The locations

The area offers a range of excellent opportunities to newly qualified lawyers looking for a move out of the city to the Thames Valley or the South Coast. Alternatively if you want to stay close to London, where many of your friends and colleagues may be working, or are relocating back to the London area, these regions allow you the chance to live out of the city and work at excellent firms with city quality work while having the communications and links to get into London very easily.
These locations offer the attraction of high quality work and the prospect of working with city clients while still being afforded a very good quality of life, whether this is in terms of work hours, the chance to live closer to home or within a rural setting.
Reading, Oxford and Southampton are rightly perceived as the largest legal centres but fast emerging are Newbury, Basingstoke, Winchester and Portsmouth.

The firms

The legal sector in Reading has opportunities in both private practice and Industry and Commerce. Many of the firms work with London based clients but are also located in the area as a result of the abundance of internationally and nationally recognised companies that are head-quartered there. 
There are 14 Legal 100 firms operating in the area and a large proportion of the Legal 500 listed firms. Berkshire and Oxfordshire boasts firms such as Olswang, Osborne Clarke, Manches, Morgan Cole, Shoosmiths, Charles Russell, Penningtons and Lewis Silkin. The South Coast competes with excellent firms such as Blake Lapthorn Tarlo Lyons, Clarke Willmott, and Bond Pearce.
Well know regional and Legal 500 listed firms here are increasingly successful in winning the bigger business from the City. Pitmans, Clarks LLP, Coffin Mew and Clover and Lester Aldridge to name but a few have been particularly successful in this strategy.

The companies

If you are looking to make a move into Industry and Commerce there are a broad range of clients in a variety of industry sectors: financial services, telecoms, utilities and manufacturing. We have had success recruiting newly qualified solicitors into nationally recognised companies in the IT sector, Building and Construction Industry and the Telecoms Industry.

Demand areas

  • Commercial Litigation
  • Employment
  • Commercial IP and IT
  • Construction
  • Professional Indemnity
  • Property Litigation

The team and contact details

The Reading office has three dedicated permanent consultants who cover Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Hampshire. More importantly the Reading office has experience in recruiting newly qualified solicitors into a variety of firms from Legal 100 and Chambers listed practices to niche and high street practices. We have also been actively involved recruiting newly qualified lawyers into Industry.
Raj Gill covers Private Practice positions and Luc Salmon and Jennifer Kelland cover Industry and Commerce positions in Berkshire, Oxfordshire and The South Coast.
Our consultants welcome the opportunity to talk to any Trainee Solicitors already in Berkshire, Oxfordshire and The South Coast market and also any Trainees who are considering relocating to the area for a confidential conversation.
For a confidential conversation please call us on 0118 955 9060 or email: