Reed Smith

The culture at the firm is described as “extremely supportive”. The Shipping Litigation team earned a special shout-out from one trainee, who described them as “absolutely marvellous”. High praise indeed! Among peers, rookies appreciate the “small trainee cohort which means everyone knows each other and is supportive of one another”, while firmwide “everyone is friendly, approachable and generally helpful”. One spy noted: “It’s amazing how most of the superiors don’t act superior at all!” A few lucky trainees even received Christmas presents from their superiors.

The good vibes continue when it comes to work/life balance. “We were really able to take on as much work as we were comfortable with, and they did not expect too much of us”, one newbie said. Again, however, this may differ between departments and according to time of year: “If you’re in a finance seat, particularly in Q4, then there will be early morning finishes and weekend working.” One trainee mentions needing to be prepared to work late evenings and even weekends in some teams. Trainees are conscious, however, of how Reed Smith compares with other firms and consider themselves relatively fortunate: “The salary is at the higher end of firms without the constant horrendous hours trainees seem to be working elsewhere in the City.”

Reed Smith is especially strong in financial disputes, shipping and, somewhat unusually for a City firm, entertainment and media law. In fact, one of the firm’s London partners was recently named as a go-to music industry solicitor by US music magazine Billboard, no less, and the firm boasts expertise in other rock n’ roll subjects like sports, gaming and social media. For those who are especially passionate about the environment, the firm offers a designated pro bono environmental working group which supports various environmental causes, and has recently announced the formation of a new, dedicated ESG (environmental, social and governance) practice at the firm.

Another strength is the firm’s “excellent” technology and innovation. In London, Reed Smith has a dedicated innovation hub, and counts work in this category towards billable hours. In 2019, the firm began offering an “innovation seat” to London trainees. The firm also has a legal services centre in Leeds, where lawyers and support staff can benefit from a “creative environment” in which “to find new approaches to problem solving”. However, there are as yet no plans to offer training contracts in Leeds.

Despite these niches, supervisors are known “to be conscious about giving trainees as broad an experience as possible” and help trainees “branch out and try something outside your typical area”. Juniors undertake secondments to the likes of Shell, Bauer Media Group, Reprieve and Liberty. International secondments currently remain suspended, but as Covid-19 restrictions continue to ease, popular foreign secondment destinations such as Dubai and Singapore will most likely return.

Some of the firm’s short travel perks might make a comeback too. In the past, trainees have enjoyed client visits to Hamburg on a big case, a week-long trip to Seoul and a Korean shipyard to take statements, and a week in Japan for business development and marketing. Perks at the firm are said to be “standard for City law firms” with the exception being the trainee bonuses, which apparently “haven’t changed for years” and “seem below what other firms pay”.

Until the firm reintroduces international travel, WFH remains the only office away from the office that trainees will experience. They seem fine with this ― “we have a virtual desktop so you can work from anywhere really, and we’re often allowed to work from home 2-3 days per week,” one spy reports. The “generous” WFH set-up allowance given at the start of the pandemic has been followed up with more “modest” amounts, and the firm also offers a monthly allowance towards broadband services.