Womble Bond Dickinson UK LLP - True Picture

Womble Bond Dickinson training contract review 2024

The Firm

The US and the UK are pretty good at forming alliances, and legal maestro Womble Bond Dickinson is no exception. The firm is the brainchild of US Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice and UK Bond Dickinson and, since teaming up back in 2016, things have only been looking up. In Chambers UK, WBD has over 50 ranked departments and picks up top marks in the North East in areas such as agriculture, construction, planning and real estate. In the South, the firm excels in banking and finance, corporate/M&A, employment and litigation. One insider recalled that the draw to the firm was “a good mix of higher-end work against a regional firm culture.” Indeed, the firm is a fair bit more geographically robust than some competitors, with the bulk of new trainees located in Newcastle, along with positions on offer across London, Bristol, Edinburgh, Leeds, Plymouth and Southampton.

Like many trainees, rookies made their way to WBD through direct training contract applications or vac scheme hires. But in the firm’s Newcastle, Southampton and Bristol offices, an ever-common route into the firm is through the apprenticeship scheme. One apprentice at the firm raved that “people are genuinely excited about the apprenticeship and really root for you.” Training principal Simon Hughes reveals the firm has even started a pilot programme called ‘Flourish’, which is open solely to paralegal applicants from within the firm. Hughes underlines: “We are conscious of roots into the profession, and we are looking at other routes to develop individuals and bring in opportunities.”

“Every time I met someone from this firm, they were very nice and welcoming, and it really stood out.”

Though what unified trainees joining WBD was the community. One newcomer noted: “What struck me at law fairs was that every time I met someone from this firm, they were very nice and welcoming. It really stood out.” This is something integral to the training environment the firm has sought to put together. “We really reiterate that our culture has a flat open structure from day one,” says Hughes, adding that “it is to ensure we don’t have any hierarchies.” On top of that, Hughes notes the firm is looking for individuals who are chiefly “inquisitive and keen to learn and take opportunities on board.” Sound a bit like you? Read on…

The Seats

Over the course of the training contract, trainees will complete four seats and they are asked to choose their preferences around a month in advance. Split seats are on offer at the firm so newbies can do a mixture of things like banking and restructuring or real estate with residential. Like plenty of firms we speak to, priority is given to second-year trainees to ensure they get a stab at their preferred choices. Trainees did note the result of the allocation can get to them quite late, and for some it's “taken until my last two seats to get what I wanted.” Moreover, whilst there are no compulsory seats at the firm, there is a requirement to do a contentious seat.

Thinking of a secondment? Well, you’re in luck as this was described as “a strong point of the training contract,” with a good variety of client secondments on offer in commercial areas.International secondments are also a possibility. In the past, lucky trainees have gone on secondments to Redeker in Germany, though it's key to note that this isn't always available.

Kicking off with one of the more popular seats of the firm, the corporate group covers a range of transactional work, “but the main thing they do is M&A.” For instance, the team advised the shareholders of Hickory on its sale to pub retailer and brewer Greene King. For trainees,we learned that “in M&A, typical tasks would be drafting corporate ancillaries and share certificates, and outside of M&A it is things like reviewing investor agreements.” At the beginning of a trainee’s stint in the group, “bigger documents are off limits, but you do get more as you go on.” Another added that “as you progress through the seat, you get more and more responsibility. So, you end up getting to draft things, like investment agreements.” But newbies are hardly twiddling their thumbs as “it was a busy team when I was there, so there were an awful lot of different things to experience.” Not surprising when the group’s regulars include theNational Trust and London Theatre Company.

“I learned so much commercially! It helped me progress with my career…”

Employment is “pretty much 90% litigation,” and was described as a “great seat as it gives you a feel of non-transactional work such as immigration, flexible working arrangements and redundancies.” It also helps that clients include well-known names like the Post Office and Sky Betting & Gaming. Our lucky insiders told us that they “got to go to in-person tribunal” and were put on tasks such as “drafting responses to the claim, drafting witness statements, taking calls from witnesses and preparing for trials.” To sum it up, there are “lots of research tasks” to be getting on with. Though one trainee conceded that “things won’t wrap up in six months so you can’t really conduct your own file, so there’s a bit less responsibility than other departments.” But another remarked: “I learned so much commercially! It helped me progress with my career as I took this back into my third seat.” Quite the tough act to follow!

WBD’s construction department is split between transactional and litigious work. Contentious work included contract review for developments and buildings, agreements between designers and an employer or bank. In fact, since 2010 the WBD construction team has advised the Department of Education on the delivery of new and refurbished schools across the country. So, the trainees we spoke to were busy “amending contract drafting contractual warranties, lots of drafting transactional work and progressing files and research tasks.” On the litigation side, “it depends on what comes up; there wasn’t much litigation when I was there, but I know of trainees who have been to adjudications.” Another source highlighted that the work could cover multiple teams: “I did a lot of work with the London team, as my supervisor/partner was split between London and Southampton. We are a cross-office team generally and were involved in large transactions in Newcastle as well.” Therefore, clients range all up and down the country from The County Council of Durham to theHM Courts and Tribunals Service and Department for Transport.

Another multifaceted department is the real estate group, which has several subgroups. Transactional real estate is the largest team in the firm and a common split seat was real estate with residential. The Leeds and Newcastle offices were noted as particularly strong for this department. Here one trainee told us that “from day one I was given an entire caseload I was supposed to progress under supervision of someone else,” but reasoned that “I never felt I was being asked to do something out of my depth; people giving work did it to try further skills and development.” Another stressed that “it is really good work and quality work you get put on and the training is excellent in terms of explaining how to do things, as it gives you background and makes sure you really understand the task at hand.” Recently, WBD supported Bristol City Council in negotiating an agreement for a lease with Legal and General for the redevelopment and regeneration of Temple Island in Bristol, which is hoping to create 22,000 jobs and up to 10,000 new homes.

“They give you a lot of client exposure and there are lots of large clients in that area.”

Planning & infrastructure“is one of the biggest teams in the UK, it’s big project work but really varied as we do a lot of local work and big project work nationally.” Summing up their experience, one trainee expressed that “the large national projects are complex and interesting. There are a lot of documents and processes to learn and it's a great non-litigation experience.” But what the tasks tend to boil down to is “lots of research tasks. There are more research tasks than you can shake a stick at,” as well as “attending client meetings and attendance notes. I was involved in a statutory review on my second week and I went to court for a couple of days in Newcastle.” The team certainly likes to get trainees involved in this group as we heard that they “like trainees to work on presentations as well”. Moreover, “they give you a lot of client exposure and there are lots of large clients in that area.” Examples of clients include Taylor Wimpey and Leeds City Council.

Trainee Life

All this work exposure comes with the solid backing from firm supervisors, and interviewees were impressed overall with theirs. Though overall experiences could differ depending on who they were assigned to, given that some have a more hands-on approach than others, nonetheless, even the busy supervisors would “find the time to give us feedback instead of sending work and never hearing from them again.”

On that note, how busy trainees were was dictated by the department they were sitting in. Teams such as corporate appeared to be prone to longer hours. One told us that “it has peaks and troughs, but sometimes it can get to 11pm or even later.”  But to put a number to it, across every office, typical hours were said to be around 9am-6pm. If you factor out lunch breaks, that stacks up with our survey data, which revealed that overall WBD hours are less than the market average at just under 40 per week against the average of 44. We heard that working weekends was a rarity too. One rookie mentioned that “only on one occasion have I had to work on the weekend, the firm doesn’t encourage it. They’re big on health and wellbeing and I have had supervisors that have said ‘park that, we will do it tomorrow’.”

"Over the last three to four years it has come on in leaps and bounds in terms of networks and implementation and networks."

On that note, sources generally felt the firm does a good job with diversity and inclusion: “Over the last three to four years it has come on in leaps and bounds in terms of networks and implementation and networks,” which include THRIVE, REACH and Pride as well as a neurodiversity group. WBD’s inclusive approach is keenly felt across the culture too, and senior members lead by example: “The partners are incredibly down to earth and there is no big-headedness within the firm.”Another candidly told us that“the culture is one of the massive pros of the firm; it is inclusive and, to be honest, I really do think they’re a really good employer as we have lots of networks and committees.” In fact, our survey revealed that trainees strongly felt they can influence law-firm life via committees. One such team is the social and sports committee which organises events during the year. Though trainees don’t always get to meet other trainees across offices, some departments do a lot of cross-team working and get to meet in person on the odd occasion. For example, the London and Newcastle teams had Christmas dinner together in the past year.

For trainees coming to the end of the training contract, the qualification process is a two-stage process running over the summer, where you can apply to up to two roles. A word of advice from our insiders: get a conversation in with a partner in the team you wish to qualify. Trainees are made aware of vacancies where they can register their interest. They're then interviewed, and the process can be fairly formalised if there's more than one applicant for a particular role. Like many firms, it can involve a bit more uncertainty when applying for a more popular team such as commercial and real estate. However, “the firm does try to accommodate people as best as they can.” In 2023, the firm retained 17 of 26 qualifiers.

How to get a WBD training contract

Registration and online assessment

All candidates will need to start their application with a registration form – which also enables the firm to obtain contextualised info through Rare's CRS. Following this, everyone who has registered and is eligible to complete a training contract will be invited to complete the firm’s blended high-potential assessment, which consists of an online assessment and a pre-recorded video interview. Following this, the firm shortlists candidates for its virtual assessment day.

Assessment days

The virtual assessment day consists of a task that measures commercial understanding, as well as two short interviews. As part of WBD’s commitment to diversity, equality and inclusion, the firm is working to make its early talent recruitment processes as fair and transparent as possible, so will provide the information for the task and the interview questions in advance of your virtual assessment day.

Placements

Following the virtual assessment day, the firm shortlists candidates for the work placement week. During the work placement week, candidates will have the chance to meet WBD colleagues and gain real insight into what it's like to work at the firm. Candidates are invited into the firm’s offices for part of their work placement, but the firm runs a hybrid week with both virtual and in-person experiences. This not only makes the firm’s process more environmentally friendly, but it also gives candidates a true reflection of what WBD’s hybrid working environment feels like. The final stage interview will also be conducted in person during this week.