Guide for Prospective Trainee Solicitors
Applications (to be received by 31 July two years before training contract commences) on our standard application form to:
Kim Beatson
Anthony Gold
The Counting House
53 Tooley Street
London Bridge City
London, SE1 2QN
Tel: 020 7940 4000
Fax: 020 7378 8025
Email: mail@anthonygold.co.uk
VALUES
Anthony Gold is a South Bank law firm with a national reputation for Personal Injury, Clinical Negligence, Family and Housing work. It also provides the usual business and private client contentious and non-contentious services. We aim to provide our clients with excellent technical skills delivered efficiently, consistently and in a cost-effective manner.
Our lawyers strive to make a difference by:
- Offering client-focused funding arrangements, where appropriate, including conditional fees, deferred fees, contingency fees and, where it is profitable, public funding
- Being at the cutting edge of the law; constantly looking for new ways of solving legal problems
- Giving no-nonsense advice in plain English
- Being committed to the ethical practice of the law
- Operating efficiently but offering a sensible work-life balance
HISTORY
The firm was founded in 1963 by Anthony Gold and has grown consistently since that time. The firm’s roots were in South London and it retains offices in Streatham and Walworth, but its head office is in central London on the South Bank. In 2004 the firm took in four other practices, staff growing from 50 (March 2003) to 86 (present) plus partners.
Litigation has always been central to the firm’s reputation. However, originally founded in the City, from the beginning the firm had a commercial capability. It also has a thriving private client department.
Many of the Partners trained with the firm and we maintain a commitment to recruit and train lawyers as an investment for the firm’s future. Our solicitors have a reputation for excellent technical skills and many contribute regularly to legal specialist journals. They are also committed to helping the work of professional bodies and in recent years our Partners have led the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers, Resolution and the Housing Law Practitioners Association.
Whilst aiming to run an efficient and profitable business, the partners are also committed to ensuring that staff are able to enjoy a sensible work-life balance. The firm will continue to measure its success in being an attractive place to work by measuring indicators such as staff retention, recruitment and satisfaction levels by way of staff meetings and taking regular soundings at departmental level.
CLIENTS AND SERVICES
The firm acts for a wide range of clients.
Our anti-discrimination policy is very important to us. We will not discriminate against clients or client groups on the basis of race, religion, colour, ethnic origin, disability, age, sex or sexual orientation in the implementation of our business plan. We have also developed a niche in advising gay and lesbian clients.
Our London Bridge office offers 24-hour access so meetings can be arranged at convenient times to clients. Home visits to individual clients (particularly when disabled) and visits to commercial clients’ own business premises are encouraged in appropriate cases.
The firm’s strategy is to promote consistency of quality across all areas of the firm. The aim is to produce a high level of confidence and knowledge as a basis for internal referrals. Efforts will be made to continue to improve measurement of quality, including surveys and comparisons with other firms. The firm will aim to provide services in accordance with the client’s needs.
Personal Injury/Clinical Negligence
Supervising Partner: Jon Nicholson
Our personal injury and clinical negligence team handles a wide variety of cases on behalf of claimants, ranging from simple tripping cases to complex catastrophic injury claims. The team includes 4 members of the Law Society’s personal injury panel and 3 members of the clinical negligence panel. We are recommended for personal injury work in both the Chambers Directory and the Legal 500 and for clinical negligence in the Legal 500. All members of the team belong to the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) and David Marshall is a former president of APIL.
Most of our personal injury work is funded by conditional fee agreements and the team has a long-established expertise in this area. We are also one of the few firms to be granted a community legal service franchise for clinical negligence work.
Civil Litigation/Commercial/Employment
Supervising Partner: David Wedgwood
Our commercial clients are mainly small and medium sized private companies and professional partnerships. We know our commercial clients as individuals usually dealing direct with principals of the business. We are members of the Lawyers for Business Scheme and we are committed to supporting young and growing businesses in the local community.
The team also deals with commercial litigation, employment (for both sides), company work, commercial work, IT, professional negligence and commercial disputes.
Family
Supervising Partner: Kim Beatson
All members of the department deal exclusively with family work and the firm has developed a high profile in this area. The department cover the full range of family disputes, including cohabitation, financial provision, Children Act proceedings and domestic violence.
Members of the department are actively involved in Resolution and Kim Beatson is the former chairman.
Three members of the department are qualified family mediators and the firm offers a mediation service to both private and publicly funded clients.
The department also offers a collaborative law service. This involves the couple reaching solutions together with their respective lawyers, both of whom will be trained in the collaborative process. Collaborative lawyers sign an agreement with the couple, which disqualifies the lawyers from representing them in Court if the collaborative process breaks down. It means that the lawyers are absolutely committed to helping find the best solutions by agreement, rather than through conflict.
Housing and Public Law/Property Litigation
Supervising Partner: Andrew Brookes
We have a well known Housing and Public Law / Property Litigation Department.
The department is highly rated in both the Chambers and Legal 500 guides and Andrew Brookes is a recognised leader in the field.
The department's work covers residential and commercial property litigation, with a particular emphasis on acting for tenants of social housing. We have had numerous reported cases in the Law Reports.
The department deals with a wide variety of litigation with a property element, acting for both commercial and residential landlords and tenants. This includes possession proceedings, injunctions, disrepair and dilapidations disputes.
The department is also well known for its judicial review work and knowledge of the Human Rights Act, particularly as it applies to housing law, but not exclusively so.
Members of the department belong to the Housing Law Practitioners' Association, of which Andrew Brookes is a former chair. Debra Wilson sits on the Law Society's Housing Law Committee.
Conveyancing
Supervising Partner: Howard Lerman
We undertake a wide variety of residential and commercial conveyancing, licensing and planning work including representation at public enquiries. Members of our department are based at our London Bridge, Streatham and Walworth Road offices. Our client base includes substantial property developers as well as straightforward residential conveyancing. The department also deals with business sales and purchases where the main assets of the business consists of its premises.
Trusts and Estates
Supervising Partner: Howard Lerman
Wills and probate work is carried out from our London Bridge and Streatham offices and includes will drafting, trusts and tax planning.
We act for a number of very substantial estates as well as dealing with the affairs of ordinary families particularly in the South London area.
TRAINEE SOLICITORS
We now recruit six trainee solicitors each year. We recruit both law and non-law graduates. We are looking for candidates with a strong academic background (2:1 or above and, save in exceptional circumstances, good A levels (usually at least 2 grade As and 1 grade B in your best three A level subjects, (excluding General Studies) or their equivalent), common sense and commitment to the work we do. We have a commitment to attracting candidates from the widest possible educational background.
We normally recruit trainee solicitors two years ahead of the date when they will commence work.
We require applications to be submitted on our standard application form. If you are waiting for results, please delay your application until 1 July, but make sure your completed application reaches us by 31 July. Interviews for training contracts are held in September each year. Applicants will be required to comment on two “test” papers and to demonstrate an interest in the law and a knowledge of the developments affecting the profession.
Although, because of the size of the firm and the nature of our work, we are unable to sponsor students through law college, we are able to make some limited financial assistance available to successful candidates by way of a bursary of £2,000. This is paid as to £1,000 on commencement of the training contract and the balance at the start of the second year.
The trainee solicitors will usually spend time in three departments, either in the London Bridge, Streatham or Walworth Road office, but this is very flexible. It is likely that trainees will gain some experience of PI as a result of the size and requirements of the department. Therefore we expect trainees to elect the PI option on the LPC unless we have agreed otherwise. You may be asked to work at one or all of our offices. In the past, the vast majority of trainee solicitors have been offered positions on qualification and have accepted and stayed with the firm as solicitors.
It is not possible for us to predict the salaries which will be offered to trainee solicitors when they join in two or more years time.
As at 1st May 2009 salaries were as follows:
- 1st year trainee solicitors: £21,300
- 2nd year trainee solicitors: £23,300
- newly qualified solicitors: £31,800
Trainees are entitled to 20 working days holiday in each year, plus Public Holidays, and two additional days at Christmas.
