An introduction:
In many ways, a mini-Slaughter and May, Macfarlanes is a large corporate firm. Part of the United Kingdom’s “silver circle” of law firms, Macfarlanes holds considerable prestige in London’s legal market. It advises national and multinational companies, business leaders and high-net-worth individuals in the UK and internationally across the full range of corporate and commercial matters as well as on their private affairs.
Notable for its culture, prestige, quality of work, and incredible training, Macfarlanes offers a very tantalising experience to prospective trainees.
Facts about the firm:
- In the 2020/21 fiscal year, the firm took £260.96m in revenue, leading to a staggering profit per equity partner of £2.09m. This profit per equity partner stands above the figure for four of the five firms in the “magic circle.” As of 2019, the firm’s profit per equity partner stood at second among UK-based firms.
- This high profit can partially be explained by the firm’s small size and lack of an international network. With just two offices to its name (in London and Brussels), Macfarlanes prefers to lean on a network of international offices for cross-border transactions, much like Slaughter and Mayor Travers Smith.
- This limited international presence means that trainees are unlikely to experience work in an international office.
- The firm takes on thirty-three trainees per annum, with roughly half of these recruited from the firm’s many vacation schemes. There are three schemes one at Easter and two over the summer, with fifty-five places available in total.
- The qualities the firm looks for in a trainee are “how a candidate analyses and communicates their findings, and how they’re able to tailor their voice and style to the needs of the imagined audience.” Be warned, that the firm recruits on a rolling basis, so it will be wise to get a strong application in early.
- If a training contract is secured, pay will be the least of one’s worries. First-year pay stands at £48,000, second-year pay stands at £52,500, while NQ pay stands at £90000. Furthermore, the firm typically pays two bonuses a year, so associates should earn more than £100000.
- Macfarlanes chooses to not impose billable hours targets on its lawyers, though long hours should still be expected.
Key practice areas:
Most notable for pairing a leading private client department with elite corporate and litigation departments, Macfarlanes holds considerable prestige in the legal world. Due to the smaller size of the firm, it chooses to specialise in a small range of departments. These include:
- Commercial, brands, IP, and IT
- Competition/antitrust
- Construction and engineering
- Corporate and M&A
- Derivatives and trading
- Employment
- Finance
- Financial services regulation
- Insurance
- Investment management
- Litigation and dispute resolution
- Pensions
- Private client
- Private equity
- Real estate
- Restructuring and insolvency
- Reward
- Tax
Notable recent deals/cases:
- Macfarlanes has recently advised leading online grocery platform and solutions provider, Ocado Group, on a £10m investment in British autonomous driving software company Oxbotica.
- Macfarlanes has advised the restructuring team of multinational professional services network Deloitte on its sale to Teneo, a global CEO advisory business backed by private equity house CVC Capital Partners.
- Macfarlanes has advised the Virgin Group on an extension to its brand licence arrangements with Australian-based airline Virgin Australia, as part of a new agreement with Bain Capital, the US private equity group.
- Macfarlanes has advised the senior management team of Genius Sports Group, the leading provider of sports data and technology for betting operators, on its business combination agreement with special purpose acquisition company dMY Technology Group, Inc. II.
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