Bircham Dyson Bell

Address: 50 Broadway, London, SW1H 0BL

Web: www.bdb-law.co.uk

Email: graduate@bdb-law.co.uk

 

Survey results

The lowdown (in their own words...)

The verdict

With ‘unique departments’ and a ‘welcoming culture’, it’s no surprise Bircham Dyson Bell is much loved by its trainees. New recruits praised the ‘friendliness’ and ‘commitment to equality and diversity’ and the firm has earned three Lex 100 Winner medals. Trainees are ‘involved in real work’ meaning they have ‘responsibility and client contact’. They are ‘given autonomy on a day-to-day basis and feel trusted’. Whilst new recruits are given ‘good-quality work’ and responsibility, that’s not to say they’re working all hours of the day; on the contrary, trainees at the firm enjoy a good work/life balance, their ‘hours much better than those at Magic Circle, corporate firms (as would be expected)’. Some recruits voiced concern over the firm’s ‘lack of recognisable branding’ which means the ‘awareness of the firm by non-lawyers’ was felt to be low. Other issues related to the ‘limited number of support staff’ and corresponding ‘ad-hoc tasks trainees have to do such as taking minutes of internal meetings’. ‘Being told off in front of others’, ‘sitting without work’ and ‘answering the phone to an angry client’ were also grievances aired by trainees, however, they experienced many positive moments such as ‘winning a tender in my first seat and bringing in nearly £40k worth of work’. Also momentous was when one trainee ‘conducted advocacy for an application for a charging order in court’. The firm offers client secondments which trainees described as a ‘fantastic opportunity’, saying they ‘gained insight into life as an in-house lawyer’. If you’d like to be part of a ‘smaller size’ intake and carry out work for government departments and charities, Bircham Dyson Bell is a great option.

 A day in the life of...

Ben Godfrey  trainee, Bircham Dyson Bell  

Departments to date:  Private wealth, real estate

9.15am:  I arrive at the office to find a voicemail from the director of a British Virgin Islands (BVI) company. The company owns a long lease of a flat in central London. There has been a mistake at the Land Registry in the registration of the ownership of the property, and we have been trying to rectify it so that the client can sell the flat. I phone the client back straight away to update them, explaining that the next step is to contact their landlord to enlist their help.

9.30am:  I dictate a quick letter to the landlord of our client. I then catch up on emails that have arrived since yesterday. This week is the firm’s annual rowing regatta, and I am organising a crew for the trainees v partners race. I email my fellow team members to ensure we are ready for practice this evening.

10.00am:  I am running a file negotiating a wayleave agreement and licence for alterations for a landlord client. The tenant of their property is a car showroom which is upgrading its telecoms equipment, but this will involve a telecoms operator installing apparatus at the premises. I review the latest amendments to the documents sent by the other side. I annotate the documents, ready to discuss with the supervising partner later.

10.50am:  I am interrupted by a phone call from one of our senior associates from the Cambridge office who has an urgent task – I am to print engrossments of a development agreement and take them immediately to Kensington to get them signed by a company director who is leaving the country at lunchtime and won’t be available to sign thereafter. I liaise with our print room to produce the documents and travel over to Kensington to meet the client. I catch them with 30 minutes to spare.

12.30pm:  Back in the office, the letter I dictated earlier is typed, and I edit it and take it to the supervising partner. He makes a few minor amendments, which I incorporate into a final version and send off to our client’s landlord.

1.00pm:  I head to nearby St James’s Park where I have lunch and unwind within sight of Buckingham Palace. It is a glorious July day.

2.00pm:  I am to give a presentation at the forthcoming department knowledge sharing session. I discuss with our PSL potential topics to present on, and we decide that I will update the team on a recent government consultation on ‘Overcoming barriers to longer tenancies in the private residential sector’. I print off the consultation paper from the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government website and read through it, noting the salient points that I wish to highlight to the department at next week’s presentation. I begin to outline the structure of my presentation.

3.30pm:  I have been part of a team working on a £12m refinance of a portfolio of Islington properties. The refinance completed last week, involving redeeming an existing loan, transferring several freehold and leasehold properties, and charging the properties to a new lender. Now I am attending to the post-completion registration of these transactions. I had liaised with the lender’s solicitor (a large city firm) prior to completion to draft the registration applications in a form acceptable to the lender. Now I collate everything and upload our applications to the Land Registry.

4.50pm:  My supervisor requests my assistance. She has been working on the surrender and re-grant of a lease to our (tenant) client. Since our client paid stamp duty land tax (SDLT) on the original lease, she wants to look into the availability of ‘overlap relief’ upon the grant of the new lease, so that our client avoids having to pay SDLT twice. I delve into the HMRC SDLT manual to research the point, and also find out the reporting requirements. I report back and my supervisor asks me to draft an SDLT return tomorrow for client approval.

5.40pm:  I shut down my computer and gather together my rowing crew mates. We head down to Fulham for an evening of rowing practice on the Thames, ahead of Friday’s race.