1. Job satisfaction
How would you rate your overall job satisfaction?
Lex 100 winners
1 Birketts 9.50
2 Clyde & Co 9.00 Analysis
= Kendall Freeman 9.00 An interesting spread of firms
has found its way into this
important table this year.
= Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom (UK) LLP 9.00
Perhaps most strikingly, there
are no fewer than five US firms.
= Ward Hadaway 9.00 They may not have been offering
training contracts for that long in
6 Anthony Collins Solicitors LLP 8.83 London, but whatever they’re
doing, they seem to be getting it
7 Covington & Burling 8.80 right from their trainees’ point of
view. The cynical among you may put
8 McCormicks 8.75 this down to the huge salaries they pay,
or you could point out that the training is
9 Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP 8.67 all pretty new and fresh – so there’s been
relatively little time for candidates to feel jaded.
10 Trowers & Hamlins 8.63 Whatever the reasons, the inclusion of five US firms
in this table is an excellent indication of the strength
11 Andrew M Jackson 8.60 of their training and their importance in the London
market. But what about the firm at the very top of the
= Forsters LLP 8.60 table? A new entry to the Lex 100 this year, Ipswich firm,
Birketts, is clearly doing pretty well as far as trainees are
= Teacher Stern Selby 8.60 concerned. It seems that a good balance of commercial and
14 Burges Salmon LLP 8.57 private client work, early responsibility, sensible support, and
a friendly atmosphere has made the small group of trainees at
15 Ashfords 8.55 Birketts very happy, despite the slightly limited social life. Just
behind Birketts is an interesting mix of firms ranging from
16 Coffin Mew & Clover 8.50 London shipping and insurance practice, Clyde & Co, to
= Kennedys 8.50 litigation-focused Kendall Freeman, through US corporate,
Skadden Arps, to Newcastle commercial firm, Ward Hadaway,
= Lupton Fawcett LLP 8.50 showing that job satisfaction is a quality certainly not tied to a
particular type of firm.
= Reed Smith 8.50
20 Farrer & Co 8.44
= Shearman & Sterling (London) LLP 8.44
12 • The Lex 100

2. Firm living up to expectations
How far has the firm lived up to your expectations?
Lex 100 winners
1 Covington & Burling 9.40
2 Shearman & Sterling (London) LLP 9.11 Analysis
3 Birketts 9.00 As in the job satisfaction table,
US firms have performed very
= Kendall Freeman 9.00 well in this new Lex 100
Winners’ category – firm living
up to expectations. Covington &
= McCormicks 9.00 Burling tops the list with a very
impressive score, indicating that
= Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom (UK) LLP 9.00 the small number of loyal trainees
did their research properly and have
= Ward Hadaway 9.00 not been disappointed in their choice
of firm. They are happy to have
8 Trowers & Hamlins 8.90 ‘interested and responsive supervisors’ and
find the firm ‘a relaxed place to work – even
9 Burges Salmon LLP 8.83 when there are time pressures’. The
international work, clients and opportunities have
10 Ashfords 8.82 also lived up to expectations. A wide spread of firms
appears in this table, with regional practices,
11 Farrer & Co 8.80 particularly those in the West of England, performing
well. Bristol-based Burges Salmon and TLT Solicitors,
= Forsters LLP 8.80 Exeter-based Ashfords, and Plymouth-based Foot Anstey all
sell a more relaxed lifestyle, alongside good-quality
13 TLT Solicitors 8.75 commercial work, and trainees are clearly happy that these
firms are living up to brochure promises. Interestingly a
14 Browne Jacobson LLP 8.73
number of medium-sized London firms, offering expertise in
15 Foot Anstey 8.71 niche areas, also feature prominently here: Trowers & Hamlins
(with specialisms ranging from public international law to social
= Kennedys 8.71 housing); Farrer & Co (strong in media, sport and employment);
Anthony Collins Solicitors LLP 8.67 and Forsters (property expertise) all score highly, due to their
17
confident, realistic promises to candidates, with no need to
= Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP 8.67 oversell themselves. Regional firms with strong characters feature
here too – Leeds practice, McCormicks and Liverpool outfit, Brabners
19 Jones Day 8.66 Chaffe Street, are known for their outgoing, no-nonsense approach
20 Brabners Chaffe Street LLP 8.60 (as well as their high-profile sporting clients) and, again, trainees at
these firms are pleased that the reality has lived up to the hype.
The Lex 100 • 13

3. Quality of work
How would you rate the quality of work you are given?
Lex 100 winners
1 Kendall Freeman 9.50
2 Forbes 9.00 Analysis
= Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom (UK) LLP 9.00 Leading this table is medium-
sized London firm, Kendall
Freeman. A winner in an
= Ward Hadaway 9.00 incredible nine out of ten Lex
100 categories, the firm is clearly
5 Jones Day 8.89 getting things right as far as
trainees are concerned. The firm’s
= Shearman & Sterling (London) LLP 8.89 practice of involving trainees in real
work from day one (including
7 Wragge & Co LLP 8.83 meeting clients, taking responsibility
for files, and even being involved in
8 Covington & Burling 8.80 marketing and client development
activities) has met with much approval. The
9 DMH Stallard 8.75 interesting spread of practice areas (from
insurance and construction to public
= Wedlake Bell 8.75 international law) adds to the levels of satisfaction.
As one trainee comments: ‘The training here is very
11 Farrer & Co 8.70 good – with opportunities to do important and
demanding tasks’. Other high scorers include Blackburn
12 asb law 8.67 firm, Forbes; Brighton practice, DMH and Crawley-based
asb law, indicating that geography plays no part in the
= Birketts 8.67
quality of work entrusted to trainees. London firms Manches
14 Ashfords 8.63 (known for family law), Lewis Silkin (strong in media and
employment) and Harbottle & Lewis (niche media firm) also
15 Forsters LLP 8.60 make it into the table. So what do all these firms have in
common? The answer appears to be their healthy attitude to
16 Lewis Silkin LLP 8.50
involving trainees in as much ‘real work’ as possible from day
= Manches LLP 8.50 one. Trainees at these firms do not spend their time
photocopying or going on endless training courses, or being
= TLT Solicitors 8.50 shielded from clients until they are qualified. They have
19 Shoosmiths 8.47 responsibility for their own files, are encouraged to interact with
clients and are provided with an interesting range of work to keep
20 Harbottle & Lewis LLP 8.40 them motivated while they learn. Many larger, more high-profile
firms could take heed from this winning approach.
= Trowers & Hamlins 8.40
14 • The Lex 100

4. Client contact
How would you rate your amount of client contact?
Lex 100 winners
1 asb law 8.67
= B P Collins 8.67 Analysis
3 Blake Lapthorn Linnell 8.62 Not one of our highest scoring
categories, the amount (or lack
= Charles Russell LLP 8.62 of) client contact does appear
to be something of an issue for
5 Russell-Cooke 8.57 trainees at many firms. For some
reason, partners seem reluctant
6 Jones Day 8.50 to unleash the newest members of
their firms on loyal and
= Penningtons Solicitors LLP 8.50 unsuspecting clients. While we can
understand you wouldn’t want a
8 Covington & Burling 8.40 first-seat trainee handling your
make-or-break case, surely there must be
= Farrer & Co 8.40 room for carefully supervised trainees to at
least attend client meetings (even if they’re just
= Forbes 8.40 taking notes rather than offering profound
Weil, Gotshal & Manges 8.40 advice). So our congratulations to the firms that
=
made it into this table, indicating a realistic awareness
12 Ashfords 8.36 that trainees have to start somewhere, as far as client
contact is concerned, and better to do it while you’re still
13 Irwin Mitchell 8.20 training rather than leaving it until the day you qualify.
Trowers & Hamlins 8.20 Interestingly, the top three scorers in the table are all
=
regional firms based in the South East of England. asb law
15 Boyes Turner 8.17 has offices in Kent, Surrey, Sussex and south London and one
16 Shearman & Sterling (London) LLP 8.11 trainee comments: ‘client contact and responsibility exceeds
that in many larger firms’. B P Collins is based in Gerrards Cross
17 Shoosmiths 8.10 in Buckinghamshire and, again, trainees compare their
18 Bird & Bird 8.08 experiences favourably with those at larger firms: ‘we get
responsibility and client contact from day one’. Blake Lapthorn
19 Fox Williams 8.00 Linnell has offices in the Thames Valley and on the South coast,
= Howes Percival 8.00 and similarly, is not afraid to introduce trainees to clients at a very
early stage, helping them to feel more involved and gain a fuller
= Kendall Freeman 8.00 picture on deals and cases. Equal third in the table is London
= Kennedys 8.00 commercial and private client firm, Charles Russell, which has around
30 trainees, who clearly find the client contact one of the most
= Teacher Stern Selby 8.00 rewarding aspects of their training: ‘in client meetings you see the reality
= Ward Hadaway 8.00 and “emotiveness” of the legal issues and the impact on a client’s entire life’.
The rest of the firms in the table range from large US practices through
medium-sized London firms to smaller regional outfits. Those firms which fail to
make the table are larger London commercial practices with high numbers of trainees.
The Lex 100 • 15

5. Stress levels
How stressful do you find your job/training contract? (high score = low stress)
Lex 100 winners
1 Kendall Freeman 8.00
2 Anthony Collins Solicitors LLP 7.83 Analysis
3 Prettys 7.67 Unfortunately, in the legal
world, a bit of stress comes
with the territory. But which
4 Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham LLP 7.50 firms manage to keep a lid on
the boiling pot, while others let
5 B P Collins 7.33 fly with the steam? Well funnily
enough, you won’t find any Magic
Circle firms in this table, nor many
= Payne Hicks Beach 7.33 big commercial firms, whether
London, regional or US. So well done
7 Bird & Bird 7.31 to Kirkpatrick & Lockhart and Covington
& Burling who buck the trend and show
8 Farrer & Co 7.30 that top-level commercial work doesn’t
always have to equal high-level stress. As
9 Trowers & Hamlins 7.20 Covington & Burling trainees comment, it is the
approachable and supportive staff who make the
10 Blake Lapthorn Linnell 7.15 firm ‘a relaxed place to work even when there are
time pressures’. While at Kirkpatrick & Lockhart, it is the
11 Burges Salmon LLP 7.13 sensible approach to working hours which keeps the
stress levels down: ‘other firms may pay a bit more but
here you get a reasonable work culture’, and when asked
12 Ashfords 7.00
the best thing about the firm, many K&L trainees summed up
= Birketts 7.00 with ‘the people and the hours’. Of the other London firms in
the table, it is generally the smaller outfits with specialist
= Covington & Burling 7.00 practice areas which do well here: private client firm, Payne
Hicks Beach; IP/IT specialist Bird & Bird; and Farrer & Co (with
= DMH Stallard 7.00 strengths in defamation, family and employment). And overall,
there are notably more regional firms in this table than London
= Harbottle & Lewis LLP 7.00 ones, adding fuel to the notion that working in the City does
= Henmans LLP 7.00 bring with it higher stress levels than the (generally shorter) days
spent outside the Big Smoke. So particular congratulations to top
= Lupton Fawcett LLP 7.00 scorer, Kendall Freeman, which manages to combine its Fetter Lane
location (near to Chancery Lane and the High Courts – but outside the
= McCormicks 7.00 City Square Mile) and its commercial litigation focus, with a limited
amount of stress. Trainees put this down to the approachability of every-
20 Shoosmiths 6.87
one and the good work/life balance. Outside London, Birmingham firm,
Anthony Collins; Ipswich firm, Prettys; and Buckinghamshire practice, B P
Collins fare especially well.
16 • The Lex 100

6. Work/life balance
How happy are you with your work/life balance?
Lex 100 winners
1 Anthony Collins Solicitors LLP 10.00
2 Payne Hicks Beach 9.33 Analysis
= Prettys 9.33 The good news for current and
would-be trainees is that
4 Kennedys 9.29 work/life balance has produced
some very high scores this year,
5 Ashfords 9.18 showing that you don’t
necessarily have to sell your soul
6 Andrew M Jackson 9.17 to ‘The Firm’, as long as you
choose wisely. Once again, you
7 Cobbetts 9.10 won’t find any Magic Circle or big
City firms in this table, and regional
8 Bircham Dyson Bell 9.00 firms outperform (by some distance
here) larger London practices. As for the
= Brabners Chaffe Street LLP 9.00 firm at the top of the table, it can bask in the
= glory of having received a perfect top score
Farrer & Co 9.00
from all its respondent trainees. Granted there are
= Henmans LLP 9.00 not that many of them, (generally 12 at any one
time), but Birmingham firm, Anthony Collins, is a
= Kendall Freeman 9.00 shining example of the attitude that there is more to life
than work. Interestingly though, the trainees here praise
13 Cripps Harries Hall LLP 8.90
the work they do as much as the fact that they are not
14 Blake Lapthorn Linnell 8.85 chained to their desks. The firm excels in social housing,
charities and community regeneration projects and what
15 Foot Anstey 8.79 appears to make the trainees very happy with their lives is that
they ‘are making a difference, not just making money’. It seems
16 Burges Salmon LLP 8.78
to be contentment with their work, as much as their reasonable
= Clarke Willmott 8.78 hours, which makes these trainees feel they have a perfect
work/life balance. In equal second place are two very different
18 Bates Wells & Braithwaite 8.75 firms: London private client and property practice, Payne Hicks
Beach; and full-service Ipswich firm, Prettys. Despite their obvious
= DMH Stallard 8.75
differences, these firms do have a number of things in common:
20 Birketts 8.67 firstly, a longstanding reputation in their niche areas of excellence;
and secondly, the confidence in their skills to allow their lawyers to
= Boyes Turner 8.67 have time for their own lives and interests, while still serving their loyal
= Coffin Mew & Clover 8.67 clients to the best of their abilities. Of the other winners, it is notable that
leading regional players such as Manchester-based Cobbetts and Bristol
= Reed Smith 8.67 firm Burges Salmon, find their way into this table. This is good news for
candidates who want top-level commercial work outside the City, and are looking
for a good work/life balance into the bargain. It also shows that Burges Salmon’s
high-profile ad campaign depicting rush hour on the tube in the City, comparing the life of a
squashed ‘sardine’ with that of a relaxed Bristol ‘salmon’, might reflect reality.
The Lex 100 • 17

7. Friendliness of the firm
How would you rate the friendliness of the firm?
Lex 100 winners
1 Anthony Collins Solicitors LLP 10.00
= Lupton Fawcett LLP 10.00 Analysis
= McCormicks 10.00 We are happy to report that
‘friendliness of the firm’ was
the highest scoring Lex 100
4 Covington & Burling 9.80 category for the second year
running. There is a good mix of
5 TLT Solicitors 9.75 London and regional firms here,
and, once again, US practices
performed well, with four entries in
6 Farrer & Co 9.70 the table. Tied at the top of the pile
are three regional firms whose
7 Burges Salmon LLP 9.57 trainees clearly have much to shout
about as far as friendliness is concerned –
8 Shearman & Sterling (London) LLP 9.56 amazingly every respondent trainee from
Anthony Collins, Lupton Fawcett and
9 Kendall Freeman 9.50 McCormicks credited their firm with a perfect
ten. Birmingham firm, Anthony Collins, also scored
= Ward Hadaway 9.50 ten in the work/life balance table and clearly has a
very happy bunch of trainees. The friendly atmosphere is
11 Ashfords 9.45 key to the trainees’ contentment and they find their
fellow lawyers ‘genuinely nice people’, ‘with a passion for
12 Trowers & Hamlins 9.40 their work’. ‘The friendliest firm in Leeds’, according to its
own trainees, Lupton Fawcett is a solid, full-service firm
13 Birketts 9.33 where ‘everybody gets on well with each other and has
respect for one another’. The renowned friendliness is evident
= Reed Smith 9.33 both ‘in terms of socialising and during working hours when
15 Charles Russell LLP 9.31 help is required’. Another Yorkshire firm laying claim to the
‘friendliest firm in Leeds’ crown, is the high-profile McCormicks
16 Cobbetts 9.29 (with strengths in media, sport and crime). Trainees here are
similarly full of praise for the ‘friendliness of the people and the
17 DMH Stallard 9.25 fact that everyone is treated with respect’. They are also happy
that ‘everyone has a sense of humour – they take their work
18 Jones Day 9.24
seriously, but not themselves’. Generally, it is worth noting that most
19 Forsters LLP 9.20 firms in this table have a relatively small trainee intake, suggesting
that it is easier to have a friendly atmosphere with a smaller group of
20 Wragge & Co LLP 9.17 people to get to know. However, overall scores are extremely high in this
category and many large firms which don’t appear in this list also scored
very well for friendliness. For example, Wragges, with a trainee total of around
50, probably has the largest intake in the list, and with a score of 9.17 only makes
it into the table at number 20. The good news is – it may be hard work out there – but it
also seems that most law firms are pretty friendly places.
18 • The Lex 100

8. Social life
How good is your firm’s social life?
Lex 100 winners
1 Lupton Fawcett LLP 9.50
2 Pannone LLP 9.05 Analysis
3 Wragge & Co LLP 9.04 Not only is it ‘the friendliest
firm in Leeds’, according to its
own trainees, but Lupton
4 Jones Day 9.03 Fawcett also appears to have the
best social life. Trainees and their
5 Kendall Freeman 9.00 colleagues enjoy a very sociable
working environment, which
6 Burges Salmon LLP 8.78 extends into a ‘happening’ social
life when they hit the bars, pubs and
7 McCormicks 8.75 clubs of Leeds. ‘We all socialise
together and knowing everyone’s name
from early on is a big bonus!’, comments
8 Brabners Chaffe Street LLP 8.70
one sociable trainee. Manchester-based
Pannone is well-known for its leading personal
9 Browne Jacobson LLP 8.67 injury and private client departments and for its
expanding commercial focus. It is also well-known
10 Walker Morris 8.63 for its diverse programme of extra-curricular activities
and fantastically well-organised social life, hence its high
11 Covington & Burling 8.60
score here. Trainees get involved in all manner of events,
Denton Wilde Sapte 8.60 from quizzes to pool tournaments to trips abroad, as well
=
as the normal partying. There is also a ‘regular provision of
13 Anthony Collins Solicitors LLP 8.50 cream cakes’ and days off for Christmas shopping. When it
comes to perks and social life, it’s pretty hard to beat
14 Cobbetts 8.48 Pannone. Birmingham-based Wragge & Co has a good try
though, with another high score here. Trainees are a ‘great
15 Farrer & Co 8.40 bunch’ who are very happy socialising together, whether it’s
= Forsters LLP 8.40 organised by the firm, or whether they just get on with it in the
pub themselves. It sounds like the ‘Mars Bar cake’ might rival the
17 Baker & McKenzie LLP 8.09 cream cakes too! International firm, Jones Day, also knows how to
give its trainees a good time. In addition to the people who are a
18 Nabarro Nathanson 8.00 ‘laugh’ and the London social life which is ‘messy’, trainees here get
= Prettys 8.00 a ‘bonding’ trip to Washington at the start of the contract and this
has proved to be a ‘memorable highlight’. It is good to see a wide
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher cross-section of firms in this table (from international giant, Baker &
= & Flom (UK) LLP 8.00 McKenzie, through Liverpool-based Brabners Chaffe Street, to Ipswich
stalwart, Prettys), indicating that a less than glamorous location is no
= TLT Solicitors 8.00 excuse for a poor social life.
The Lex 100 • 19

9. Vacation schemes
If you did a vacation scheme with your firm, how would you rate it?
Lex 100 winners
1 Andrew M Jackson 10.00
= Covington & Burling 10.00 Analysis
= Kendall Freeman 10.00 Vacation schemes are becoming
increasingly important for both
= Kennedys 10.00 law firms and candidates. Firms
use them to cherry-pick the best
= McCormicks 10.00 candidates and must sell
themselves well if they want the
6 Reed Smith 9.50 cream of the crop to choose them
for their training contract. The
= Wedlake Bell 9.50 conversion rate of vacation scheme
students to trainees is a big deal for
8 Cobbetts 9.29 many firms, with practices like Nabarro
Nathanson proud to advertise a 90%
= Nabarro Nathanson 9.29 conversion rate (ie 90% of current trainees
did a vacation scheme with the firm, were
10 Farrer & Co 9.25
offered a job, and most importantly, chose to stay).
= Shearman & Sterling (London) LLP 9.25 Vac schemes are also key for candidates to gain an
insight into different types of practice, and provide a
12 Burges Salmon LLP 9.21 helpful two weeks to make a good impression. Amazingly
13 Ashfords 9.20 the five firms at the top of this table scored a perfect ten in
this category, and the good news for candidates is that the
14 Jones Day 9.17 general quality of vacation schemes is getting better all the
15 Baker & McKenzie LLP 9.00 time. At full-service Hull firm, Andrew M Jackson, ‘everyone on
the vacation scheme was friendly’; at US practice, Covington &
= Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP 9.00 Burling, there were no mundane photocopying tasks to be done;
= Coffin Mew & Clover 9.00 while at London commercial litigation-focused Kendall Freeman, ‘I
was given interesting work to do even as a mere vacation student’.
= Forbes 9.00 At Kennedys (London defendant insurance practice), vacation
Kirkpatrick & Lockhart students were enticed by the hands-on experience and fascinating
= Nicholson Graham LLP 9.00 real-life work, such as the Hatfield Rail disaster litigation; and at
Leeds firm, McCormicks, they were pleased to get a real sense of the
= Reynolds Porter Chamberlain LLP 9.00
hard-working, but very friendly atmosphere and an insight into the
= SJ Berwin LLP 9.00 high-profile clients and interesting work. It is good to see this table
Simmons & Simmons 9.00 contains a wide spread of firms from large London practices like
= Simmons & Simmons and SJ Berwin, to smaller regional firms like Coffin
= Wragge & Co LLP 9.00 Mew & Clover and Forbes – showing you don’t always need to have swish
offices and flash support systems to offer a good, varied vacation scheme.
What candidates seem to appreciate most is being kept busy (nobody wants to sit
around feeling like a spare part) in a friendly atmosphere, with the opportunity to
experience a range of interesting work. See our article on Vacation Schemes on page 399
for further information.
20 • The Lex 100

10. Confident of being kept on?
How confident are you that you will be kept on at the end of your training contract?
Lex 100 winners
1 Wragge & Co LLP 9.50
2 Burges Salmon LLP 9.00 Analysis
The million dollar question:
= Kennedys 9.00 will there be a job for you at
the end of your two years’ hard
= Lupton Fawcett LLP 9.00 slog? There are, of course, no
guarantees when it comes to
= Shearman & Sterling (London) LLP 9.00 securing a permanent job on
qualification, but it is interesting
6 White & Case 8.89 to note that scores in this category
vary dramatically between firms. It
is, traditionally, an area fraught with
7 Thomas Eggar 8.80 controversy and we received many
complaints about the ‘uncertainty’ and
8 Slaughter and May 8.74 ‘lack of transparency’ surrounding the quali-
fication process. Not to mention the problem
= Watson, Farley & Williams LLP 8.74 of the firms being unable to accommodate every-
one in their first choice of department. For some
10 asb law 8.67 lucky trainees, however, there doesn’t seem to be too
much to worry about. The confidence factor (shown in
11 Foot Anstey 8.64 spades by trainees at the above firms) boils down to a
Skadden, Arps, Slate, number of issues: the firm’s past record on retention; the
12 prevailing economic climate; how well your firm has per-
Meagher & Flom (UK) LLP 8.50 formed over the past year; indications to individuals given in
13 Linklaters 8.33 appraisals; and, of course, an optimistic, self-assured attitude
(which seems to be a common characteristic shared by
14 Clifford Chance 8.31 trainees at some of the powerful firms mentioned in this table).
Four out of the five Magic Circle firms feature here: Slaughter
= Macfarlanes 8.31 and May; Linklaters; Clifford Chance and Allen & Overy; as well
as a number of US firms and other top-performers such as
16 Trowers & Hamlins 8.29
Wragge & Co, Burges Salmon and Macfarlanes. This suggests to
17 Jones Day 8.28 us that ‘confidence of being kept on’ has as much to do with the
robust, self-confident attitude associated with these firms (and
18 Lovells 8.26 their trainees) as it has to do with the reality of retention rates.
Good luck to them all!
19 Allen & Overy LLP 8.22
20 Forbes 8.20
The Lex 100 • 21