CMS

At home, CMS boasts one of the largest footprints across the UK. Trainees are split between Aberdeen, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester, Liverpool and Sheffield, though the majority sit in London. Reading and Leeds don’t currently offer training contracts, but there’s always the option of doing your TC in Dubai instead. Sheffield holds particular significance for the firm as Nabarro’s original base, while CMS’s Scottish offices trace back to its 2014 takeover of Dundas & Wilson, once one of the country’s biggest firms.

With trainees spread across so many offices, there’s naturally a fair bit of travel involved, which is where some of CMS’s best perks kick in. These include business class travel for certain journeys (mostly flights to London City rather than the harder-to-reach airports) and the occasional five-star hotel stay with breakfast and lunch thrown in. Other perks on offer: dental and medical insurance, free counselling and physio sessions, a new foster care policy for all staff, subsidised gym membership, away days abroad, and “plenty of end-of-year and seasonal parties in nice locations such as Sky Garden”. There were a few grumbles, though, that only the London office has a canteen, and even there, colleagues noted that the once-free breakfast now costs £2.50-plus.

Training at CMS can be summed up as “great quality work, lots of client contact and a focus on your development”. Each department runs induction training at the start of trainee seats, with ad-hoc training provided throughout. Some trainees felt that individual team training varies in quality, with one wanting “more specific training”, though the “fantastic welcoming partners and associates and lots of feedback” more than make up for any shortfall.

That said, the best work may only come “once you’ve proven that you’re capable”, and some feel CMS is a victim of its own success. “The team can be very busy, so there isn’t always time for training,” reveals one insider. Another notes that “there isn’t a firm-wide policy or programme about the quality or standard a trainee supervisor has to meet, it very much depends on the raw talent of the associates and partners doing the training.” Even so, training doesn’t seem to vary much by region, with recruits outside London reporting “lots of training sessions in each seat, as well as days in London for training.”

Work-wise, expect “good levels of client contact and trust to get involved in significant matters.” Recent highlights from the M&A team include advising on notable media deals: Global’s acquisition of The Fellas Studios and The Overlap (Gary Neville’s sports media company), and Merlin’s acquisition of Curve Royalty Systems from Universal Music Group.

The work is, naturally, varied and “team-dependent”, with the odd bout of admin-heavy work an inevitability at a firm the size of CMS. As one insider puts it: “There are definitely more mundane ‘trainee tasks’ to be done, but this is balanced out by being given more involvement in the matters we’re helping on. For smaller matters, we’re given a lot of independence, often driving these forward ourselves with fee earner support.” Fee earners are praised for taking the time to find out what trainees are interested in and steering relevant work their way, though, as one trainee points out, “trainees need to actively seek out the interesting work, otherwise it will pass them by.”

Another seasoned rookie shared this: “I’ve had incredibly stimulating work, such as researching obscure points of law to support a legal opinion, or searching for prior examples of a specific strategy we wanted to implement in our own litigation, which then actually played out in a hearing, as well as drafting a variety of contracts, both from precedent and from scratch. Trainees are entrusted with better tasks once they’ve proven to be a safe pair of hands, and associates are great about letting trainees have the first stab at more complex work. There’s always going to be the odd matter involving a major DocuSign signing or document roll-out, but CMS has excellent secretarial, document centre and paralegal support, meaning trainees can delegate some of the more repetitive tasks and stay focused on the interesting stuff.”

Partners and other senior figures have an excellent reputation for being “extremely friendly” and are frequently on hand to help out newbies and junior lawyers. As at any law firm, there are a few “notorious” superiors, but trainees across the board seem genuinely won over by the “non-hierarchical” culture at CMS. “Everyone has an open-door policy, so I can ask questions both online and in the office, freely. It helps with work production, efficiency and getting to know the team,” says one grateful insider.

The same goes for fellow trainees: insiders report a “genuinely supportive atmosphere amongst trainee cohorts”. “The people and culture are one of the best things about the firm, so I haven’t had any issues approaching peers or getting support,” says one junior lawyer. A large cohort naturally brings some competition, but for a firm the size of CMS there are surprisingly few complaints on that front: “I genuinely could not ask for a nicer group of people to work with, especially the other trainees. I think a huge reason we’re so supportive of each other is that we weren’t expected to compete at the vacation scheme stage, there was no incentive to undermine or one-up anyone,” one insider tells Legal Cheek.

Social life at CMS varies between offices, but where it’s good, it’s really good. Rookies in London report some left-of-field socials, including clay pigeon shooting and SoulCycle, alongside more traditional fare “ranging from drinks and canapés at rooftop bars to wine and pizza nights in the office kitchens”. “I would not hesitate to turn up to the Bell on a Thursday without having made prior plans, knowing I’d be included by my peers,” beamed one rookie. Firmwide, the sports scene is thriving, with rumours of a tag rugby tour in Dublin, a netball tour in Spain, and the famous CMS Football World Cup, said to be “on a different level, incredible fun and the best thing about the firm.” Socialising spans all levels of seniority too, so don’t be surprised to see your supervisor donning shin pads and a bib come summer.

Some defining features of CMS’s identity are its tech-savviness, its anti-stuffy approach to lawyering, and its internationalism. On the tech front, trainees enjoy “lots of helpful tech that’s actually used”, including Microsoft Copilot, Litera, Avail and legal GenAI tool Harvey. One tech-minded recruit describes the firm’s embrace of AI as “amazing”, explaining that “you have all the tools, and it’s highly encouraged to use them.” That embrace spans all levels of seniority: one trainee recalls having “a seasoned partner tell me to use AI to help complete his task.” Insiders are especially complimentary about the IT team, described as “solutions-focused” and, crucially, “never belittling.”

Good tech has also made working from home easier. “The firm is very flexible and brilliant at sending over anything needed for setup, monitors, keyboards, even chairs if needed,” says one spy, while the “IT team is available at a moment’s notice.” Firmwide, trainees tend to be in the office around three days a week, though there’s no hard-and-fast rule: some follow the firm’s 50/50 policy, while others are expected in daily.

Work/life balance gets solid reviews for such a large international firm, with one recurring theme being that “weekends and holidays are generally respected.” Aside from the occasional sacrifice, most trainees are satisfied with their hours and happy to ride the peaks and troughs. As one trainee puts it: “I think I’ve just got lucky in my seats, never so overwhelmed with work that it’s affected my work/life balance. There are naturally busier periods, but for me these have been virtually non-existent compared to other trainees, that’s purely luck.”

The London office, perched above Cannon Street station in a very fancy City building, is entirely open-plan, with “first-class” facilities and a look that draws inspiration from airport first-class lounges and tech company HQs in equal measure. “It has taps that produce sparkling water. Need I say more?” says one hydrated insider. Cannons, the firm’s subsidised canteen, offers free barista coffee until 10:30am, much appreciated, though “it would be nice if some bean-to-cup machines could be purchased for better quality coffee,” notes one ritzy recruit. Beyond London, the Sheffield office is looking “great”, Manchester is “good” and Bristol is “fine”. Edinburgh has recently had some work done, with “a leaky roof fixed, new plants in the office, and a full restyle of the kitchen, a success.”

On sustainability, one trainee reports: “We’ve got good net zero goals and did meet our 2025 targets. The 2030 targets are much more ambitious, and I’m not sure we’re on track.” Perhaps the firm’s most distinctive environmental initiative is CMS Bees: rooftop beehives at the London office, the honey from which is harvested and sold to staff.