Lex 100 - Thomas Eggar LLP

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Thomas Eggar LLP

The Corn Exchange Baffin's Lane Chichester PO19 1GE

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The trainee verdict

The lowdown (in their own words...)

Why did you choose this firm over any others? 'Outstanding reputation'; 'work/life balance'; 'good reputation'; 'very good reputation across the South East'; 'a wide variety of work'; 'very broad practice base'; 'ability to offer wide-ranging training'; 'offers a real alternative to City firms'

How does your training compare with peers' at other firms? 'High levels of client contact'; 'trainees are given as much responsibility as they want'; 'work/life balance is better'; 'more time allocated for initial training'

Best thing about the firm? 'Everyone is extremely helpful'; 'good levels of responsibility'; 'the business ambition'; 'the training provided'; 'chance to be trained by leaders in their chosen field'; 'range of clients from private client right up to multimillion-pound corporations'; 'open-plan working'; 'very good level of training'; 'the strong emphasis on team working'

Worst thing about the firm? 'The offices all have very different atmospheres'; 'having multiple offices hinders a full social scene'; 'sometimes a lack of internal communication'; 'the different offices are quite spread out'

Best moment? 'Successfully delivering a legal update to clients'; 'attending a mediation'; 'completing a £10m deal and having champagne with the client afterwards'; 'my first piece of lone advocacy'; 'obtaining an attachment of earnings order in favour of my client'

Worst moment? 'Photocopying'; 'trying to organise e-disclosure'; 'lack of encouragement and support at partner level'; 'thinking I had missed a Companies House deadline to register a charge'

The Lex 100 verdict

The firm

Regional heavyweight Thomas Eggar has offices in Crawley, Chichester, Worthing, Newbury, Southampton and London, where it is building an impressive practice. This spread of offices makes the firm one of the best represented across the region. In the private client arena, for sheer size and scope of practice, it would be hard to beat the team here, whilst the corporate finance practice is establishing itself as one of the leading advisers in the South on the back of some high-profile deals. Clients appreciate the firm's 'pragmatic approach'.

The star performers

Agriculture and estates; Aviation; Charities; Commercial litigation; Corporate and commercial; Education; Health and safety; Insolvency and corporate recovery; Intellectual property; Pensions; Personal injury: claimant; Personal tax, trusts and probate; Planning; Rail.

The deals

Advised AIM-listed company Lonrho on a $70m convertible bond issuance; advised Parker Knight Holdings on its sale to Survitec Group; advised Sussex Waste Recycling on a £14m refinancing matter; acted for FRP Advisory in the administration of Cliffgroup; advised on the significant redevelopments of St Wilfrid's Hospice and St Barnabas Hospice.

The clients

Baker Tilly; Barnabas Hospice and Chichester Cathedral; Centrix; Clydesdale Bank; English Provender; Genus Pharmaceuticals; KPMG; Lonrho; PwC; Rebound Technology; SportsDirect; Sussex Waste Recycling; Vanco UK.

The Verdict

With an 'outstanding' reputation in the South East, Thomas Eggar is known for being 'friendly' and providing 'fantastic' training. You will get 'plenty of exposure to real fee-earning' and unlike at some other larger firms there will be no lost weeks spent in the data rooms. You can also expect to be given 'good' feedback from partners and other fee-earners and 'high levels' of client contact. Everybody is 'extremely helpful' and the firm provides an 'excellent' level of care as well as being 'open' about its business ambition. The number of different offices can, at times, 'hinder a full social scene' and 'trying to organise e-disclosure' was a bit of a nightmare for one current trainee. However, there are plenty of great experiences to be had including attending mediations and delivering legal updates to clients as well as plenty of court hearings. Thomas Eggar is also a Lex 100 Winner for firm living up to expectations so you won't be left disappointed by your training experience here. If you are looking for a firm in the South East with a solid reputation, great training and opportunities to work on some top deals then look no further.