Withers
- London
- Cambridge
Private client prowess with-er healthy dose of international work, Withers “goes beyond what some may understand private client to be…”
Withers training contract review 2026
About the firm
- 25
- Trainees
- 131
- Associates
- 84
- Partners
- 14
- Overseas Offices
Life is full of surprise pairings, from pineapple on pizza to Drake’s appearance in Ice Age: Continental Drift (yep, surprised us too). While not quite as unexpected, you probably wouldn’t immediately connect the dots between private client and international work when considering a legal career. Yet Withers integrates the two seamlessly: “I was particularly interested in the international side of the private client work,” one trainee told us, “And that’s what made the firm stand out a bit more from some of the smaller firms which don’t have international offices.”
As the firm’s training principal Natasha Stourton puts it: “We are a global private client firm, but the focus is really on the individual and providing a full service for that individual.” That service, Stourton adds, “goes beyond what some may understand private client to be, in that we also act for companies, financial institutions, charities and governments, but we are addressing their legal needs from that individual focus point.”
“…that’s what made the firm stand out a bit more from some of the smaller firms which don’t have international offices.”
Private client is undoubtedly where the firm’s reputation lies, with top Chambers UK ranked practices in charities and legacy disputes nationwide, along with agriculture & rural affairs and family/matrimonial finance in London. Chambers High Net Worth also categorises the firm as the crème de la crème for its private wealth disputes, private wealth law, and high value residential real estate work. The firm’s international presence is bolstered by a further 14 offices across Asia, Europe and North America.
Training Contract Structure
- 4x6
- Seat Structure
When it comes to seat allocation, trainees provide a ranking for all teams before each rotation and can provide a short rationale where “you can say things like ‘I really enjoyed the module on the LPC’, or ‘I’m drawn to the personal element’, or something to that effect.” While they were aware that there was a lot of work behind-the-scenes with balancing trainee preferences and business need, sources felt assured that “the firm makes the best effort they can to try and accommodate us as much as possible.”
The firm also have a corporate secondment regularly available in Milan, and interviewees were excited to share that “the clients you work with are very, very cool, and people have loved it. People have been saying: ‘you have to go!’”
Seat Experiences
“There’s always loads of work available in private client because it’s the backbone of the firm.”
As you might expect, Withers’ private client & tax team is the biggest at the firm and proved a popular destination for trainees looking for exposure to the kind of work that had drawn them to the firm. As one told us, “There’s always loads of work available in private client because it’s the backbone of the firm.” Work in the department tends to revolve around the likes of wealth structuring, cross border tax and planning. At the trainee level, this means work “drafting wills and trusts, tax planning, and writing advice papers and research notes.”
Applying that to a real scenario, “say a client splits their time between the UK and another jurisdiction, they’ll want to know what the implications for their UK tax obligations will be, especially with the huge changes to the non-dom rules recently.” One trainee explained that the seat was “a really good blend of technical and personal work. When it comes to tax status or how to mitigate tax, it’s really technical, but it comes against a backdrop of: what does this person want? What’s their relationship with their family? Transferring wealth between generations involves a lot of examination of family relationships.”
The family seat was another that was sought-after by trainees looking for a personal element to their work, as the practice covers legal work relating to divorces, prenups, children and surrogacy, among other family-related topics. Trainee responsibilities in the seat were described as a little more administrative than those available in other teams, but that wasn’t unexpected: “You do get warned before you join family that the trainee role is a little admin-based, mostly because the work is quite hierarchical and you’re doing tasks in the background to get the knowledge that way.”
“Day-to-day, one of the main things is bundling counsel papers or court papers,” one interviewee recalled, “and that can be a bit fiddly and frustrating, but it’s a good way to wrap your head around the case.” Another source was impressed that they’d regularly been able to attend court with the team: “It’s a great seat for going to court and seeing how it’s done. I got to witness cross-examinations, which was really, really exciting!”
“The work’s really interesting, it’s very personal, which is exactly what I came to Withers to do.”
A practice with plenty of crossover is trusts, estates & inheritance disputes (TEID). As you may have guessed from its name, the group’s work relates to wills and the issues that arise from disputes about them. “The work’s really interesting,” one trainee told us, “It’s very personal, which is exactly what I came to Withers to do. It feels like you’re helping people with their problems.” Another source told us that that work had a degree of excitement to it because “you’re working with the people at the forefront of this area of law, and people at the top of their game doing the real big-ticket pieces of litigation in that area.”
Trainees were happy with the responsibilities they’d been given and whilst there could be “quite a lot of bundling and compiling correspondence clips,” they had also been given the chance to “go down rabbit holes learning about some fairly niche bits of law. Often a lot of the work is offshore, so you’re digging into research about different jurisdictions like the Channel Islands, Bahamas or Cook Islands.”
The firm’s real estate work is split between several sub-departments, which between them cover commercial, private property, as well as construction and real estate disputes. Those with experience in the private property team told us that “you’re working on matters relating to some of the most wonderful properties and estates in the country. The distinguishing thing about rural property compared to the other real estate seats is that there’s a lot of looking through hard copy deeds, so it all feels quite 20th century and a bit old-fashioned, which I really enjoy!”
On the commercial side of things, “I spend a good amount of time just me and a partner on a transaction, so I’m getting to do the first turns of each document, liaising directly with the other side, the surveyors, and the client.” If this area of law might usually pass you by, it could be worth listening to the advice of one trainee: “Commercial real estate is quite often overlooked as a seat, but it really shouldn’t be! It’s an underrated seat with a great team. It’s really interesting, and you get to do good work with cool people.”
Corporate work at Withers covers a full range of traditional M&A and banking work, but you’d be mistaken to think that the firm’s private wealth expertise goes unused: “What the team does do well is that it handles that corporate or commercial spin to all of the private wealth elements that the firm is so focused on,” explained a trainee, “it’s a very different experience to one you might get at another corporate/commercial firm, because you’re dealing with people and their interests.”
Another agreed that whilst they’d been involved in some traditional M&A work, “there’s quite a lot of advisory work and that’s really enjoyable because you’re looking at nuanced and complex pieces of law, dealing with international aspects and liaising with foreign counsel.” Typical trainee tasks included “due diligence, reviewing company documents, and conducting legal research into various provisions like the Financial Services and Markets Act, and how that applies cross-jurisdictionally.”
Trainee Life
The general consensus among the current cohort was that the culture of the firm was one of the selling points: “All the way from paralegals up to partners, I don’t feel afraid to ask questions,” one trainee told us, “and the trainee cohort doesn’t feel super competitive, people are very willing to help each other out.” Trainees also flagged that Withers was “perhaps more varied that most firms. I don’t think there are many firms in the city that have both a rural real estate practice and also a banking & finance practice.” What this meant was that “there’s a really nice mix, and as a trainee that’s a great thing because you can find your people.”
There’s plenty of opportunity to socialise across the firm too, with regular sports tournaments in the summer, welcome drinks in departments, and events organised by the firm’s trainee club for the cohort.
We heard that with an international outlook and office network comes a “diverse and international culture.” A trainee involved in one of Withers’ affinity groups relayed that “they’ve given us a lot of funding to do events, and we have spaces to meet up.” Sources also shared that the firm have been working to improve social mobility, “and it’s one of the only firms that has nearly 50% female partners, which is super rare!”
Supervisors, trainees told us, are “very much there to support you, to answer questions, and to provide background knowledge on anything.” This support was added to via the trainee buddy newbies are assigned, and the partner mentor they have throughout their training contract to help with more big-picture questions and development. Insiders also told us they were given regular training, focused at the beginning of each seat: “Every seat I’ve been in has had a rigorous training program, mostly front-loaded at the start of the seat because you’re expected not to know anything about practicing that area of law.”
As Stourton tells us, “There’s a lot of support and knowledge training for the trainees because there’s a lot expected of them. They’ll be client-facing from day one, so for a litigation seat, going to client meetings, attending meetings with counsel, going to court, or drafting correspondence to the client or to the other side.”
“…it’s right opposite the Old Bailey, which is really cool. It feels like you’re in the buzz of the city.”
The firm’s expectations for office attendance vary from team to team, but trainees were generally happy to be in, telling us that “the location is great, and it’s right opposite the Old Bailey, which is really cool. It feels like you’re in the buzz of the city.” Sources were also impressed by the perks of the office, as they took advantage of “free barista coffee every day,” and food from ‘The Hub’: “The food there is really good, there’s a soup and sandwich station and you can get a really big bowl of noodles for £2.50, so you can get some really good deals there.”
When it came to working hours, trainees told us that the usual was 9.30am to 7pm in most seats: “I did have busier days when it was longer than a 9-5, but then there are also days you can log off pretty promptly, and across the firm everyone has this work-life balance mentality, which is really nice.” Trainees felt they had autonomy there too, as “the firm cares more that you’re not late with anything. I’ve been feeling no expectation to stay late or arrive early.”
Trainees felt well compensated for the work they were doing: “The pay is relatively high, and we have good working hours and balance that with everything else.”
Qualification
We heard that the firm’s qualification process is relatively transparent as “people are fairly open to talk about it if asked.”
Trainees approaching qualification submit an early indication of their preferences, followed by a CV for the teams they’re interested in qualifying into. Trainees can submit up to three preferences, and the process then varies from team to team: “Last year some teams required written tests, some interviews, and some presentations – it just depends on the team.” In 2025, the firm retained 10 of 14 trainees.
- 64.3%
- Trainees Retention
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Top Figures
- £47,000
- 1st Year Salary
- £52,000
- 2nd Year Salary
- £95,000
- Newly Qualified Salary
- 12
- Training Contract Vacancies
- 28th Feb 2026
- Application Closing Date
- N/A
- Apprenticeship
