Addleshaw Goddard

Addleshaw Goddard is a national corporate law firm with almost 750 lawyers, based in London, Leeds and Manchester.

Addleshaw Goddard's aim is to be the automatic first choice for legal advice. We are ranked very highly in terms of numbers of FTSE 100 clients – 7th in the Chambers UK 2010 FTSE 100 Survey. This is our target client base, along with equivalent sized unlisted organisations and bold and ambitious upcoming firms. The cultural heart of our firm is driven by a passion for delivering the highest quality of advice and services, setting standards that are valued by clients and admired by competitors. We are committed to providing the support our people need to achieve these goals in terms of both resources and development.

So what does all this mean for you? It means you will be exposed to interesting, high-profile clients and doing the kind of work that makes headlines. The firm is structured around four core divisions – Contentious & Commercial, Corporate, Finance & Projects and Real Estate – which work together to provide bespoke solutions and in turn create sustainable value for our clients. Wherever you work within Addleshaw Goddard you will be exposed to cutting edge work with clients at the top of their field. Our three offices in London, Leeds and Manchester and our four divisions work together as one business, so wherever you’re based, you’ll enjoy the same excellent opportunities.

Projects range from multi-million pound deals and major corporate restructurings to dawn raids, high profile defamation cases, employment disputes and landmark construction projects. "Our thirst for innovation and fresh thinking separates us from other law firms. It also makes us a natural home for anyone eager to learn, grow quickly and experience the kind of variety and excitement that can define a career in law. We offer an enjoyable working culture and believe that helping people to achieve a productive balance in their lives is of paramount importance. We place a strong emphasis on our corporate social responsibilities and value business acumen as highly as legal skills. The quality of our training is highly regarded across the legal sector, and our client list is uniquely diverse. We are committed to developing and retaining talented individuals and in September 2010 we were delighted to retain 86 per cent of our qualifying trainee solicitors. Good luck with your future career choices and we look forward to meeting you soon." Andrew BlowerTraining Principal and Partner in the Real Estate Group
From induction to qualification, your bespoke training programme is designed to give you the opportunity to experience a broad range of commercial and corporate work, and to do so in depth. Working as a key member of our team, you will develop the professional skills necessary to deal with the demanding and challenging work we carry out for our clients.

During each six-month seat you will have regular performance reviews with your partner or associate supervisor. This is a genuine two-way process and we encourage you to give us constructive suggestions for the continuous development of the programme. Your on-the-job training is completed by a series of high-quality training courses provided by our in-house team and external experts.

On qualification, you will be invited to attend our NQ Foundation for Excellence course. This is a comprehensive training programme, which will further develop your business knowledge skills, increase your understanding of law firm economics and the commercial environment in which our clients operate. It will also provide you with the essential legal training you will need before you start in your new technical area. As a firm, we have a strong commitment to our Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR).

One of our projects has been to offer all of our new graduates the opportunity to spend a week in Romania working on a community based house building project. We will be working with a charity called Habitat for Humanity and hope that this project will enable the trainees to make an active contribution to the community whilst also helping to engender a great team working spirit with fellow trainees.

We believe that today's trainees are the future of our business and we will invest in you accordingly. That's why we work closely with you throughout your training contract and why we give you work that is motivating and challenging.
We welcome applications from graduates and undergraduates from a broad range of backgrounds and degree disciplines. You will need a minimum of 3 Bs at A level (or their equivalent), excluding General Studies, and must have gained, or be expected to gain, a 2.1 or higher degree classification. The personal qualities and experience we are looking for We’re also looking for more than a good academic track record.

Desirable qualities and experience include: Work Experience - This need not be legal work experience, but some commercial exposure may help your application. We are looking for people who are motivated by the prospect of working in a business environment Commerciality - In essence, what we are looking for are people who appreciate that we are business advisors, not just legal advisors. We encourage you to improve your commercial awareness by taking an interest in current affairs, reading the trade press and researching topical issues which affect the legal sector and our clients

Extra curricular activity – It goes without saying that we encourage you to achieve a healthy balance between work and academics, and a range of activities outside of work, such as music, sport and culture may help your application

Research into the role of solicitors/the legal profession – You will need to demonstrate a strong career focus and be able to convince us that you have made an informed choice when deciding to apply to Addleshaw Goddard Team working – We are looking for people with a range of backgrounds and prior experience who can fit well into a team, and can adapt to a variety of situations.