Forsters

About the firm

If Forsters were stable owners (as quite a few of their clients may well be), the firm’s private wealth and real estate practices would be the two prized thoroughbreds in the stalls, wreathed with rosettes instead of top-tier Chambers UK rankings. If these are the kinds of practices you’ve set your sights on, Forsters is absolutely the horse to back. The firm punches well above its weight for a smaller West End firm, with top-ranked practices in real estate and agriculture & rural affairs in London, as well as strong acknowledgements in ultra-high-net-worth family/matrimonial finance and real estate litigation in the capital. If that wasn’t enough, there’s also recognition for its art and cultural property law UK-wide too.

“The teams at the firm are quite small, so it feels like the team couldn’t function without you!”

As the folks at Forsters are well aware, to be successful in private client law, firms have to be considerate and tactful. The firm’s approach to its training contract takes a leaf out of its own book in this respect, offering a smaller number of traineeships, many picked directly from the firm’s vacations scheme (although this isn’t a hard and fast rule): “The teams at the firm are quite small, so it feels like the team couldn’t function without you!”

Why trainees joined the firm

Small trainee cohort

The firm takes on around 12 trainees a year. As one put it: “I didn’t want to work at a big firm. I didn’t want to be a tiny cog in an enormous machine!” This can of course come with benefits for the seat allocation process too, although preference is still given to second year trainees.

Work/life balance

One trainee described Forsters as “a star for work/life balance.” They weren’t alone either. We heard that it’s safe to assume that you “don’t reply if you’re on holiday!” And while late nights do happen occasionally – when they do, “people would come up to you and say: ‘why are you here?!’”

Six-seat training contract

With trainees rotating between six four-month long seats, “I liked the six-seat training contract,” one told us, “it made it that bit more well-rounded, because I didn’t know what I wanted to do.”

Trainee satisfaction rankings

Training contract structure

Seat allocation

Trainees at Forsters sit in six four-month long seats; should you be offered an NQ position, your last seat will be the one which you will qualify into. Speaking about this, the firm’s training partner, Anthony Goodmaker, tells us: “Not many other firms do it, and it means you get a really good run into qualification. You go back for four months, then you'll have done eight months in the seat.” The idea being that, for those that qualify, they do so with a solid foundation in their practice: “We don’t want people to have this sort of shock that one day they're a qualified solicitor and suddenly the pressure's on. It's just not like that at all.”

Trainees at the firm rank the seats from 1 to 14 according to their preferences. We heard that trainees are encouraged to do one litigious seat and one property seat, although this is not strictly enforced. As is often the case, preferences for seats are usually given to second year trainees.

Client secondments

Client secondments do not tend to be offered at the trainee level, but we heard they are much more common at an associate level at the firm.

International secondments

The firm does not offer international secondments.

Seat Experiences

Trainee life

Culture and environment

Data from our annual trainee survey

Whilst discussing the social fabric of the firm, Goodmaker tells us that “trainees continue to be like the social hub of the firm. Which is what you want. You want them to be setting the culture.” In fact, “the trainees congregate for a mid-morning cup of tea!” There are also a wide variety of social events for trainees to throw themselves into including a running club, a choir, yoga classes, and book and film clubs. Once a month, the firm turns the office café into a bar and trainees also frequently informally visit local pubs. Should you qualify into a department at Forsters, your social coup de grace will be the NQ party; a party for NQs planned exclusively by NQs.

“…there’s a buzz about Marylebone, it feels like more of a village community.”

Whilst the West End office isn’t all that common a location for a law firm, trainees told us that the Forsters office is “lovely place to work. Being in Marylebone is very nice, you’re on the doorstop of the centre of town. There’s a buzz about Marylebone, it feels like more of a village community.” The office itself is reportedly furnished in open plan style with lots of breakout spaces.

Working patterns

Data from our annual trainee survey

Most trainees at Forsters begin their workday at 9am and finish around 7pm, (though obviously later finishes should be expected during busier periods). We heard that weekend work is rare and holiday time was reported to be very well respected. One trainee highlighted that “late evenings have been an anomaly and if you are working late, people do recognise it.” While we were reassured that Forsters is not a firm with a ‘facetime culture’, most trainees reported that they try to come into the office most days, and a good number revealed that they try to come in every day. As one put it: “Partners will often realise that you are sat next to them and find something for you to do. It’s something that wouldn’t happen via teams.” We were told that getting a seat with some departments can feel a little like “getting tickets for Glastonbury,” but missing out on these desks was rarely the end of the world however, as the firm offer a number of non-bookable desks, not tied to a particular department.

Pay

Data provided by firm and our annual trainee survey

Forsters’ trainees appeared pleased with the level of compensation they received: “It’s relatively on the mark, maybe a little below.” Positive comments about trainee salary being fair were frequently qualified by explanation that the hours trainees work were far less than at bigger firms: “Bigger firms get paid more, especially at NQ level, but when considering the hours it seems fair.”

Supervision and training

Trainees explained that the first few weeks of the training contract at Forsters are dominated by training sessions. This is made up of general training around subjects like resilience and presentation skills, but trainees will also be given practice area-specific training sessions and resources when they join a new seat. Most teams will also continue to keep trainees on their toes by asking them to present on recent developments in caselaw or statutory reform.

As a general rule, supervisors at the firm were well regarded and deemed to be great at providing feedback. One told us that their supervisor was “very happy to let them ask questions,” and another added that “supervisors are very generous with their time,” recalling a time that a supervisor printed a lease and ran them through every change that they would have made.

The firm pairs all new joiners up with a mentor. As one interviewee revealed, “my mentor is so cool. It’s so helpful having someone who isn’t directly involved with your work.” The firm also provides a number of online resources for trainees to brush up on their knowledge and arrange forbarristers to come into the firm to give talks on legal developments.

Pro bono & CSR

Pro bono opportunities are often presented to trainees via email and are usually attached to the firm’s key business areas. According to one trainee, the policy surrounding pro bono appears to be such that “if you are keen, you can push to be involved, and you will be welcomed with open arms.” The firm has ties to a number of legal clinics, and as one trainee told us: “It has been really great to get involved with pro-bono clients. It offers a very different experience to dealing with fee paying clients.”

Other opportunities include:

• The Marylebone Project (focused on supporting homeless women)

• The Baker Street Partnership (a Business Improvement District (BID), funded and directed by local businesses)

Inclusion

At Forsters, there is a range of diversity and inclusion-related groups that trainees can join, including a race support network, gender equality network, pride network and a working parents and carers group. Members of these groups often hold diversity talks and panels, which are reportedly always attended by an interested and supportive audience. Trainees highlighted being aware of the “high level of female leadership” at the firm and recalled undertaking allyship training around International Women’s Day.

“When I’ve been busy, an associate or partner has checked in.”

Trainees thought the firm was generally supportive of mental health initiatives and highlighted that the firm offers a drop in counsellor, a mental health week, and recently offered trainees the opportunity join in with a mental health walk: “When I’ve been busy, an associate or partner has checked in. Someone senior will often come to you and ask if you need to hand work off.”

Qualification

Qualification was one area where trainees reported more “mixed feelings” about the process. This was largely around how extensive the process is, with some prospective NQs required to complete a closed book exam before having interviews with partners, though this is set by the individual team rather than grad recruitment. Generally, everyone needs to fill out an application form and complete an interview. As one put it: “It was a really long drawn-out process, with the need to prepare and revise.” That said, all of those we spoke to communicated an intention to remain at the firm post-qualification should it be an option: “One day I could see myself wanting to try another jurisdiction, but if I was working in London, I couldn’t see myself at another firm.”

Forstering friendships…

“The training cohort is very close,” one told us, “the firm is very good at bringing people together that are quite similar and become friends. I like coming into work!”