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Norton Rose LLP 
3 More London Riverside London SE1 2AQ
Lex 100 winner
Favoured by 9 users (Register to add this entry to your favourites)

The trainee verdict

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The lowdown (in their own words...)


Why did you choose this firm over any others? 'Friendly people, work hard/play hard attitude'; 'friendly/more enjoyable vac scheme'; 'six-seat system, international opportunities'; 'I thought it would be a nice place to work, having decent-sized deals and clients'; 'reputation, people, clients, six-seat system'; 'positive experience at interview'; 'top quality work'; 'ambitious'

How does your training compare with peers' at other firms? 'Better hours, better quality of work'; 'greater focus on marketing and business development here'; 'the people at the firm are much friendlier than the associates/partners of my peers'; 'similar'; 'would appear we have greater support systems, as well as a better work/life balance'; 'more flexible'

Best thing about the firm? 'The people, and the attitude that the firm has towards its employees'; 'the other trainees. Lunch with the trainees. Drinks with the trainees'; 'the practice has a fantastic culture and brilliant people, from the partners to floor support'; 'the offices'; 'clever but not arrogant people'; 'flexibility and support'; 'collegiate environment' 

Worst thing about the firm? 'Management of trainees varies across the teams'; 'would like more client contact'; 'unpredictable hours'; 'choice of snacks'; 'London Bridge is rubbish for shopping!'; 'in some departments, we may not do enough to grow and attract clients'; 'price of food'

Best moment? 'Closing a deal in Toulouse on my own having been at the firm for just six weeks'; 'acting opposite a three year PQE at another firm and having to explain the transaction to them'; 'spending four months in Athens'; 'being sent abroad for a ship delivery and being given a lot of responsibility'; 'receiving praise for some work from the senior partner in my team'

Worst moment? 'Having to manually compare two very similar loan agreements word for word'; 'my first seat in a team that was very male-dominated and not very welcoming'; 'working 93 hours in one week'; 'witnessing thousands of documents at 4am'; 'being told by an associate that I should take on more responsibility and then consistently being given scanning and photocopying by the same associate'



The Lex 100 verdict

The firm

From its impressive offices overlooking Tower Bridge and the Tower of London, Norton Rose's strategic focus remains on five core areas: transport; financial services; technology; energy and corporate finance. It has strength in asset and Islamic finance with an office in Saudi Arabia and a licence to work in Abu Dhabi. Peter Martyr was named managing partner of the year at the 2009 Legal Business awards.


The star performers

Top-ranking departments according to The Legal 500*Asset finance and leasing; Aviation; Commercial litigation; Corporate tax; Electricity, nuclear and renewables; Financial services; Flotations; Insurance; Islamic finance; Mergers and acquisitions; Planning; Private finance initiative (PFI); Project finance; Rail.

The deals

Advising Carlsberg on its £10bn consortium bid for Scottish & Newcastle; advising Citigroup Global markets as arranger of the $20bn Oasis Certificate programme; advising Travelers on the disposal of its insurance business to Enstar; advising JBIC on a $760m drillship project financing, as well as acting on the establishment of Nautilus Holdings Limited, a joint venture investment vehicle.

The clients

Alitalia; Barclays; BNP Paribas (Suisse); Carlsberg; HSBC Rail; KLM; Lukoil; Nestlé; RBS; Standard Bank; Teknik; Trinity Mirror.

The money

(from Legal Business magazine)

Turnover in 2008: £323m (+17% from 2007) Profits per equity partner: £625,000 (+21%)

Highly commended teams: Corporate; Insurance and Structured finance/debt capital markets and law firm of the year.Winner: Management partner of the year (Peter Martyr).


The Lex 100 verdict

'The people, the people, the people'. Time and again this was the answer to both 'why did you choose this firm?' and 'what is the best thing about your firm?' 'The people here are nicer than anywhere else', 'friendly people', 'brilliant people', 'clever but not arrogant people' - clearly if you're a people person and great colleagues are important to you, then you've found the right place. There is much praise for other aspects of the firm too - 'good international network and opportunities', 'variety of work and six-seat system', 'commitment to pro bono work', 'good sports and social life' and 'reasonable working hours' to name just a few. Trainees also praise the flexibility of the firm, commenting that 'it does its utmost to accommodate employees' needs and opinions'. There are good support systems in place and generally a very good working atmosphere, combining friendliness with professionalism. It is a shame that experiences of the canteen do not live up to the quality of the people and the rest of the firm - according to some 'the standard of food has gone down', the choice is not great and the prices are still too high. And though the new building is impressive, with good views, it's not exactly a shopper's paradise. None of this should affect your work though and it's heartening that there were no real complaints about the standard of work or training (although some would like more client contact and others would like their firm to promote itself better). Norton Rose is, however, a Lex 100 Winner in the 'confident of being kept on' category, indicating good levels of optimism among trainees. Still a great place to choose for a top quality training contract, especially if you're looking for an international dimension.

A day in the life of.....

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About the firm

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