Eversheds Summer Vacation Scheme
If you are thinking of applying for the Eversheds Summer Vacation Scheme, then this article is for you. It will provide you with a summary of the scheme as well as my own experience during it.Eversheds is a top international law firm with offices across the world. Our students summer vacation scheme gives you a chance to put into practice everything you’ve learnt during your time here, helping us to answer legal issues for our clients.
Eversheds is the 15th largest UK law firm, with more than 3,000 people working in over 70 legal practices in the UK and international network of offices. Eversheds has an established partnership scheme designed to offer a formal route into the firm for those who have taken time out of education to develop their experience
Our Graduate Development Programme (GDP) offers you a chance to apply your skills in real business settings and develop your career in a highly entrepreneurial environment. Summer Vacation SchemeEversheds LLP is a leading international law firm operating in the United Kingdom and across the world with offices in London, Aberdeen, Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Dar Es Salaam, Johannesburg, Lagos, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester and Southampton.
Eversheds Summer Vacation Scheme
Eversheds blurs the lines between regional, national, and international identities.
Eversheds Sutherland training contract review 2022
The Firm
It’s widely accepted that forgoing the hustle and bustle of London and opting to work in the regions comes with a compromise. Our data shows that on average you won’t work quite as many hours, working cultures have a reputation for being less demanding, and rush hour is generally less hellish (at the very least it doesn’t don’t involve being pressed up against a Tube train window). At the same time, the deals tend to be smaller, the disputes less complex, and the clients less high-profile.
“We’re constantly working with different offices and making connections with colleagues across the world.”
However, Eversheds’ trainees wanted it all, and the idea of compromise wasn’t all too appealing. “I wanted access to global opportunities while remaining regionally located,” one source told us, echoing nearly all our interviewees. And with 63 international offices covering 35 countries worldwide, there’s certainly no shortage of international work on offer at Eversheds Sutherland. “It isn’t as if the word ‘international’ is in their marketing materials because they have merged with a random firm somewhere,” trainees emphasised. “We’re constantly working with different offices and making connections with colleagues across the world.”
In the motherland, Eversheds has 11 offices, all of which take on a handful of trainees with the exception of Ipswich. Many sources were assured of the firm’s reputation in their area. For example, one newbie in the firm’s Leeds office felt “it’s definitely one of the top firms in the area” – it’s actually one of the ‘Big Six’ firms in the city. Their confidence is well placed. The firm has dozens of Chambers UK rankings to its name, covering all the core legal practices, including banking, litigation, corporate/M&A, and real estate – outside London, the firm is considered one of the top national leaders in all of these areas as well as construction,employment,IT, pensions and planning. In the capital specifically, the firm’s lower/mid-market banking and finance work is first-class.
Our insiders were also keen to stress that “most of the work is staffed nationally with a one-team approach,” and so trainees are likely to get to know solicitors up and down the country and perhaps beyond. One trainee in Nottingham told us: “I’ve done work with our colleagues in London, the US, as well as in Asia. We do have some large regional clients, but most of them are not based in Nottinghamshire.”
The Seats
London takes on the most trainees, followed by Birmingham, Manchester, Cardiff and Leeds. Each of these offices is full-service, housing a range of practice areas, while trainees explained that “the smaller offices, such as Cambridge and Nottingham, typically house three main teams.” For that reason, the firm offers trainees the flexibility to go to another office to complete a seat. For example, trainees in Newcastle will typically spend six months in the firm’s Leeds office. Before each rotation, HR releases a list of which seats are available. Trainees then rank their top three preferences.
There’s a separate application process for secondments which requires trainees to submit a CV and undergo an interview. Exactly which secondments are available at each rotation is subject to business needs, but in the past has included placements in the firm’s Hong Kong, Dubai, Paris and Luxembourg offices. The secondments are offered to trainees across the country, not just those in London – a big selling point for this year’s cohort.
Real estate is one of the firm’s biggest departments and is a particular focus of Evershed’s Birmingham office, “occupying two of the seven floors of the office,” One source told us that “I was doing a lot of the project work for some of the firm’s big household clients, helping to help manage multiple leases on various units.” Typical of a real estate seat, trainees here enjoyed “an awful lot of autonomy.” As one source told us: “I was getting the initial record of instruction from clients, drafting key documents, getting titles of deed to the Land Registry, and flagging anything of concern to the client.” In the Midlands, the team recently acted for Homes England on a land acquisition and collaboration agreement with CWC Group for the delivery of an £800 million developmental scheme. In Manchester, the team acted for Airport City in respect to the development of office and hotel developments worth over £600 million.
Commercial disputes is broad at Eversheds, housing “everything except the specialist areas such as construction and real estate disputes,” sources explained. “For example, you might be working on a contract that has gone wrong with a manufacturer, a dispute between governmental departments, or a big product liability case concerning a defective product.” Recently the London team headed up the firm’s representation of Malaysia’s Minister of Finance and 1Malaysia Development Board, in the high-profile ‘1MDB Scandal’ whereby the country’s former Prime Minister stands accused of channelling hundreds of millions of public funds into their personal bank account. Not all the disputes are so headline-grabbing, but there’s certainly no shortage of complex, high-profile work. For example, in Cardiff, the firm recently defended Network Rail against Alston, which challenged the procurement process of a signalling framework contract valued at £1.8 billion. Trainees here did everything from preparing court bundles and taking witness statements to drafting submissions and conducting research.
Each office has a slightly different corporate specialism. However, trainees can expect to handle a mix of M&A, capital markets, private equity, and energy transactions. “There’s lots of international work,” sources reiterated. As one newbie told us: “Recently, I was working closely with US colleagues for a large company on a deal that was split across 14 different jurisdictions.” In fact, many of our interviewees spent a fair bit of time “liaising and getting advice on issues from foreign counsel.” Trainees also reported plenty of opportunities to draft documents, review non-disclosure, and help manage the administrative side of projects. In Leeds, the team recently represented Inflexion on its £27 million acquisition of Goals Soccer Centres, while those in the capital advised international coach and bus manufacturer NFI Group Inc on its £320 million acquisition of UK-based company Alexander Dennis.
“By the end of the seat, I was interacting with clients on a daily basis.”
London is the centre of the firm’s banking and finance department, which mainly focuses on mid-market transactions. However, the firm also has sizeable teams in Leeds, Manchester, and Birmingham. Recently, Eversheds acted for Augusta Ventures (a company that funds claimants in litigation) in its £93 million new capital raise; advised telecommunications company Daisy Group in relation to its reorganisation, refinancing and investment by Ares Management; and acted for telecommunications giant Zen Internet in its £20 million refinancing with NatWest Bank. “The work varies quite a bit, so you are able to get stuck into lots of different types of deals,” one source explained, adding that “I was given the opportunity to manage my own transactions as I became more confident and experienced. By the end of the seat, I was interacting with clients on a daily basis, and was given the opportunity to draft finance and security documents.”
“… running a big dragon boat race each year.”
A seat in commercial similarly offers a great diversity of work. “In Birmingham, we’ve got rail, data protection and IT teams and an IP team that covers artificial intelligence – as a trainee you’re free to work across those areas.” Those in Leeds highlighted opportunities “to work on large commercial projects relating to public bodies and government ministries.” Trainees here cut their teeth drafting agreements, dealing with freedom of information requests, and writing briefing notes. Recently, the firm acted for a consortium of six leaders in the agricultural commodities industry to help form a first-of-a-kind blockchain platform to manage the post-trade execution of agricultural commodities. It also advised The West Midlands Combined Authority on its procurement of a new tram fleet to meet the anticipated tripling in size of the West Midlands Metro tram network over the next decade.
Trainee Life
Pro bono opportunities are available to trainees across the country but are not as robust as those offered by larger City outfits and US firms, the consensus being that “pro bono and CSR work is generally encouraged but requires your initiative to seek them out.” We heard there are opportunities to work with the Amicus project, which reviews death row cases and abolish the death penalty. Each office also supports its own charity. For example, in Leeds the firm supports Martin House, a children’s hospice. As part of the fundraising, first-year trainees are tasked with “runninga big dragon boat race each year.”
In the firm’s second largest office, Birmingham trainees felt that “our office has a similar feel to the London office,” while those in smaller offices such as Newcastle and Nottingham commented that “there’s only around 100 people so everyone is very close.” However, across all the offices, sources observed some clear overarching cultural qualities. “Partners are never rude or condescending,” one trainee said, and another added that “they take the time to explain things to you. For example, one partner in the pensions team recently took 40 minutes to explain the background of a case for a 10-minute task – it’s invaluable training.”
Social scenes across the firm’s offices are muted while working from home remains the norm. However, sources pointed out that “the firm is making sure we are taking the time to chat in a more informal way outside of work through an app called Open House.” One newbie also highlighted the efforts of the ‘Trainee Talk’ group, which “aims to unite trainees throughout the country with photo competitions and virtual socials.” Trainees can expect some more lively socials when they do return to the office. “At the summer party, many of the lawyers stayed out until 5am! It is safe to say that people are up for having fun and relaxing when they can.” In the post-pandemic era, we were told that the firm expects people to spend two to three days in the office each week.
Experiences of working long hours varied by seat and office. In London, trainees reported working an average of 48.5 hours in a given week – that’s below many of the other outfits in the city, where trainees are often working more than 50 hours. Trainees outside the capital worked fewer hours, generally speaking, although we did hear stories from some of “bad weeks where you might have three days of finishing at 11pm.” Those who had experienced particularly gruelling periods reflected that “sometimes it feels that you have to be available at all times,” which led to some telling us: “The balance between compensation[which the firm does not disclose] and hours has been lost.” As a consequence, one insider observed that “there has been a trend of trainees trying to qualify into London where the pay is higher,” something we have observed in other regional outfits too.
“The culture is not to work until 1am for the sake of it.”
We should stress that this certainly wasn’t universal, as some pointed out that “the firm has stressed you shouldn’t pick up work if you are busy, and they’ve made it a point that you shouldn’t be ‘on’ 100% of the time. The culture is not to work until 1am for the sake of it.” We heard similar feedback on the subject of mental health support, the consensus being that “the firm has taken huge leaps in the last year to address mental health concerns.” However, the efforts hadn’t reached the entire cohort, as some insiders told us that it was a topic “that’s rarely talked about.”
On the approach to qualification, the firm usually releases a list of available NQ positions around Easter; second-years apply with a CV, cover letter and all performance reviews submitted by each of their supervisors. It’s then up to each team to choose if it wants to interview candidates for jobs. Trainees are free to apply to positions in any one of the firm’s offices and for as many roles they would like. This year, the firm kept on 45 of 50 of its qualifying trainees.