The Legal Cheek View
Gowling WLG is the now well-established result of a 2016 merger between British firm Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co and Canadian giant Gowlings. The firm boasts deep roots in both Birmingham and London, through its earlier incarnations as Wragge & Co and Lawrence Graham (which themselves merged in 2014). Wragge has long been a major player in Birmingham — arguably the city’s biggest name — with its history going back to 1834. Lawrence Graham has similarly venerable heritage in London and dates back even further, having been founded in 1730. The firm also has an office in Leeds for their housing development team, giving them a trio of UK bases covering north to south.
Like many legal sector mega-mergers before it, the North American and UK elements of Gowling WLG have been structured as separate entities — not dissimilar to the ‘Swiss verein’ model favoured by other major global outfits — which may explain why in Britain the firm still feels very much like Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co with added international offices. Still, Gowling’s global presence is formidable – the firm boasts over 1,500 legal professionals spread across 21 offices in nine countries. These bases are supported by a wider network of alliances with local firms in regions like Latin America and the Middle East. Currently, Germany seems to be the place of interest as the firm has recently expanded its Frankfurt office there and launched a new strategic alliance with the German Federal Association of Corporate Lawyers.
Rich history aside, Gowling WLG’s recent financials have been solid. A slight 1% uptick has taken UK revenues up to £207 million this year, whilst profit per equity partner (PEP) is understood to sit at around £420,000 according to the most recent publicly available results — not a bad time for new UK chair Emma Pioli to take the reins. Although its Canadian arm doesn’t formally publish its financials, turnover there is understood to be about £470 million.
Over the past year, Gowling has welcomed 20 new partners into its fold across the UK, Germany, France and the United Arab Emirates and has launched a new multi-disciplinary energy transition, infrastructure and projects team across its three UK bases.
The firm continues to act as a solid platform from which trainees can build their legal careers, with insiders finding: “a good mix of general training provided across the firm on broad topics and new developments in the market, as well as specific training provided when joining teams.” Rookies also report that “you get a good level of responsibility with teams who are keen to supervise and explain different concepts” and the trained supervisors are “genuinely motivated to help improve our skills and encourage learning, rather than just in using us as a tool to get work done quickly and/or cheaply.”
One spy gives this thorough review of their experience so far: “Most teams have weekly compulsory training sessions, where we catch up on recent changes in the law and the things to be aware of, keeping our knowledge up to date. The level of responsibility we are given as trainees allows us to develop quickly professionally, as we take ownership for lots of tasks. I definitely think I have been moulded into a good lawyer by training at the firm.”
The nature of the training efforts at Gowling does mean some learning is seat-dependent, which has left some feeling like “it’s been a little bit of a mixed bag”. As one detailed, “3 out of my 4 seats showed real interest in actively training me to be the best I could be. This includes teams in the real estate, corporate, and dispute resolution groups. However, the approach taken by the intellectual property team was unforgiving and not conjunctive to good learning or development.” That being said, trainees were adamant that “a couple of bad supervisors cannot and will not undo the amazing work and supervision I received from others” and we’re assured that “increased efforts are being made to offer more centralised training.”
Luckily, any pitfalls in the training are more than made up for by the “high quality” work on offer. Rookies report an “interesting range of work — international, national and local” as well as a “good mix of big high value matters that come with associated prestige which are nice to be involved with, as well as smaller matters where trainees are given a greater level of responsibility.” Gowling trainees seem to benefit from a relatively smaller amount of grunt-work, even if admin isn’t entirely off the cards: “I find that I am given a healthy amount of responsibility and that my work is varied, not being restricted to just your typical junior more admin-heavy tasks — I get plenty of opportunities to get involved in substantive drafting and to interact directly with clients,” one insider told LC. Corporate and commercial seats are apparently hotspots for the more juicy stuff, whilst litigation and real estate were just some departments noted to contain more grunt work like bundling.
In terms of the culture, “this is overall simply a very friendly firm”, one spy told us, “where the majority of people do want to supp[ort each other — you get what you give and, if you make the most of that, the support you can receive is fantastic.” Besides the odd “overly competitive” recruit, most at Gowling are said to be “wonderful and will be lifelong friends”. The relatively small cohort in London is further noted as being “a great size for us to collaborate and champion one another’s careers” with another recruit there going as far as to say “our cohort is one of the best things about the firm.”
Partners receive slightly less scintillating reviews as approachability can vary: “Really depends on the supervisor… some are great but some I avoid,” said one insider. That being said, generally, superiors are noted as being “approachable and will make the time to support and supervise your work.” Another spy told Legal Cheek, “from associate to partner level, everyone in the teams I’ve worked in has been happy to take time to discuss everything from queries on work, through to what we got up to on the weekends”.
Social life is “team dependent” but our sources tell LC that the “trainees are a relatively sociable group”. Although there aren’t any firm-wide parties or ostentatious event budgets, rookies appreciate that “this means there is less pressure to spend silly amounts of time with colleagues and you get a good amount of time to spend with friends and family.”
On the odd occasion rookies do get to a Gowling WLG event, the firm has challenged its employees to reduce the environmental impact of its get-togethers by doing things like opting for 100% plant-based catering and choosing venues accessible by public transport. The firm has gone largely paperless and head of ESG Ben Stansfield is said to be a “bit of an industry legend and LinkedInfleuncer, which is a good person to have spearheading environmental initiatives.”
Work/life balance seems to be what you make of it at this firm. Many trainees describe it as “generally great”, adding that “where there are hard stops for personal life events, that has always been respected and working longer/later hours nearer deadlines has felt appreciated. Others, however, talk of an “‘always on’ attitude” being perpetuated by more senior lawyers with another adding that “more could be done to improve the balance”. Recruits in this latter category do seem to recognise that some of the blame lies with themselves, rather than the mechanisms of the firm in this regard – as one eagle-eyed junior notes, “some people leave at 5:30pm on the dot whilst others work past midnight most days”.
WLB is also said to vary by seat with “the usual suspects (corporate [and] banking)” coming with longer hours, whilst real estate and pensions are said to offer a great balance. “Amazing in most teams, pretty poor in others”, summarises one insider. But as another rookie puts it, “if you enjoy the work, the longer hours don’t bother you as much”. They also note that, “many superiors and teams wouldn’t expect you to consistently work late and will remind you to retain a balance. This includes superiors encouraging you to take time off and book leave in.” Generally, the hours are reasonable: “I’ve had a few 2am finishes in corporate, but they are by no means a regular occurrence. The team encourages you to leave at 5:30 in quiet periods, and work from home when possible, so it all balances it out in the end.”, another Gowling newbie told.
Another variable, according to our survey respondents, is office location. Expect to work longer hours in the capital, although the upside to that is you’ll get paid significantly more (£98,000 as a London NQ, compared to £64,000 in the regions). That doesn’t mean London is top dog. Insiders warn against underestimating Gowling WLG’s Brummie branch, in which much management power lies. This is echoed in the respective size of the offices, with the Birmingham office reportedly being larger than its City counterpart.
The Snow Hill Birmingham headquarters also impress over the Thames-side London base in terms of office space with trainees noting that “the Birmingham office is much nicer than London, but the view in London makes up for it.” Indeed, the scenery of Tower Bridge, the Thames and the Tower of London just out the window is said to impress clients and lawyers alike (even if the other side does look over a train station) and juniors generally rate their digs down south as “really commutable and a great place to go to work”. New facilities such as changing rooms and more communal areas are also being implemented to give the space a nice spruce up. Resident Brummies also enjoy how “well located” their office is, with the one-word review there being “fantastic”. Both offices have a canteen which offers “great food and a variety of options” at subsidised prices. One London recruit describes it like so: “Great food and a variety of options, everyday is different and the options are really international and interesting. Canteen staff are very friendly and get to know you and you can tell that they put a lot of thought into the food options prepared. The baked goods and coffees are also really good and affordable as they are subsidised.” The residential development team in Leeds have also moved into a new permanent space at Globe Point on the periphery of the city’s financial district, which boasts a high-quality workspace and terrace as well as ground floor amenities and event food and drinks spaces.
We suspect these office improvements might’ve come in response to Gowling’s recent change to its office attendance rules which now sees its lawyers in-office three days a week. Not that trainees are complaining — our insiders felt the home working split was “fair and manageable” and WFH equipment (which includes a keyboard, laptop, and screen) is “provided in a timely manner.”
For those looking to swap working from home to working from abroad, you’re in luck. Opportunities for Gowling WLG’s UK trainees to travel to far-flung destinations are slowly returning, with trainees jetting-off to Brazil and Dubai, where the firm opened an office in 2007. Closer to home, there are even more opportunities for client secondments with over a fifth of trainees surveyed having done one. Locations included Avail AI, TfL and the Government Legal Department. Notably, the firm was a sponsor of the 2022 Commonwealth Games held in Birmingham, and one lucky rookie even had the opportunity of doing a secondment with the organiser of the Games!
The Commonwealth Games also cropped up when rookies were asked about perks. Tickets and other experiences were up for grabs, supplementing an otherwise “pretty non-existent” offering from the firm in this area. That sounds quite harsh — the firm does provide perks, but they comprise the standard culprits of private health and dental care, subsidised gym membership and reformer classes and various retail discounts. One newly-wed also reported getting a couple of days of “Wedding Leave” for tying the knot — congrats!
Legal tech may be another area in which the firm is looking to improve. Although some previous efforts like the firm’s innovative ‘CoLab’ project seem to have died out, Gowling have recently launched an AI-based brand protection service ‘Saturn’ and all trainees have recently been put through the Legal PSC course for tech training. The partnership with AI platform Avail is also a unique selling point for those in real estate and generally rookies seem to be noting a significant uptick of movement in this area — “what could be improved now is the pick up from the older generation of lawyers” one youthful recruit tells us. A new technology seat is also on offer for Gowling trainees who can split their time between the innovation team and an AI start-up.