Irwin Mitchell

About the firm

You’ll no doubt be aware, or soon realise, that when it comes to figuring out what kind of firm to join, things can become a little blurry – and similar can be said of which practice one should focus on. In such cases, it can be handy to cast your net far and wide. And what if there was a firm that could do just that for you? Enter Irwin Mitchell.

Where many firms distinguish themselves by particular practices, Irwin Mitchell gives trainees a full-service experience across the national mid-market. For insiders, that access to a wide range of clients and disciplines “helps you decide which practice you want to qualify into.”

As training principal Emma Rush explains, “We have a solid business legal services offering, and to complement those areas, also strong private client areas: family law, wills & trusts.” What this translates into is two well-defined paths for trainees to embark on. “We offer a streamed training contract,” Rush elaborates, “so candidates either apply for our personal or our business services arms.”

Amidst its full-service offering, the firm has a number of stellar practices that shine particularly bright; Chambers UK places it in the top band nationwide for its work across court of protection (health & welfare; property & affairs); industrial disease personal injury (mainly claimant); product liability (mainly claimant); and international travel personal injury (claimant). Alongside a further 47 ranked departments across 18 offices, there’s certainly plenty for trainees to experience.

Why trainees joined the firm

Reputation for personal legal services

"I chose Irwin Mitchell because of its focus on personal legal services,” said one insider: “I wanted to work with people.” Echoing this, another added that with Irwin Mitchell, “bringing the personal side to the law is the first thing that comes to mind” – and that’s for good reason. While the firm does work with companies, its teams act on both sides of personal injury and employment disputes.

National firm with high-quality work

“It’s a national firm, so has lots of interesting work for a wide range of clients,” said one trainee, referring to the breadth on offer: “I got to try everything I wanted to try here.” Similarly, others pointed to the full-service practice offering as one of the key reasons they joined. The spread of offices up and down the country also meant trainees wouldn’t have to venture too far from home.

Inclusive culture with good work-life balance

"It seemed like a very personable firm,” one insider summarised. Many interviewees pointed to the firm’s “nice atmosphere and values” as reasons for joining, alongside “a good work-life balance; I wanted somewhere I could have a long-term career without working crazy hours,” said one.

Trainee satisfaction rankings

Training contract structure

Seat allocation

The firm has two streams to its practice structure: personal legal services and business legal services. From the outset, trainees must choose one stream to focus on. Though a few of our interviewees were a little disgruntled by the new structure, they acknowledged the benefits of working on seats which complement one another.

Ahead of each rotation, trainees fill out a survey indicating their preferred seat. Though decisions often come down to business need, one insider noted, “If you make it clear what you want, they will often find a way to get you on that seat.” On the personal legal services side, trainees can typically repeat rotations for practices they wish to qualify into.

Client secondments

N/A

International secondments

N/A

Seat Experiences

Trainee life

Culture and environment

We got the impression that, regardless of office, “you don’t work here if you’re not a friendly, approachable person,” and that was reflected in the firm’s overall culture. “It’s really welcoming here, even if you’re new,” said one trainee: “It is as advertised – there’s no ego!”

The layout of Irwin Mitchell’s offices helps to facilitate that “close-knit community,” with open plan offices ensuring that “everyone is approachable, no matter your position: paralegal, trainee or associate.” Ultimately, “people acknowledge that it’s a job – nobody is arrogant or stuck up,” said another insider: “They’re very encouraging of you to just ask questions because they’d rather not have to fix things later!”

When it comes to the social side, trainees can get involved as they see fit. There are the classic firmwide Christmas party, end of financial year drinks and qualifying drinks, and certain practices “have a national away day, which is great for meeting people across the firm.” Individual offices also frequently do CSR activities like bake sales and other fundraising drives. All in all, insiders noted, “a lot of people have family commitments, so we respect the after-work time people have.”

Working patterns

Data from our annual trainee survey

While there’s no firmwide expectation, trainees are generally in the office at least three days a week – something that certainly wasn’t frowned upon by any of our interviewees. Similarly, insiders were very complimentary about the work hours they tended to follow, which was a pattern of starting around 9am and finishing around 6pm.

“There are times you work later, but not on a regular basis – and you’re not working until midnight!” said one trainee. In fact, “every time I log on later in the evening, I’ll get a message asking why I’m online! So that’s the culture generally – they don’t want you working late.” The consensus was people’s time outside of work is well respected, particularly “if you have other commitments, like if you’re a parent and need to pick up kids.”

Pay

Data provided by firm and our annual trainee survey

Interviewees were generally satisfied with the salary, though we heard slight variations between departments: “for example, in commercial litigation or employment, there’s no expectation for a junior to stay on later with the seniors. In transactional seats with a more client service mindset, sometimes we really have to do the work to get a deal over the line.”

Chargeable hour targets vary by practice, with some trainees estimating four hours a day for first-years and increasing to 6.3 hours a day for second-years. “With meetings, check-ins, all of the non-chargeable things, the day can be a bit longer,” one trainee noted. Chargeable targets sit at seven hours for NQs, and the increase is reflected in the salary jump.

Supervision and training

Supervision was given praise across the board, particularly on feedback: “They’ll explain why they’ve made a change on a draft.” Beyond this, “All of my supervisors, without me needing to, have sought out feedback from other team members,” said one insider.

Formal training sessions take place on a “fairly regular basis,” and are typically put on by professional development lawyers in a particular practice.

Inclusion

Interviewees were similarly satisfied with the firm’s inclusion efforts, which comprise of “fairly active” inclusion groups, such as IM Able, IM Equal (the LGBTQ+ network), IM Aspiring (for social mobility), IM Families, IM Generations, IM Powered (for gender equity), and IM Respect (for ethnicity, faith and culture).

The groups are present in most of the firm’s offices, and Irwin Mitchell provides the groups with budgets to host events. A few trainees highlighted socials run by IM Respect, including a South Asian Heritage Month event, and the ‘Tried it!’ initiative which sees those at the firm explore different cuisines at various restaurants; “We’ve been to a Jamaican restaurant and an Ethiopian spot, and those are well attended, even by partners!” said one interviewee.

The firm also has a reciprocal mentoring initiative where a junior from a minority background is paired with a senior person to discuss how they can improve the firm experience.

Pro bono & CSR

Trainees can take on 14 hours of pro bono work, and the firm has a dedicated pro bono team where they can pick up work. The firm is partnered with several charities, including Crisis and Headway.

As part of the 14 hours of pro bono, trainees get up to two volunteering days annually which they can use to contribute to work experience programmes, including careers fairs at local schools.

Qualification

The qualification process begins in trainees’ second year as “the business will be looking at what capacity they have to take on trainees,” an insider explained. Regular catch ups with the early careers team allow trainees to give an indication of which practices they’d like to qualify into.

At the end of their third seat, applicants fill out a form listing their practice preferences. “They’ll interview you if there’s more than one trainee going for the same role,” said a source, and some practices require a written task. Across most of the offices, the majority of trainees were retained.

Legs of Steel…

Every year, trainees take part in the Sheffield 10K to raise money for Crisis charity.