The Underground Guide to Silver Circle Law Firms

Sep 28, 2023

Written By Lewis Ogg

Most aspiring solicitors in the UK will have likely come across the term the ‘Magic Circle’, which traditionally refers to the five highest earning firms headquartered in the UK. The ‘Silver Circle’ is the term used for firms that fall outside of this most elite bracket but still post far higher turnover, profit per equity partner (PEP) and revenue per lawyer (RPL) than the rest of the legal market. Silver Circle firms represent a considerable proportion of training contract and work experience opportunities, even if these are often overshadowed by their slightly larger competitors in the Magic Circle. This guide will uncover the unique culture, practice areas, and career opportunities within the Silver Circle so that you can find the firm most suited to you when applying.

What makes a Silver Circle firm?

As mentioned above, financial criteria mark the Silver Circle firms out from the rest of the market, and as part of this, they tend to concentrate on the most profitable areas of law. Specialising in corporate and commercial law-centred London-based offices, these firms have a world-renowned reputation for quality that brings in a large international client base.

Lists will vary slightly, but Ashurst, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, Herbert Smith Freehills, Macfarlanes, and Travers Smith are the firms most typically associated with the term due to their mid-sized nature, focus on corporate practice areas and ongoing reputation for honing top legal talent.

Firm culture within the Silver Circle is generally quite different from their US and Magic Circle competitors, who can be far more individualistic, often operating with the infamous ‘eat what you kill’ approach to work. In contrast, silver circle firms are characterised by their compact and collegiate nature, which breeds a collaborative rather than competitive working environment.

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Practice Areas and Specialisations

Given their focus on commercial and corporate law, Silver Circle firms tend to be incredibly strong in practice areas such as corporate, finance, banking, real estate, and private client work. In these areas, the Silver Circle eats from the top table and is sought internationally for advice.

While the Silver Circle are broadly competitive in these practice areas, most firms will also have a niche specialism where they are a true market leader. For example, Travers Smith is a leader in tech dispute resolution, having been involved in the HP fraud case, one of the largest ever cases of corporate fraud and described as the ‘Tech Trial of the Century’.

Training Contracts and Vacation Schemes

The Silver Circle and its adjacent firms represent a large proportion of commercial training contracts, especially in London. However, due to their reputation for high-quality training and high-value work, their application processes can be just as competitive as their US or Magic Circle peers. Generally, these firms will have fewer applicants to fewer places than the Magic Circle firms, resulting in a similar level of competitiveness.

If you are not already aware, vacation schemes are an integral part of the application process, with most Magic and Silver Circle firms awarding the vast majority of their training contracts to vacation scheme applicants rather than direct training contract applicants.

When applying for a vacation scheme, one of the most essential things is demonstrating your genuine interest in the firm and writing an honest account of your motivations. Writing in this way will prevent you from falling into the sea of clichés and generic platitudes that fill the desks of recruitment staff.

Career Progression

One of the significant benefits of working within a Silver Circle firm is the defined career pathway from the moment you enter as a trainee. Depending on the firm's organisation, you would expect to follow the track of trainee solicitor, associate, senior associate (knowledge counsel is an option depending on the firm), director/non-equity partner, and finally, equity partner.

Many people feel that having such a defined and transparent pathway gives their career more direction and better incentivises them to work because of a known and achievable reward. Those who don’t want to continue to the partnership also appreciate the clear staging off points, where they can easily move into in-house counsel roles, pursue further specialisation, or move into non-fee earning roles within the firm.

Workload and Work-Life Balance

When working for a Silver Circle firm, being realistic about the work-life balance is important. While this might be somewhat better than your peers in US or Magic Circle firms, it can still be particularly challenging, especially in transactional seats (Like M&A) where the workload has little consistency but can consume all your evenings and even sometimes weekends for weeks at a time before quietening down again.

M&A is an especially strenuous example, as many practice areas of Silver Circle firms, like Tax and Employment, usually have far more consistent work. Broadly, the hours of Silver Circle firms are more forgiving than their competitors, with working past midnight or on the weekend being a lot less common here than the larger international firms, where it can often be second nature.

While even these slightly more relaxed hours are still daunting, remember that firms, above all in the Silver Circle, are acutely aware of how demanding the schedule can be, so offer many provisions to make your time more manageable. Since the pandemic, there has been a far more flexible approach to working and greater thought and funding for employee support.

Some common perks offered to employees as a means of support and self-care include sizeable food allowances, in-house therapists/physios, a self-care grant of a few hundred pounds, and even subsidised teams. Remember also that employees make support networks for themselves, so whether it’s a 5-a-side team or a prayer group, you will find everyone supports each other.

Firm Profiles

Ashurst: After impressive growth in recent years, Ashurst has become a market powerhouse in banks & private capital, real estate, infrastructure, energy, and the digital economy practice areas. The firm has an admirable finance record in recent years, helping in Morgan Stanley’s £4.46 billion takeover of Dechra Pharmaceuticals. Ashurst’s culture offers a slightly softer work-life balance than other leading finance-heavy firms, combined with an innovation-centred mission to use legal tech to create more efficient operations.

Herbert Smith Freehills: HSF is perhaps the main firm on this list who might resent being placed in the Silver rather than Magic Circle. With over £1 billion in yearly revenue, one of if not the largest list of FTSE 100 companies, and a market-leading reputation for dispute resolution, the firm is truly a giant of the London legal market. HSF’s culture is supportive, where trainees get to participate in high-profile work from the get-go. This culture is recognised by HSF training consistently being seen as some of the best in the country and trainee retention being one of the highest in the high-value London market.

Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner: An international law firm of 1,200 lawyers across 30 offices, BCLP has developed a particular reputation for real estate in the UK, advising on $75 billion of deals in the last two years alone. For those not wishing to work in London, BCLP also has several strong regional offices, including Manchester and Southampton. The firm's three main practice areas are real estate, disputes, and corporate, though there are certainly other large sectors within the firm. In terms of culture, training is a high priority, being perhaps more structured and academic than other firms on this list. Similar to other firms on this list, the supportive nature of fellow employees is also seen as integral to the firm’s culture.

Macfarlanes: ‘City Firm of the Year’ at The Lawyer Awards 2023, Macfarlanes, while certainly not the largest firm on this list, has a strong history of high-quality work and has been consistently praised for their structured and hands-on approach to training. Being a proudly city-based law firm, Macfarlanes is known for its high-value corporate work and its uncommonly sizeable private client offering. The culture has historically been somewhat stuffier than other firms on this list, consistently being compared to Slaughter & May in style; however, in recent years, the culture appears to have become warmer, with D&I becoming an increasingly important part of the firm culture. In the last three years, 60% of trainees were female and 30% were BAME.

Travers Smith: Similar to Macfarlanes, Travers Smith is a proudly City-based firm which operates out of a single office. The firm is known for its collegiate atmosphere and highly approachable partners, which are cultivated through an open working plan where all levels work within a practice area’s section of the office. As mentioned above, the biggest case Travers has led in recent years is certainly the HP fraud case, which was one of the largest corporate fraud cases and catapulted their dispute resolution team to being an industry leader.

Navigating the Application Process

Applying to Silver Circle firms requires a lot of research if you are application is going to be effective. Before beginning your application, you should have a good idea of what the firm's core values and practice areas are. This information will help you to refine your application to best suit the specific firm. Remember, when it comes to applications, there can be no substitution for a genuine interest in the firm and the work that they do, so allow this to shine through in your application.

If you are fortunate enough to progress to the interview stage of your application, bear in mind that examples are your best friend. When they ask a question, interviews don’t typically want an abstract theoretical response; they want to know what you would do and giving demonstrable examples is the best way to convince them of your skills.

Conclusion: Unveiling the Hidden Silver Circle

Silver Circle firms are a category of their own, with which there are a huge number of career opportunities. When applying for these opportunities, remember that while these firms offer high-value work with slightly better work-life balance than Magic Circle firms, it is still a highly demanding career choice.

Each firm has its own culture, so use the broad principles set out in this article and your own research to make an informed decision about which firm is the best option for you. Once you decide on which firms to apply to, make sure you take the time to write an engaging, well researched, and thoroughly proofread application.

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