Regional focus: Birmingham

A “concrete jungle”, a “godless, concrete urban hell”, a “brutalist, concrete-dominated slave to the motor car” are just some of the epithets used to describe the post-war transformation of Birmingham. However, in recent years England’s second city has been transformed again through projects such as Future Systems’ Selfridges building in the Bullring Shopping Centre, the Brindleyplace regeneration project, the Millennium Point science and technology centre, and the refurbishment of the iconic Rotunda building.

Old streets, buildings and canals have been restored, the pedestrian subways have been removed and the much maligned Inner Ring Road has been rationalised. Other projects include the building of a new Library of Birmingham, the redevelopment of New Street station and the extension of the Midland Metro into the city centre. All part of what is known as the Big City Plan.

In September Birmingham council unveiled six new economic growth zones aiming to unlock £1.5bn of new development and opening up nearly 20 million sq ft.

This regeneration has not only been good news for the billable hours of property and construction lawyers but, as the city has thrived, so has a varied legal sector.

Over the past decade, Birmingham’s legal market has attracted a large number of new entrants that now compete with the more established firms of Wragge & Co, SGH Martineau, DLA Piper, Eversheds, Pinsent Masons and Squire Sanders.

One such newcomer, Mills & Reeve, arrived in Birmingham in 1998 focusing on health and real estate. But from these single-sector beginnings, the firm has moved on and now boasts 87 lawyers in its office in the city’s legal heartland of Colmore Row.

Similarly Shoosmiths, which opened its Birmingham office in 2003, focuses on property and now has around 79 lawyers down the road from Mills & Reeve, and is searching for a 40,000 sq ft office to move into. The strategy of focusing on core sectors in order to compete with the Birmingham big boys looks to have worked.

The most recent moves into the sector have come from Trowers & Hamlins, which opened an office in Colmore Row in July 2011 focusing on the affordable housing sector, and the £100m-plus turnover DWF which launched a Birmingham office in August 2011 and recently merged with Birmingham insurance boutique Buller Jeffries.

Other Midlands-based outfits have also expanded, with Browne Jacobson seeing double-digit growth in Birmingham (16 per cent) and Shakespeares becoming the second-largest firm in the Midlands behind Wragges.

While Wragges is unlikely to be too troubled by its noisy neighbours, it is still twice the size of its nearest competitor. Shakespeares chief executive Paul Wilson has declared his aim to grow his firm into a £50m mid-tier heavyweight by 2014. To this end it recently merged with Harvey Ingram and is already planning what will be a sixth merger in under three years for early 2013.

Raising the bar

Interest in moving into Birmingham’s legal sector is not confined to law firms. In July Manchester-headquartered Kings Chambers opened in the city, appointing Number 5 Chambers’ Anthony Crean QC and Sarah Clover as its first new members and Gary Smith as senior clerk. Meanwhile, the Solicitors Regulation Authority is moving its headquarters to the Ken Shuttleworth-designed The Cube.

Despite these positive signs the recession has undoubtedly hit Birmingham. Wragges senior partner Quentin Poole warns: “It doesn’t matter how many cranes there are, business is difficult in Birmingham and those firms that rely entirely on the Birmingham economy are having it tough. We’re experiencing a two-speed economy and that throws up a whole range of challenges. The growth that can be achieved out of Birmingham is limited, but we’re achieving significant growth out of London and international work.

“Thirty per cent of the work we do is international, split 25 per cent in our Birmingham office and 5 per cent in our London office, so our trainees in Birmingham get a lot of international exposure. We’re doing many of our most complex transactions and our biggest deals from Birmingham.”

Underlining Wragges’ commitment to the Birmingham market, the firm has prelet 60 per cent of the 300,000 sq ft-plus office space at Two Snowhill.

Such is Wragges’ emphasis on international work that in January it launched its first international trainee solicitor secondment programme to its office in Guangzhou, China. The firm also aims to open up more international opportunities to its trainees, including seats in its Abu Dhabi and Dubai offices.

Wragges trainees Carly Davies and Paul Lloyd are both pleased with the opportunities trainees are given to use their language skills. “I speak Spanish and that’s got me involved in some really good stuff,” says Davies, who went to university in Sheffield before moving to Birmingham. “For the international arbitration team, a pitch had to be sent to Bolivia, all the documents had to be written in Spanish and I was able to help with that and sort out the logistics of getting the documents over there.”

Lloyd, who studied at Nottingham University before completing the Legal Practice Course (LPC) in Birmingham, agrees. “Within the first week of my commercial litigation seat I got sent to Germany to meet a client with my supervisor, an unexpected opportunity to use my language skills. Although,” Lloyd adds, “in Birmingham, as well as high-end London and international work, we also get great regional work.”

While the recession has created difficulties, the travelling time between Birmingham and London gives Birmingham the edge over regional rivals such as Manchester, which also styles itself as England’s ‘second city’.

Capital thinking

Firms believe they are now in the running for business that would traditionally have been kept in London.

“We have a massive costs advantage,” Poole states. “A piece of legal work that would cost £10,000 in Birmingham will cost as much as £16,000 in London. Therefore we have the ability to attract clients and work that would otherwise go to London because our costs base is so much lower.”

Jessica Kenny, a trainee at Mills & Reeve who completed a law degree in Newcastle before the LPC in Manchester, agrees. “There’s a lot going on here, we get a really good calibre of London-quality work. We get a lot of work, particularly in insurance, from London-based clients. With HS2 [the high speed rail link], Birmingham is going to be promoted even more as a place to do business.”

The high quality of work available in Birmingham is a big draw for potential trainees. George Gray, a trainee at Eversheds who studied law and the LPC in Birmingham, says: “I was always interested in corporate and commercial law so when looking for the hot spots in the UK there were really two obvious choices and as an alternative to London, Birmingham is very attractive.

“During the course of the training contract you sometimes have to stand back to really appreciate the quality of the clients you are working for - you get to engage in industry-changing work, work that will have a big impact on the industry in which the client operates.”

Gray’s enthusiasm is supported by fellow Eversheds trainee Natascha Gaut, who says: “I couldn’t ask for better training, the quality of work available to trainees in Birmingham is fantastic - you are continually asked if there is anything you want to do or a specific area you want to research.”

As an example, Gaut talks about one of the deals she has worked on. “In my first three months I was working on a £1.7bn corporate acquisition,” she says. “For the employment aspects I was the main point of contact for the client. I was in all hours doing it but it was probably the biggest deal that I will ever work on in my career. The partner even allowed me to release the information to the market announcing the deal.”

The level of responsibility given to trainees in Birmingham is also a common plus. Wragges trainee Tom Foster, who studied natural sciences at Durham University before completing the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) at the College of Law (CoL) in London and the LPC in Birmingham, says: “We’re definitely closer to the front line here. During my seats I’ve rarely dealt with other trainees but rather solicitors or even partners. Trainees are very much encouraged to be on the front foot.”

It is a similar situation at Mills & Reeve, where trainee Rebecca Green says: “We all sit in ‘pods’ of four people which encourages interaction. In my commercial disputes seat I sat in a pod with four fee-earners, so as the most junior member of the team, I got to do quite a lot of work.”

Balancing act

When it comes to work/life-balance, Green, who studied at Birmingham University before completing the LPC at the CoL in Birmingham, emphasises the importance of the Birmingham Trainee Solicitors’ Society on the city’s working culture, adding: “Birmingham offers everything without the feeling of being swallowed up in a big city.”

The firms’ proximity to each other is also highlighted by Gray, who grew up in Cornwall. He says: “The pace of life suits me quite well… all the major firms are in the business district and everyone knows everyone else.”

Gaut, who grew up in nearby Coventry, says: “There was no other choice for me - it was always going to be Birmingham. A real benefit is that when you go out to certain places, such as Brindleyplace, you know that a lot of people there work in Colmore Row. You often know where people from certain firms will be, for example DLA’s regular haunt is The Victoria while Mills & Reeve’s is The Old Joint Stock Theatre. Although Birmingham is large the commercial and shopping centre is contained into one area so everything feels like it is in easy reach.”

And at the end of a busy working day the proximity of affordable places to live is another bonus. Gaut, who lives a 15-minute walk from the office, says: “As a woman walking home I feel safe and there is no need to call a taxi, even if I’m working late in the evening.”

Davies says: “I didn’t want to go to London. I’ve always lived in the country and I didn’t want a massive commute on the Tube in the morning, and in Birmingham you get London-quality work but with a different lifestyle.”

Trainees are encouraged to give back to those coming through at this difficult time for graduates. Both Kenny and Green are involved in a mentoring scheme, run by Birmingham City University in conjunction with young professionals network Birmingham Future, aimed at final-year students. “We’re trying to promote students because of the recession - it’s all about building contacts and getting them jobs,” says Kenny.

Small wonders

While the big firms are well represented in Birmingham, it is also a great place to train in smaller firms and in-house.

Those looking for a public sector career can join Birmingham City Council, which has the largest legal team in the country and has taken a more innovative approach to curbing costs by pitching for external work, thereby protecting its team rather than becoming a victim of public sector cuts.

Birmingham also has a number of interesting and unique practices that specialise in particular areas. For example, Public Interest Lawyers, which has represented Iraqi civilians killed or injured during the Iraq War, is run from Birmingham, while TRP Solicitors (also known as The Rights Partnership) focuses on immigration work, particularly when it is linked with human rights and asylum issues.

There are also plenty of places to choose to study, too. Birmingham is home to three universities: the University of Birmingham, Birmingham City University and the University of Aston.

Law school giants CoL and BPP Law School also have sites in the city, and the LPC can be studied at Birmingham City University.

Courses at the CoL’s Birmingham branch are considerably cheaper than in London. They start at £7,370 for the GDL and £11,000 for the accelerated LPC, compared with £9,310 and £13,300 respectively in London. The Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) will set you back £12,435 compared with £16,485 at the CoL’s London Bloomsbury centre.

BPP’s courses sit at a similar level to the CoL, with its GDL and LPC costing £7,620 and £10,660 respectively.

So if good-quality work, a high level of responsibility and a great work life balance is what you are after, then this concrete jungle may be for you.

Birmingham firms’ vital statistics

DLA Piper

Total number of lawyers: 85

Birmingham trainees: 23

First-year salary: £25,000

Second-year salary: £27,000

NQ salary: £37,000

Eversheds

Total number of lawyers: NA

Birmingham trainees: 19

First-year salary: £25,000

Second-year salary: £26,500

NQ salary: £37,000

Gateley

Total number of lawyers: 119

Birmingham trainees: 29

First-year salary: £20,000

Second-year salary: £23,000

NQ salary: £32,000

SGH Martineau

Total number of lawyers: 129

Birmingham trainees: 19

First-year salary: £23,000

Second-year salary: £25,000

NQ salary: £36,000

Mills & Reeve

Total number of lawyers: 87

Birmingham trainees: 12

First-year salary: £23,000

Second-year salary: £24,000

NQ salary: £37,000

Pinsent Masons

Total number of lawyers: 160

Birmingham trainees: 26

First-year salary: £25,000

Second-year salary: £27,000

NQ salary: £38,000

Shoosmiths

Total number of lawyers: 79

Birmingham trainees: 7

First-year salary: £24,000

Second-year salary: £25,000

NQ salary: £36,500

Wragge & Co

Total number of lawyers: 417

Birmingham trainees: 39

First-year salary: £26,250

Second-year salary: £29,250

NQ salary: £38,000