally?

NS: There is such satisfaction to be gained as a lawyer from helping people that you don't get at law school. Law school gives you the technical knowledge and if that interests you - that sort of chess game – there's so much more to be found in in the client relationship. It's going to be really interesting in the next decade, and technology is going to have an enormous impact on the industry. The things that won’t be most easily replicated will be those human interactions: languages, public speaking, human connection – those skills are really important as well.