Dentons

An “entrepreneurial spirit” and more overseas offices than any other law firm in the world. Where better to make a positive dent in your early career?

Dentons training contract review 2026

About the firm

As anybody who follows football will tell you, there are plenty of teams that have suffered a bit of an identity crisis in periods of rapid growth. Fortunately for the folks at Dentons (which stands as a result of more than 40 mergers in the last twelve years), it’s a growth mindset that the firm was careful to navigate well: “There is still very much an entrepreneurial spirit, as there was in the early days, in our current format,” training principal Eleanor Hart highlights, “we have more people in more places that any of our competitors... But one of the unique things, other than our sheer size, is that we’re polycentric – without any dominant office or headquarters. You’re still very much working at the law firm in the location where you’re based, but you are collaborating daily with colleagues throughout the UK, Ireland, the Middle East and globally.”

It’s true too that Dentons is the largest law firm in the world by number of offices, with more than 12,000 lawyers split between 200 offices in 80 countries. The largest portion of the firm’s trainees are based in London, with a handful in Milton Keynes and the rest residing in Edinburgh and Glasgow, Scotland.

“I could devote a lot of time to my career in an environment that is supportive – and that is true of Dentons!”

As you might expect from that sort of headcount, Dentons is very much a full-service firm, with over 50 Chambers UK and over 100 Chambers Global accolades. The firm’s UK-wide rankings include the likes of commodities, franchising, infrastructure (PPP), retail, sanctions and transport: rail (across franchising, projects, and rolling stock), alongside a top-tier nod in hotels and leisure. What’s more, all this is on top of top ranked practices in competition law and transport: rail in Scotland, and environment and climate change in London.

Despite its strength in depth however, the general consensus was that the firm has maintained that human touch: “I could devote a lot of time to my career in an environment that is supportive – and that is true of Dentons!” So, who is the ideal candidate? As Hart puts it: “One thing is important to us and that is diversity of thought. We encourage candidates from any and all backgrounds who are challengers. People who want to think about things differently.”

Training Contract Structure

When it comes to seat allocation, the process begins a month or so before the rotation. “You rank six preferences of the seats you’d like to do - with number one being your top choice - into an algorithm,” interviewees explained. This pulls up alongside “a chat with early careers about what you’ve been enjoying and where you’d like to go next.” Like most firms, second years have priority as they near the end of their training contracts. Insiders told us that some seats such as specialist teams like TMT, energy and employment are quite popular.

Secondments are part of the same seat allocation process, although some might require an interview too. We heard that both client and international opportunities are available. That said, the number of opportunities received some mixed feedback, as “one of the downsides. It’s disappointing being a big international law firm with limited international secondments.”Previous opportunities have included a disputes secondment to the Hong Kong and a client secondment to Toulouse. Client secondments, however, appear plentiful – “there are lots of opportunities for client secondments!” These are across a number of areas including banking, energy, retail, government and even a pro bono secondment.

Seat Experiences

Trainee Life

“The culture at Dentons is at its forefront, after international presence,” one source told us. Trainees emphasised that this makes for a positive working environment – one that is “friendly and very open. People want to see you do well.” Another highlighted that particularly amongst the juniors, “it’s not competitive or sharkish. It just doesn’t feel that way.”

“It doesn’t feel like a London centric firm, the offices work closely together.”

Trainees also have the opportunity to work in more than one office, whether that be Edinburgh, Glasgow, London or Milton Keynes, to get an insight into another base: “It doesn’t feel like a London-centric firm, the offices work closely together.” Situated within a stone's throw of the nearest train station, the Scottish offices were described as well-connected and the same goes for London, which is packing up to move to One Liverpool Street in 2026.

Across the board, trainees noted that: “seniors and partners are very approachable. You’ll be in the kitchen making a coffee and they’ll ask how you are doing. It’s a nice vibe as people are really busy, but not too busy to not be nice.” Moreover, there are occasions to socialise as well. The trainees and solicitor apprentices have their own social budget, there are regular end of the month socials. In particular, the London office hosts ‘Pub in The Hub’ each Wednesday to connect, and of course there are seasonal events in both London and Scotland.

Each office has their own charity of the year, partnering with organisations such as Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity, Fighting Against Cancer (FACE) and FEAST With Us. Each office hosts events from raffles, bake sales and walks to “the world’s tallest abseil, a skydive the year before,” and a kilt walk up in Scotland. The affinity group networks also are active with networking and informative talks from endometriosis awareness to events marking cultural occasions such as Diwali and Ramadan. Sources highlighted Black Professionals Network, Fusion for Asians and South Asians, GLOW for LBGT professionals, Inspire for women, and networks for neurodiverse lawyers and parents and carers.

As for inclusion, “there is such a mix of people from all backgrounds. I thought that breaking into law would be difficult but not at Dentons - you fit straight in.” What’s more, “we were one of the first firms to have apprentices qualify as associates,” Hart highlights. “We will just be coming up to our third year celebrating the promotion of apprentices to associates, and we’re incredibly proud of that.”

As for supervision, we heard that it varies from supervisor to supervisor and seat to seat, depending on how busy things are. Given the open plan nature of the office rookies sit near or next to their supervisors, and often have “recurring weekly meetings, which can be formal or informal, just a five-minute coffee, or an hour sit down to discuss where you can improve.”

Trainees also have formal mid and end of seat reviews too. Newbies have a week-long induction process and have access to a library of in-depth online resources. Formal training is provided weekly by departments. In corporate, for example, “it covers common tasks from closing processes and due diligence, and the department provides updates on key issues and what has changed.”

On the topic of hours, interviewees described working on average between 9am and 6.30 – 7pm. Although this was caveated with the fact that, with busy practices or crunch points with closings or filings, “there have been later nights.” As one source attested: “It’s not constant crazy late nights, I’ve only had a few in six months in transactions.” Although the hybrid work policy is fully flexible, trainees are “encouraged to be in the office as much as possible to learn from proximity.” And so, most reported being in three to four days a week. Citing the firm’s investment and hours at the trainee level, sources were satisfied with their compensation: “It’s absolutely fair.”

Qualification

Come qualification time, the process begins about a month or two into a trainee’s final seat. The timeline is made clear, and a list of available jobs is released. Candidates can make up to two applications submitting a 2,000 – 3,000 form and statement on their motivations for wanting to join a particular group. Following which they have an hour interview with two partners about motivations, alongside some more technical questions.

On top of this (depending on the department), they might have to prepare a case study to discuss. Given that it's quite a formal process, a few did gripe that “it’s a very intense process for people who have already done a six-month seat and hour-long interview, it adds a lot of stress.” In 2025 the firm did not disclose its retention statistics.