About Burges Salmon LLP
Turning a school leaver into a fully qualified lawyer takes years and it’s a journey that commercial law firm Burges Salmon takes seriously. From day one, senior leaders introduce trainees to the law firm’s culture, expectations and attitude to feedback. They make it clear that growth is a long-term investment and that they’ll be there to support them.
- Industry: Legal Activities
- Location: Bristol
- Organisation size: 1000 - 2499
But when so much effort is put into training, how do they manage to keep hold of new lawyers once they’re fully qualified? Especially at a time in their careers when many typically move on. A big part of the answer lies in how much care the law firm puts into nurturing those early careers.
For nearly 30 years, Investors in People has acted as a trusted partner to Burges Salmon. As the firm has grown from around 900 people to more than 1,300 across three offices, successive assessments have helped leaders identify strengths, gaps and opportunities across its people practices – supporting the development of a culture that lawyers want to be part of.
People at its core
Since its beginnings, people have always been an important part of who Burges Salmon are. This way of working is reflected in its purpose statement: ‘Commitment to helping its clients, its people and its communities to flourish’, and is one of the first things new starters hear about when they join. With each new wave, the law firm strengthens this message, using guidance and insights from Investors in People to empower and involve their people. So new lawyers feel ready for long-term success.
This People First approach isn’t just internal – it ultimately strengthens the experience clients receive. By investing in the skills and confidence of their lawyers, Burges Salmon ensures people feel capable, supported and ready to take on meaningful work. In turn, this supports stronger, more consistent client service.
“It’s always great to see when organisations truly care about their people. And understand how important it is in having people with the right skills to deliver bigger, better services.
“Burges Salmon knows what clients need and so, in turn, knows what skills their people need to offer that support. They spend so much time investing in their people, so I want to help them make sure those people stay afterwards. Using the Investors in People framework almost like a diagnostic tool, the senior leaders here have been able to ask themselves how they are leading and if activities are empowering people. It helps them identify what they’re currently doing and any gaps they can then fill.”
Career development
For new starters, careers can take many forms. From banking and finance to construction and engineering, Burges Salmon offers 17 services across 12 different specialisms – resulting in over 200 options to choose from. The law firm knows how important it is to nurture young, enthusiastic talent and makes the most of its ‘Recruit to Retain’ ethos, which helps senior leaders find people with the potential to ensure they’re a good fit.
With such a wide variety of potential careers on offer, internal feedback had revealed differences in onboarding across departments. So, supported by insights from Investors in People assessments, Burges Salmon standardised onboarding, feedback and seat‑allocation processes. Every trainee now receives a fair and supportive experience, which includes its ‘six seat rotation’, where new graduates move around six different departments before deciding which one to join.
This breadth of experience supports better career decision–making and is a key part of the law firm’s Recruit to Retain approach. Working with Investors in People, and in particular the support and feedback from Jenny, Burges Salmon continually takes feedback at various stages of the traineeship and apprenticeship programmes to see how things are going. Making sure they monitor how graduates are performing, the law firm uses those insights to better understand graduates’ potential and any extra support that’s needed.
“Our work with Investors in People has helped us recognise the importance of a virtuous circle of feedback. As well as listening to what’s been said, we make sure we let people know that they’ve been heard, what next steps are going to be taken and why.
“It’s a philosophy we instil from day one. In trainee inductions, for example, senior leaders join the new starters to talk about the culture and expectations, and it kick starts the notion of how feedback works here. Trainees are encouraged from the beginning to share their thoughts, and it applies throughout their career with us.”
Keeping hold of talent
One key difficulty a lot of law firms face is that, once lawyers finish their traineeships, it’s not uncommon for them to move on. Sometimes it’s because they want to explore a new area, join a different law firm or even move in-house. But Burges Salmon is bucking the trend.
With over 89% of newly qualified lawyers staying on in 2025, trainee retention rates are higher than many comparable firms in the legal sector. And are even more impressive when considered that 33% of partners trained at the firm, including the Managing Partner Roger Bull, who started at firm 32 years ago.
Burges Salmon uses feedback gained from Investors in People assessment interviews with its newly qualified lawyers, to guide their efforts in keeping retention rates high. These sessions enable the law firm to act quickly on specific themes, such as work-life balance, quality of work and the chance to work with interesting clients.
“Working with Jenny and Investors in People is an incredibly powerful relationship, one that’s built up over the past 29 years. It feels like a true partnership, rather than just an accreditation, because we get that objective review and discussion around what we’re doing and how we can improve things.
“It helps steer positive change here. And helps us focus on areas for improvement. It’s fantastic to get objective, external confirmation that the things we’re doing live up to the targets, benchmarks and objectives we set ourselves.”
For almost three decades, Burges Salmon has worked hard to make sure it offers its new starters the best possible start in the legal industry. With Investors in People’s support, it has put measures in place to help new starters stay once fully qualified and it’s a partnership that both organisations look forward to continuing for another 30 years.
#IIP25Years
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