The Legal Cheek View
Meet Foot Anstey at Legal Cheek’s next Virtual Law Fair on 7 October 2025
If there’s one thing solicitors-in-training loathe, it’s spending four or five years learning the law only to sweat over a hot photocopier for half their training contract. No such worries at national outfit Foot Anstey, which has been on an upward trajectory. The firm’s 2023-2024 financials — the latest publicly available — show an 11% increase in revenues, which rose from £61 million to £67 million from the previous year
With offices in London, Bristol, Exeter, Manchester, Plymouth, Southampton, Taunton, Truro — and now Belfast thanks to a recent tie-up with Northern Ireland’s McKees — “a great deal of variety” is what you’ll get at Foot Anstey. Vacation schemes are typically run from Bristol and training contracts are based in either Bristol, Exeter or Southampton but new recruits can experience a wide selection of Foot Anstey’s office-spread throughout their TC depending on the seat.
The firm focuses on seven core sectors: charities, developers, energy & infrastructure, private equity, private wealth, retail & consumer, and Islamic finance — with the lattermost of these areas getting a special shout-out for offering “great supervision and training”. FA also has a busy medical negligence practice, dubbed EnableLaw, and the real estate and corporate teams receive high praise for “hosting sessions for trainees on key topics” and running “weekly bitesize training sessions.” Training elsewhere in the firm is said to be very hands-on, but recruits report that supervisors are “receptive, eager for you to learn and keen to challenge you whilst recognising varying levels of experience”.
“Plenty of variety in workload, including dealing directly with clients, negotiating with the other side and managing your own matters” seems to be the offering wherever you end up, though the inside scoop is that litigation and private client is where the most juicy stuff is at right now. There’s still the odd administrative trainee task to cut your teeth on, but overall trainees report being impressed with the quality of work on offer at FA. As one details:“I have had the opportunity to work on some really interesting matters, including supporting on a complex £180 million sale involving teams across the firm. I have worked for impressive national clients as well as collaborated with smaller independent businesses, both interesting and stimulating in their own ways. I have also spent a fair amount of time on more banal tasks such as drafting COI letters, writing research notes for supervisors rather than for client work, proof reading documents, drafting land registry forms and taking attendance notes in calls. But that is the life of a trainee and we are still grateful for it!”
Notable clients include Santander, Ministry of Sound and Netflix. Other recent deals include advising on e-bike operator Forest’s £10 million project financing facility and helping British Solar Renewables on the acquisition of a new solar park.
What really sets Foot Anstey apart though is that this top-quality work doesn’t come with a cost. The work-life balance on offer here is described as “excellent” with trainees bragging that they rarely have to compromise personal life to manage my work life, and 6.30pm finishes in no short supply. There is some variation between seats, as one rookie details “In Islamic finance and asset management I worked 9am-5.15pm most of the time, in commercial and corporate my hours were more consistently 9am–7pm with a handful of late nights, with one 2am finish on a Friday night in the office! But on the whole, I have had a good work life balance at FA with an average 9am-6.30pm work day.” Other recruits even speak of being “encouraged to prioritise making time to get outdoors, exercise and look after my mental health.” That sound you’re hearing is jaws hitting the floor over in the City.
The trade-off is you’re not going to trouser sky-high City salaries. First year trainees can expect to earn £40,000, rising to £41,000 in their second year, while NQs take home £63,000 a year.
A relatively small trainee intake of around 12-15 each year makes for close-knit cohorts where “everyone is supportive and really friendly” though the lack of a social budget prevents this joviality from trickling over into too much social buzz around the offices. Some teams do make the effort though and one rookie reports completing a “fundraising week, involving splitting into teams and walking/running/cycling 306 km each — a great way of building team morale and getting the step counter up”. There is also appreciation shown for the fact that the firm makes a positive effort to ensure “social events don’t only revolve around drinking”, such as the firm’s biweekly cycling club where members “go for a ride and coffee before work every other work”.
Although most superiors are described as “very approachable,” it’s worth noting that not all are cut from the same cloth, with some a bit more challenging to gel with. Another trainee jokes that the partners range in approachability from “curtsying in their presence to limited banter,” but mostly it’s a good vibe. “Senior lawyers and members of the partnership are extremely friendly and approachable. The culture is very warm, and there is no distinct hierarchy,” said one young lawyer. Some higher-ups might even join you down the pub on a Friday night — a mixed blessing, potentially, but definitely works if they’re buying.
Foot Anstey also receives praise for its perks. And there’s one particular perk that’s on top of everyone’s list — Lifestyle Hour — an hour a week on firm time to do whatever you like. “I like to use mine to leave early on a Friday,” one trainee told us while sipping a mojito in her hammock. Another uses it to get a surf in before work on a Friday morning! Health-conscious trainees are also buzzing with the regular deliveries of fresh fruit and the option of standing desks, whilst other popular perks include birthday days off, two corporate social responsibility days each year and “great team lunches”. But really, as one trainee puts it: “the best perk is not having to work silly hours.”
Office wise, the firm’s hubs are unified on their “open plan layout” which one rookie tells us is “actually a great way of networking with people at all levels”. The Bristol offices – which is situated by the river on Glass Wharf is said to be particularly “swish” whilst Plymouth is said to have “good views”. Exeter is “nothing special but gets the job done” which is generally the consensus elsewhere too.
Luckily, flexible working opportunities are excellent, and you can buy and sell annual leave days. One rookie even speaks of the ability to swap some annual leave for flexible hours, which can be used in up to two-hour chunks — “a useful way to keep active during the week”. Trainees are able to work from home when required, and are provided with a monitor, keyboard and mouse, though some begrudged having to go into their own pocket for desks and chairs. Internally, the tech offering is pretty limited although the firm is starting to pilot some use of AI tools.
International travel is saved for those that go on to qualify, but client secondments to a range of big-name businesses are an option: Lloyds Banking Group, Pizza Hut and IKEA, to name a few. The firm also has its ‘Virtual Trainee’ programme where rookies provide up to five hours per week of additional legal support, at no cost to the client, adopting the role of an in-house legal adviser.