solicitor

legal assistant

paralegal

claims processor

associate

Shakespeare-Martineau

This firm has so much potential and you will work with some great people if you come here. They do have excellent clients and do a lot of high quality work. However in terms of career progression, you will struggle unless you arrive armed with excellent contacts. They are also notoriously bad payers. In the 4 years that I was there, targets went up but salaries lagged behind, and it was known to all Shakespeares employees that they were poorly paid compared to Martineau staff - when this story broke, the partners "declined to comment" on this and ignored the discontent it created. 

Management's view has always been "Your career is your responsibility" and "Everyone is expendable". The few partners who do take the time to help you tend to be less influential. It is such a shame that this is the approach of the top partners because there are some excellent lawyers there and the culture in the smaller offices was mostly very good. However staff turnover below Legal Director level is high.

Fnol is where a lot of people start, it’s a decent team with nice supervisors. Although, you do all the admin work, and are not allowed to talk- literally you get told off for talking, as if you were a child. This leads to a negative astmosphere and environment to work in. I hear real estate is good, however from the litigation view- stay clear a lot of people are depressed and everyone talks about wanting to leave but having nowhere to go- trapped. 

This company has a good external reputation, but internally it is not the best place to be. Those working in the legal sector know the work is not ‘fun’ therefore you need some sort of liveliness in the work place, but this place will take it out of you. 

The pay is probably the worst in the industry and no one above I.e partners will take this into consideration. (More money for employees- less for partners, hence LLP set up)

Well I don’t want to sound too negative or off putting but please take into consideration my honest review of this place. There are lovely people here, but this firm has a long way to go. 

Yours truly, 
Successful escapee.

Awful work environment. Team managers know little but because they talk loud, they get heard and treat you as inferior. Partners expect you to treat them like royalty. And to top it off, paralegal/fee earners salaries are barely above the national minimum wage. Progression chances are little to none. For a company that believes itself to have a large national footprint, it's quite an awful place to work at. Certainly the worst place I've worked at. My only advice, stay well away if you want a decent wage for a hard day's work. They'll squeeze every last drop out of you by ensuring youre in at time 9am, never late from lunch and you cannot leave any earlier than 5.30pm. It's like a factory or production line. Just before I left, my team were monitored for how long we went on toilet breaks. Says it all.

Don’t be fooled by SHMA’s website. It sounds impressive..“We’re deeply ambitious about creating opportunities for our employees”, this is far from the truth!  Progression here is very little if not at all.

Many staff go off on long term sick leave or simply resign. The longest any member of staff has remained in their team is two years, the shortest…two weeks!  Salary is very poor! Management is poor; ignorance springs to mind.

The Claims Handlers are set unreasonable targets and are stressed. 
First Notification of Claims Handlers (FNOC) are micromanaged and undermined by management.

The building looks impressive on the outside but inside it’s not good.  The office is always very cold. Staff walk around with their blankets or hot water bottles; some remain in their coats.  The toilets do not work and are often left unflushed #disgusting!!! These problems have never been fixed.

Us and them. If you’re not a partner, you’re not valued. You’re not allowed a sense of humour you just have to tow the line. You can say hello to most partners and they look down on you and don’t respond. Most of them are busy sitting in the pub drinking the profits while the solicitors/ paralegals are doing the work until late and not seeing our families and then there are no rewards, pay rises or bonus’ at the end of it. They expect you to stay late unpaid  but as soon as you need the drs, you have to make up your time. Take take take. 

You’re expected to be seen but not heard. Your opinion doesn’t count for nothing. They’re great at having meetings about meetings and nothing productive comes from it, and they are very target driven. 

You leave this place thinking something is wrong with you and lacking any confidence and self belief that you started with.

Great company to work for; the business has worked hard over the last two years to build people engagement and involving individuals in providing feedback, contributing ideas for our team and group strategy. The recent introduction of empowered working has been brilliant in providing great flexibility on when and where we work. 
The company truly values and cares for us; we get a day off for our birthday and this year we had our own company wellbeing bank holiday in the summer which was a lovely touch. 
The company is growing fast and whilst this can at times result in growing pains, I am confident these will be short lived with several IT projects and new systems going live soon. 

On the whole I enjoyed the work but that was it. Salaries are inconsistent between teams and team members with the same level of experience will find they are each on different salaries. Targets increase at an unreasonable pace when salary stays the same (I was at the firm for 18 months and my target increased by 40%, with not one pay increase the whole time I was there) The Partners are very traditional and expect everyone to wait on their every hand and foot. In a firm that asks you to do your own typing, coping etc, it just does not work. For fee earners working in a team where there is no secretary, you certainly won’t be doing your own admin work! If you are a young woman and not employed as an administrator/secretary, I wouldn’t go anywhere near this firm!

The management team from HR through to managers are very caring and genuinely invested in bringing out the best in their employees. 

They are a very forward-thinking law firm who are mental health and diversity conscious. There are mental health first aiders on site who care for your wellbeing, support and signpost you appropriately.

The team is collaborative and there is healthy competition to motivate members. 

Highly recommend this company in Nottingham.

Two firms stuck together that are both as clueless as each other....absolutely udderless!! 

No management only people that compute yes.

Progression....haha your joking the ideas come from an episode of Donald Trumps Apprentice. Let's be great! By holding everyone back squeezing them for every penny we can then destroying there confidence and drinking themselves to oblivion.

The worst company I and many others have every worked for I just feel sorry for those left they need help getting out!

It's a great place to be. I feel respected and appreciated and am also treated like an adult where I'm given responsibility and am trusted to get on with my job.  There's a genuine desire from leadership to build a fantastic culture for the people in it, there is still plenty to do but so much has already been done it's really exciting to be part of it. Very friendly and supportive culture.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Solicitor 17 salaries reported	£31,118 per year
Legal assistant 5 salaries reported	£24,260 per year
Paralegal 7 salaries reported	£26,114 per year
Claims processor 5 salaries reported	£22,800 per year
Associate 3 salaries reported	£61,000 per year

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