The Legal Cheek View
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 West Country outfit Foot Anstey, which has been on an upward trajectory. The firm has had a period of significant growth in the past five years, having raised revenue by 29% to £61 million and net profit by 17% to £7 million.
As for the trainee experience, “very complex and challenging work with a wide range of interesting clients,” is the summary from one happy insider. With “kind and supportive” peers, alongside “very approachable” partners, what more could any young lawyer ask for?
Well, maybe a canteen, which Foot Anstey lacks (although the kitchen is “extremely sociable”). But that’s understandable, given that it has half a dozen separate offices scattered around the South West, including London, as well as a new hub in Manchester after it snapped up Clarke Wilmott’s four-lawyer IP team earlier this year.
Work/life balance is “excellent — I rarely feel that I have to compromise my personal life to manage my work life,” one happy trainee tells us. However, this does depend on your practice area, as another 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.” Overall, the work/life balance at Foot Anstey seems extremely reasonable in hours and attitude as another trainee explains: “I have always been 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 £38,000, rising to £39,000 in their second year, while NQs take home £60,000 a year.
Training-wise, supervisors are said to be “receptive, eager for you to learn and keen to challenge you whilst recognising varying levels of experience”, one insider reports. Another corroborates: “FA have been exceptional at providing training opportunities for both legal and professional development. I have been given the flexibility to attend any training I consider relevant or useful.” The firm focuses on six core sectors: 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”. The firm also has a busy medical negligence practice, dubbed EnableLaw, which has operated as a separate business since 2017. The real estate and corporate teams receive high praise for “hosting sessions for trainees on key topics” and running “weekly bitesize training sessions,” with most of the training elsewhere within the firm said to be very hands-on.
The corporate team is also said to have an exceptionally good calibre of work with a “brilliant level of exposure and responsibility,” one insider tells us. And this extends to the firm’s other practice areas, where trainees are generally pleased with their levels of responsibility and “exciting workloads,” even if there “is still trainee grunt work to be done”. One rookie details: “I have done two property seats so far, in one I was more focused on post-completion tidy up work but in the other I was running my own files focusing on parts of solar projects and taking responsibility for reporting on sites for solar panels and EV charging facilities. Generally, I would say the work is very stimulating and where possible, the partners are keen to get us involved in the more exciting work.”
This spy provides a further insight: “I have had the opportunity to work on some really interesting matters, including supporting on a complex £180m 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, The Independent newspaper, Ministry of Sound and Netflix, which Foot Anstey instructed in an asbestos claim. Other recent deals include advising on the takeover of a professional services firm for Dutch software and design client ID-ware Group, and advising Quilam Capital’s investment in Pivot Finance as part of a £70m funding package alongside Foresight Group.
At Foot Anstey, the relatively small trainee intake of around 16 “means everyone is supportive and really friendly”. Another grateful recruit says that their trainee group is “incredibly supportive”, resulting in a “heathy and encouraging environment”. This trickles down into the social life at the firm, with the cohort “socialising and spending a lot of time together”, although most of this is organised ad hoc, rather than by the firm. One rookie reports on recently having completed 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 much appreciation 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”.
Again, this is partly down to having multiple offices. What the firm may lack in the sesh department it makes up for in perks: everyone loves 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 this hour to get a surf in before work on a Friday morning! And health-conscious trainees are also keen to point out the regular deliveries of fresh fruit, office treadmills and the option of standing desks. Other popular perks include birthday days off, two corporate social responsibility says each year and “great team lunches”. The parental leave and fertility support is also praised by one junior.
The firm’s offices are said to be “open plan with no individual offices”. One rookie points out that this can “seem daunting” but is “actually a great way of networking with people at all levels”. The Bristol office is said to be situated by the river on Glass Wharf and the mixture of comfortable break-out and quiet areas is appreciated by the trainees. One spy is of the opinion that the Bristol and Plymouth offices are the most impressive.
Flexible working opportunities are excellent, and you can buy and sell annual leave days. One rookie notes the ability to swap some annual leave for flexible hours, which can be used in up to two-hour chunks, “useful to keep active during the week”. As one trainee puts it: “The best perk is not having to work silly hours.” Those with an eye for a deal will dig the discounts for local shops, which drive down the un-London-y cost of living further still. Trainees can WFH up to two days a week, and are provided with a monitor, keyboard and mouse. While legal tech at the firm is said to be “fairly basic”, trainees note that “the firm is taking steps to address the need to upgrade internal systems”.
One 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,” one young lawyer praises. “The partners are very invested in the quality of the trainee experience,” the trainee continues with another commenting “everyone is very approachable”. The partners might even join you down the pub on a Friday night — a mixed blessing, potentially, but definitely works if they’re buying.
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, KFC 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.