Bristol Training Contract 2028 – Energy and Construction

If you are looking to specialise in energy and construction, our non-rotational training contract in Bristol could be the route for you.

Join us in Bristol 

Clyde & Co opened its Bristol office in 2018, to provide dedicated support to clients operating in the insurance and infrastructure sectors in the South West of the UK. Our focus is primarily on providing contentious legal advice to clients. Bristol has long been a key centre for the engineering and energy industries so we are pleased to be able to offer our clients on the ground support as and when it's required.

Our energy & construction team operates as part of Clyde & Co's global group. From our market leading Bristol office, we provide contentious legal advice to national and international clients in the construction sector.  Several of these clients have infrastructure or energy projects underway in the South West, but also across the UK.

Our office's deep sector knowledge and regional location make us a clear choice for clients looking for a combination of quality legal advice and cost efficiency.

What is Energy & Construction?

Energy & Construction at Clyde & Co is a large global team, working with a wide variety of clients.  The team in Bristol are construction specialists.  This means they act for clients within the construction industry, whether during the construction phase of renewable energy projects; in respect of large-scale UK infrastructure projects or defending claims under the rapidly evolving building safety landscape.

The construction industry is one of the UK's major industries, contributing to 7% of the UK's GDP and accounting for around 2 million jobs. It can include the building of renewable energy projects, roads, tunnels, hospitals, houses and datacentres (to name a few). The work that we do supports the legal framework that keeps the wheels of this fundamental industry moving.

No one project is the same and we work on a massive range of projects, from the operation of onshore windfarms in Wales, to the construction of datacentres in West Africa to, and advising clients in respect of ground-breaking offshore windfarms. Projects can be small scale, medium scale or on a grand scale, such as the £23bn Hinckley Point C project in Somerset.

The Energy & Construction group is a friendly welcoming team and would support you throughout your career as a construction lawyer.

What does the job involve? 

As a construction lawyer, you work primarily in the field of contract law. This can be negotiating and drafting construction contracts at the outset of a project, advising clients on managing the contracts throughout a project, and dealing with disputes that may arise at any point.

As a construction lawyer working within the energy & construction team, you would have the opportunity to work on a wide variety of different contentious and non-contentious matters. You could be part of the team working on a High Court case one day or drafting the contracts for a major new deal the next day. Every day is different, and you can shape your career around what interests you.

You will work closely with qualified solicitors in the team and would be supported in your development from day one. Our team has a long history of developing trainees right through to the top, with two of our recent partners having been trained at Clyde & Co themselves.

About the programme

If you have not already started or completed the SQE, we will enrol you and pay for your tuition fees (plus a maintenance grant) for full-time study, ensuring you are ready to start your training contract.

We're proud to be partnering with the University of Law to delivery an exceptional and innovative LLM course incorporating SQE1, SQE2, as well as an SQE Plus programme that has been developed by our lawyers in collaboration with the University, and is bespoke to Clyde & Co. Not only you will be thoroughly prepared for all academic aspects of the SQE, the world-class teaching and exclusive resources will equip you with the fundamental skills and technical savvy essential to succeed as a lawyer at Clyde & Co.

Throughout your studies you will receive comprehensive and personalised support from your dedicated academic tutor, as well as a Trainee Buddy and a Mentor from the firm. We also have a year's programme of social events and engagement days for our Future Trainees, so you can get to know us and each other before your Training Contract begins. Once you have completed the 11 months study, you will join us to undertake your qualifying work experience (QWE) via a two-year training contract.

What we are looking for 

We are looking for those who are interested in energy and construction and committed to a career as a solicitor at Clyde & Co in Bristol as well as the following:

- Achieved an AAB at A-Level or equivalent (mitigating circumstances will be considered)

- Achieved a 2:1 in your undergraduate degree (if a non-law or non-qualifying degree, you will need to have completed the PGDL by August 2027)

If you have not already completed the SQE, Clyde & Co will enrol you onto the relevant courses starting September 2027. Therefore, when applying, law students will need to be in their final year, or have graduated, and non-law students will currently need to be completing their PGDL, ready to start the SQE next September.

What we offer 

We offer a competitive salary and benefits package as trainee solicitor. You will also be entitled to a range of rewards and benefits:

- Private medical

- Pension scheme

- Group income protection

- Maternity and paternity pay

- Holiday purchase

- Season ticket loan

- Cycle to work scheme

- Gym subsidy

We'll make sure you have plenty of support throughout your programme - alongside having support from your dedicated supervisor, University of Law tutor, you will also have regular one to one session with the early careers team and will be allocated a trainee buddy, enabling you to get peer-to-peer support and guidance. You can also look forward to a tailored induction programme and on-going internal training designed to ensure you have the skills, knowledge, and commercial acumen you need to become a well-rounded solicitor.

Recruitment Process 

- Complete an online application

- Online assessment – consisting of a critical reasoning test as well as our Clyde & Co strengths-based assessment, which contains a mix of question types including written and order ranking.

- Video Interview - If you perform well in our initial online assessment, you will then be invited to complete a pre-recorded video interview.

- In-person assessment centre

- Offers and feedback

Reasonable Adjustments 

Please let us know if you need us to make adjustments or changes to the assessment process to help you best demonstrate your suitability for the role. We will do our best to accommodate your request. If you wish to discuss anything regarding the process, please contact Early Careers ([email protected]).

You can find out more about the interview process and examples of adjustments we can put in place via this link A guide to reasonable adjustments, support and accessibility for our assessment process.

Strengths Based Assessment

During our process we are assessing candidates based on the strengths that will deliver success in a role. This is great for the individual, doing work they love, and great for the employer, having team members who love what they do.

For more information, hints and tips please view our careers website.

We recommend attending our Bristol Insight Day before submitting an application, so that you understand the next steps and online assessments. 

You maybe be interested in completing our Firm Essentials virtual programme on Forage before applying to learn more about Clyde & Co and support you during the recruitment process: LINK HERE

We do not recruit on a rolling basis; however, we reserve the right to close applications early if we receive extremely high volumes

The Firm 

Clyde & Co has grown to become a leading global law firm in our core sectors. With a headcount of over 5,000 staff operating from over 70 offices and associated offices across six continents, we offer a comprehensive range of legal services and advice to businesses operating at the heart of global trade and commerce.

From developed to emerging markets, we aim to support our clients by putting the power of our globally integrated firm at their disposal with a range of seamless and efficient services and the very best, commercially minded, legal advice.

This, together with our sector expertise and regional understanding, allows us to help clients identify and manage risk and liability, navigate challenges, harness commercial potential and achieve sustained growth in today's complex and volatile business environment.

We are committed to being a responsible business which means taking responsibility for the impact we have on the environment and seeking to reduce it as much and as quickly as possible. It means taking responsibility for giving back and being a positive contributor to the communities in which we operate. And it means taking responsibility for fostering a truly diverse workforce and an inclusive workplace so that all our people can flourish and fulfil their highest potential, for the benefit of them, the firm and our clients.

Our Values 

Our values are the principles that guide the decisions we make, unite us in our endeavours and strengthen our delivery, for our clients and our firm. We:

- Work as one We are a globally connected team of talented people who act with a firm-first mentality to achieve success

- Excel with clients We aim high and challenge ourselves to deliver unique excellence for our clients, keeping them at the centre of everything we do

- Celebrate difference We help each other to be at our best and believe our differences result in greater achievement

- Act boldly We seek new opportunities, take action and learn as we go, recognising that curiosity drives our development and contributes to growth