Fladgate

Fladgate is a nimble 107 partner law firm known for its ability to work on fast moving, complex challenges requiring enterprising and commercial solutions.

Fladgate has a broad skills base that covers a wide spectrum of legal services across the business lifecycle and shaped to operate collaboratively to move fast and flexibly:

• Dispute resolution: which includes regulatory, corporate governance and investigations, banking and financial services litigation, international commercial arbitration, insurance, contentious trusts and family, civil fraud and asset protection
• Corporate: including private capital, capital markets, M&A, tax, restructuring and employment
• Real estate: including planning, construction, real estate finance and real estate litigation.
• Funds, finance and regulatory: including investment funds, private equity, fund managers, asset and investment managers, promoters, sponsors and investors.

In addition to advising a substantial UK-based client base, the firm provides a proactive and efficient service for clients with international business through specialist groups which serve continental Europe, India, Israel, South Africa, the Middle East, Russia/CIS, US, Canada and the Asia Pacific region. Operating from London and comprising multilingual and multi-qualified lawyers, these groups facilitate cross-border activities for a diverse range of companies. The firm is a member of the International Lawyers Network, a worldwide non-exclusive association of high-quality full-service law firms based in 67 countries.

Opportunities

Fladgate hire a cohort of 10-12 trainees and a cohort of 4-6 apprentices.

We hire our trainees solely through our vacation scheme, which is a week-long programme of departmental exercises, presentations, and social events to give students the opportunity to see if Fladgate is right for them. Trainees then go on to undertake a two-year training contract, rotating seats six times, every four months.

The launch of our solicitor apprenticeship scheme saw our first solicitor apprentices join us in September 2022. In the first two years, apprentices will work at an administrator level in one of our core fee-earning departments, before progressing to paralegal level in years three and four. In the final two years of the scheme, apprentices will join the trainees on a training contract. Apprentices have one day per week as a study day, to work towards their LLB and SQE with the University of Law. Please note applications for our next solicitor apprenticeship intake open in September 2025.

Salary

Trainees

• 1st year: £48,000

Apprentices

• 1st year: £25,000
• 5th and 6th year: £48,000 and £50,000 - In line with trainees

Post qualified

• £88,000

Inclusion & Diversity

At Fladgate we run our business in ways that promote equality of opportunity and respect for diversity. Ours is a business that thrives on bringing together people with different perspectives to address our clients’ challenges, so we value and encourage diversity, both internally and externally. Furthermore, the firm recognises the importance of the health and wellbeing of all our people and that it can play a part in promoting an environment which allows everyone to flourish and reach their full potential.

Promoting diversity and inclusion is a key element of our commitment to being a great place to work, enabling us to attract and retain the best talent, and we take our responsibility to this seriously. We will continue to strive for a diverse workforce and an inclusive culture, where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.

Our strategy is led by the Director of People and Culture on behalf of the Executive Board, who works closely with our Partner Lead for I&D and Senior Culture and Inclusion Manager. We also have employee and partner led networks across the firm who support and inform our inclusive culture at Fladgate. We are also proud to partner with a number of organisations working hard to improve access to the legal sector.

This includes the PRIME commitment, which aims to provide fair access to meaningful work experience within the legal sector for school-age students who may not otherwise have the opportunity. Following our work experience programme, we are proud to have seen these students filter through our graduate and apprentice pipeline.

We ensure equity within our recruitment processes and monitor the data to ensure that we are reaching a diverse range of candidates. We use RealRating when reviewing our trainee and apprentice applications. This is a feature developed by UpReach, a social mobility charity, to help us to understand academic performance in the context of factors such as type of school attended and background.

We also uphold a strong commitment to corporate social responsibility, dedicating fundraising to two nominated charities per calendar year.

Benefits

We reward our staff for their continued commitment to the success of this firm with a comprehensive range of benefits.

On joining

• Life assurance scheme – 5x annual salary (non-contributory)
• Annual holiday entitlement – 26 days per calendar year (full time)
• Flexible holiday scheme - buy up to five days extra holiday per annum
• New business bonus - calculated as a percentage of work introduced
• Staff introduction bonus - £1,000- 5,000 depending on vacant role
• Personal training/yoga – free weekly sessions
• Free online GP service - 24/7 online video GP consultations

After two months

• Group personal pension plan - 4%-5% employer contributions, matching employee contributions of 4% -5% (automatically enrolled). Processed via salary sacrifice 50% of employer NI savings added to contribution

After three months

• Company sick pay scheme
• Group income protection
• Season ticket loan
• Private Dental Plan – payable through monthly payroll
• Gym membership scheme – interest free gym membership loan
• Eye test vouchers – every two years

After six months’ service and end of probationary period

• Private medical scheme insurance medical insurance scheme (non-contributory)

Flexible working

At Fladgate, we recognise the importance of an agile approach, not only in the way we work with our clients, but our employees also. Flexible working allows our people to cut down their commute time (and cost!), organise their own day and ultimately have an improved work / life balance, all of which contributes to an improved experience as well as better wellbeing and engagement.

Flexible working at Fladgate varies depending on your role and responsibilities. As a rule, for those who can work from home and have roles compatible with home working, we are operating a hybrid pattern of working in the office and at home. This is subject to change as the role necessitates and not a contractually binding agreement (unless stated otherwise).

Further clarification of this policy will be provided during the recruitment process.

Wellbeing

The firm recognises the importance of the health and wellbeing of all our people and that it can play a part in promoting an environment which allows everyone to flourish and reach their full potential.

As part of our programme we offer a range of benefits to staff and provide regular updates and seminars on health and wellbeing. Furthermore, the firm has run various physical and mental health seminars, led by internal champions and external experts such as Nutrable, Mind and LawCare, encouraging staff to feel comfortable to bring their whole selves to work. As part of our commitment to employee wellbeing, we also offer a wellbeing information session guiding our trainees and apprentices on ways to manage their wellbeing and how to access the resources we have available. We were delighted to be win the "Best Health and Wellbeing Initiative" entry at the People in Law 2020 Awards, recognising our efforts and commitment to encouraging and support the wellbeing of our people.

Our wellbeing programme consists of four key pillars: physical health, mental health, financial health and social & CSR:

Physical Health

• Bupa private medical insurance (optional benefit to join after six months’ service)
• Eye test vouchers
• Optional dental insurance
• Flu jabs
• Weekly personal (group) training sessions
• Gym and sports club loans and cycle to work scheme
• Various sports teams and groups across the firm

Mental Health

• Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), available 24/7 and 365 days a year
• Counselling sessions available via the EAP where needed
• Annual holiday entitlement and flexible holiday scheme, and the opportunity to buy up to an additional two weeks’ holiday
• Resilience and stress management training
• Mental health awareness talks and training sessions

Financial Health

• Group personal pension and group income protection scheme
• Life assurance (5x salary) scheme
• Season ticket loans
• Fee-earner bonus scheme
• Client introduction bonus scheme
• Recruitment bonus
• Marriage / civil partnership gift
• Financial management workshops inc. mortgage and pension management

Social & CSR

• Sports and social events, organised by our Sports & Social Committee throughout the year inc. summer and winter parties, bowling nights and quizzes
• CSR committee and fundraising activities
• Flexible working policy
• Loyalty holiday bonus, rewarding long service
• PRIME work experience opportunities