Working in the South West and Wales
The South West has long been one of the most popular regions for lawyers to work in. The quality of life has a powerful pull for many, with the beaches and hills of Devon, Cornwall and Wales within easy reach. The region’s four key business centres of Bristol, Cardiff, Exeter and Plymouth are home to a number of firms of growing stature and size, with practice areas of national repute.
Across the South West there are some 15 firms represented out of the leading Top 100 Legal firms. Over the last few years a number of firms have seen significant expansion and, notably, in Bristol and Exeter firms have actively sought purpose built new offices.
Legal market - law firms
Bristol, by far the largest legal centre and with a large financial services community, is the headquarters for a number of heavyweight firms including Bevan Brittan, Burges Salmon, Osborne Clarke, TLT and Veale Wasbrough.
It also has strong local practices of national firms such as Beachcroft Wansbroughs, Pinsent Masons and City firm CMS Cameron McKenna. This thriving and competitive market has encouraged many of the firms to seek work - successfully - on a national basis. Burges Salmon’s transport group is a case in point as is Beachcroft Wansbrough’s property team.
Unsurprisingly, many candidates say that they are only interested in moving to Bristol when they first come to see us. The attractions and amenities of Bristol are undeniable. However we would encourage you to consider moving to one of the other major centres.
Cardiff, Bristol’s main rival as a business centre, has one of Eversheds’ strongest regional offices - including a national centre of excellence in employment. Other strong practices include Edwards Geldard, Hugh James and Morgan Cole.
Substantial firms in Exeter and Plymouth, meanwhile, include Ashfords, Bond Pearce, Foot Ansteys and Michelmores. The region’s reputation for good quality, often City-trained, lawyers does not stop there. Other locations worth considering include Cheltenham, home of Wiggin, BPE, Charles Russell and Rickerbys; Taunton, with Ashfords and Clarke Willmott; plus other commercial locations Bath and Gloucester.
In-house
Within the South West there are also a significant number of lawyers working in-house for a variety of employers. Moving in-house offers lawyers the chance to work closely with a business and develop commercial and risk management skills outside the pure legal range. Larger departments in the area include Lloyds TSB, Imperial Tobacco, Orange, Npower and British Energy, amongst others.
Demand for in-house lawyers has remained relatively strong for junior lawyers at the 1-5 years’ PQE level, with the majority of companies seeking candidates with general commercial experience.
Above 5 years’ PQE there have been far fewer vacancies, with only a small number of opportunities available at the sole in-house Counsel or Head of Department level. Where such positions have become available, clients have usually sought to recruit individuals with relevant sector or niche legal experience. There are still few new legal departments being created, although occasional opportunities have arisen for first in-house lawyers.
Public sector
Law firms aren't the only place for lawyers to work in the South West. Plenty of opportunities exist for lawyers to move into the public sector, in particular into short term interim assignments. Some of the major employers in the region include local authorities and housing associations.
The public sector is one of the largest employers of lawyers and the range of specialist practice areas is vast - from licensing to childcare, property to commercial. Salaries for lawyers in the public sector tend to be slightly less than private practice but are clearly defined by organisations through set salary bandings, and, in most cases, packages also include additional attractive benefits.
The work on offer
In our experience, the quality of work being handled across the region - and the quality of their lawyers - is a lot higher than you may think. The top firms are also as up to date in terms of training and career development as many leading City and regional firms.
As with other regions, another major plus-point is the opportunity to work in smaller teams, to assume greater responsibility at an early stage for a greater variety of work and so make a bigger impact.
For City lawyers with, say, two years' PQE this is a particularly attractive proposition as they consider the prospect of being channelled into ever-greater specialisation.
