DWF

The global spread includes 11 offices in the UK (Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Newcastle and Southampton) and around 20 more overseas. Despite only launching its first international office in Dubai some 10 years ago, DWF’s listing spurred the business on to carry out an ambitious period of geographic expansion. It quickly set up shop across the globe in locations including Australia, Canada, France, Ireland, Italy, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and the US, and fostered exclusive associations in Argentina, Colombia, Panama, Singapore, South Africa, Turkey and Hong Kong.

Unfortunately for any aspiring globetrotters, this worldwide growth hasn’t inspired any international secondment options yet. Client secondments to a range of multinationals, including Amazon, JD Sports, Virgin Money and Barclays, are most certainly available, with around one-third of trainees enjoying one each year.

Insiders at the firm report DWF is an excellent place to undergo legal training. “Everyone who I have come across in the business is happy to answer any questions and supervisors provide constructive and useful feedback,” one rookie reveals. “I have improved greatly during my training contract, which is a credit to supervisors and the training received at DWF.” Trainees say the firm offers a “good balance between adequate supervision and levels of responsibility to encourage independent thinking”, with regular teamwide training supplemented by more informal one-to-one supervision.

Note, however, that this can be team-dependent. One insider notes that “some seats are fantastic and you’re in court and meeting clients on site visits and doing highly technical, actual legal work; other seats you toil away doing sad admin because you are a warm body in a seat and someone needs to do it.” Recruits attribute an increase in admin work to DWF’s recent decision to cut some support staff roles following a redundancy consultation: “The decline of wonderful admin staff has increased time wasting for fee earners and it has a huge knock-on effect on legal training, obviously as you don’t get to train.” That said, rookies still give their supervisors and wider teams high praise for individual support: “Great team of lawyers, who are always willing to help and take the time out to explain any legal or technical query that a trainee may have.”

The quality of work is also highly rated. “I am able to be involved in a variety of matters, and express interest in and undertake opportunities in sectors I am personally interested in. I have undertaken high value complex legal work throughout my training contract, and feel challenged, which has helped my development immensely,” says one satisfied rookie. Expect a “high degree of responsibility” and lots of involvement in “high-profile cases”, alongside the inevitable, more mundane admin tasks. According to one LC mole, “there is some work that is more routine than other work, but that is the nature of being a trainee. 99% of the work is extremely interesting, and the workload is varied; no two cases I have worked on have been the same.”

Recent highlights range from advising Dairy UK in its Supreme Court battle with Oatly to leading on the sale of luxury brand Fabergé, the company behind the expensive shiny eggs. Additionally, the firm’s UK corporate team advised on more than 150 deals over the past year or so with a combined value exceeding £6 billion. The variety of deals taking place at DWF speaks to a diverse service offering, which includes what may be a BigLaw first: a specialist vegan team. Handling work ranging from food labelling and advertising to employment issues and vegan-friendly pensions, the team is the latest addition to the firm’s growing portfolio.

For anything even more New Law than a vegan-specialist team, look no further than DWF’s internal embrace of technology. “We have excellent legal tech,” boasts one insider. “We have developed a number of different softwares over the last few years which are really efficient for carrying out tasks, e.g. DWF Draft, which takes the form of specially created questionnaires that once completed populate a draft based on the answers you have given.” Another explains, “we had a really impressive induction on legal tech, and there’s even a legal tech seat”, referring to DWF’s lawtech seat, which aims to usher in a new wave of techy trainees with STEM backgrounds. The recent roll-out of Microsoft CoPilot and Legora has marked the first stages of DWF’s digital transformation programme, though some rookies feel the firm still needs to get the basics right. One told LC that their ‘new’ laptops “sound like they’re trying to generate electricity for a small city with how hard the fan is going.”

Unsurprisingly, the firm’s “very flexible” working from home set-up was also well-received. Trainees say all the equipment they need, including an extra screen, is provided on request, and there are no complaints with the firm’s current policy allowing new recruits to split their time between the office and home 50/50.

Another area praised by sources is peer camaraderie. From fellow trainees to paralegals to other juniors, the “very supportive and close cohort” is consistently described as “supportive and friendly”. Across all offices there are “regular trainee socials”, with monthly drinks in the bistro in Manchester touted as a highlight at HQ.

An open-plan office in London and hot desking in Glasgow speaks to the flat hierarchy the firm fosters across all its spaces, with rookies everywhere reporting partners who “are easy to chat to and willing to answer any questions.” Although there are still “some nefarious individuals”, insiders say that “on the whole superiors are all fantastic and could not do more for you.” One current trainee told LC: “In the nicest way possible, everyone is just normal. I feel able to approach supervisors and partners with questions or concerns.” Another remarked that “peers across all levels of the firm are supportive. The culture of the firm is one of its greatest assets. Everybody is ‘one team’ and it does not feel hierarchised.”

Some of the highest praise at DWF, and perhaps the most surprising given the size of the firm, is reserved for the work/life balance on offer. Insiders report top-notch hours, with one boasting they have never worked past around 7pm. Some finish at 5.30 or 6pm, weekends and annual leave are strictly off-limits, and there is no face-time culture: “no expectation to stay late, no pressure is put on trainees to work longer hours.” Another offered this: “The workload as a trainee is never light, however DWF allows trainees to work from home depending on client needs, and always encourages trainees to speak up if they have taken on too much work. There are a couple of late nights involved in any training contract, but I have found it easy to maintain a work/life balance whilst training at DWF.”

Enthusiasm drops, however, when it comes to perks. “There are little to no noticeable perks at the firm,” claims one trainee, while another notes that “the free coffee machine” provided last month has been the most generous bonus they have received in the best part of two years. There is also no canteen in any of the offices, though some are holding out for a refurb sometime soon. On a more positive note, there is a “strong pension scheme”, health insurance and around £200 to spend on physio, massage and the like, alongside “regular gym classes and activity clubs” in some offices.

If the lack of perks bothers trainees, they can always look out the window. “DWF’s London office is in the ‘Walkie-Talkie Building’ and offers 360-degree views of London; you can even see Windsor Castle on a clear day,” reports one insider. With the Sky Garden upstairs and “unreal sunsets” in winter, trainees in the capital are pretty happy. Regional recruits are less impressed: despite being in a “great location”, the Manchester office is reported as “quite basic”, and the Glasgow office faces similar grumbles. Edinburgh, however, is said to be “great”, and Southampton has just upgraded to a newly refurbished hub after doubling its headcount over the past few years.

DWF does not disclose its newly qualified (NQ) solicitors’ salaries, but trainees in London can start on around £45,000, while rookie pay in Scotland and the regions sits at around £31,000.