Burges Salmon

Trainees, meanwhile, are said to be “very friendly and will step in to help [each other] out if you are very busy”. It helps that many join the firm as friends. “Completing the LPC with the majority of my intake before starting at BS meant we were able to get to know each other in a less formal setting to begin with,” one tells us. Partners have “a genuine open door policy” and “the ones you click with want you to love working here as much as they do”.

To add to the utopian vibe, Burges Salmon has one of the most delightful offices out there. “I love it, I feel inspired every time I walk in the building,” exclaims one rookie. The office is nestled by the river just a couple of minutes walk from Temple Meads railway station, from which London (where the firm has a smaller office) is an hour and 45 minutes away. Business train trips to the firm’s second office in the capital are in first class — even for trainees.

What’s more, the Bristol canteen is apparently better than many top restaurants — and good value too. A weekly ‘cake trolley’ augments the culinary experience. And even the firm coffee is said to be nice. Burges Salmon also boasts among the lowest commute times of any major UK outfit — a higher proportion of its junior lawyers walking to work than any other. This may not be unrelated to its buoyant social life. “The firm’s events are always really well done with good food, lots of alcohol and everyone gets involved — from a senior partner dressing as Mick Jagger to an NQ doing a James Bond tango with another partner,” reports a trainee. Another tells us: “I’ve just been to an escape room experience and cider tasting and I’m heading off to our summer party/festival at the zoo tonight with wine tasting next week…next question?”

Where tensions sometimes arise is where the high-level work carries similarly high-level expectations. Indeed, to some extent the firm is a victim of its own success in this respect. The “hours are getting longer and longer”, an insider tell us, with another adding: “I don’t doubt that the hours are generally better than City firms, but there does seem to be a number of trainees on any given day in late into the night.” Others note that hours vary widely between departments and tells us that when they do leave late that partners “are very appreciative”. Legal Cheek’s survey data shows that Burges Salmon’s average leave the office time is creeping towards 7pm. This is mitigated to an extent by a flexible working push that has seen all of the firm’s lawyers given new Surface Book laptops, and a recent pay rise.

With London lawyer remuneration rises starting to filter out of London, Burges Salmon has made sure that its young lawyers continue to be the joint highest earners in Bristol — upping its newly qualified solicitor salary in the city to £50,000.

Partners have also seen a pay rise this year, with profit per equity partner (PEP) increasing from £430,000 to £443,000 — a figure that remains down from a 2015 high of £523,000, partly due to investment in, among other things, a new Edinburgh office (opened in May but not offering training contracts for now) and new lawtech infrastructure. Revenue is up again, rising by 5% from £90 million to a new record high of £94.6 million.