Clyde & Co

An international law firm advertising training contracts, including a Bristol energy and construction route for 2028.

About Clyde & Co

Clyde & Co is an international law firm that is best known for advising insurers and businesses in sectors where things can go badly wrong and need sorting out: insurance, transport (such as aviation and shipping), infrastructure, energy, and trade and commodities. When a big claim, accident or dispute happens, its lawyers help companies and insurers work out who is responsible and what should happen next. Lawyers here also handle personal injury and clinical negligence claims. All About Law says it has over 70 offices worldwide.

Wikipedia says the firm was founded by the Scottish lawyer Richard Arthur Clyde, who opened a London office on Lime Street in 1933, acting for Lloyd's underwriters and insurers. It later partnered with Maurice Hill of the Liverpool firm Hill Dickinson, and grew through mergers including Barlow Lyde & Gilbert (2011), Simpson & Marwick (2015, which brought Scottish offices) and BLM (2022). Its head office is the St Botolph Building in London. All About Law lists 12 UK offices: London, Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool, Newcastle, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Guildford, Belfast, Aberdeen and Southampton.

We did not find a formal mission statement. The firm's careers site says it 'puts its people first' and presents itself as a place to grow a career, and All About Law quotes it as offering a 'collaborative culture with international opportunities'. These are the firm's own descriptions.

On the careers site, the Scottish offices specialise in casualty and insurance. In Edinburgh, lawyers defend personal injury claims for insurers and public authorities. In Glasgow they advise on serious injury, large losses, workplace and public liability claims, road accidents and professional negligence. The firm also runs Global Virtual Experience Programmes, which are online sessions showing a commercial lawyer's day.

For early careers, All About Law describes about 40 paid vacation scheme places and around 50 training contracts, with four six-month seats, and says most trainees come through the vacation scheme or from the firm's paralegals. The careers site says Scottish trainees are recruited only via two-week vacation schemes in Edinburgh or Glasgow, and there is a UK Paralegal Academy and school-leaver apprenticeship insight days. All About Law lists the minimum as AAB at A Level and a 2:1, encourages non-law and career-changer applicants, and gives a selection process of an online form, a one-hour online assessment, a video interview and an assessment centre. It also says hybrid working is standard, with four days a week in the office, and that the firm funds the SQE (the exams to qualify as a solicitor) and the law conversion course. Listed first-year pay was £48,500 in London, £40,000 in Bristol, £33,000 in Manchester, £28,500 in Scotland and £25,900 in Belfast (undated listing, so check current figures). A Bristol training contract for 2028 closes on 19 November 2026.

What they do

• {'desc': 'Helping insurers and businesses with claims and disputes.', 'title': 'Insurance and casualty'}
• {'desc': 'Advice on aviation, shipping, energy and big projects.', 'title': 'Transport, energy and infrastructure'}
• {'desc': 'Four six-month seats; London, Bristol and other UK offices.', 'title': 'Training contract'}
• {'desc': 'Two-week schemes, Paralegal Academy and virtual programmes.', 'title': 'Vacation schemes and paralegal routes'}

Key facts

• Founded by Richard Arthur Clyde; London office opened 1933 (Wikipedia)
• 12 UK offices listed by All About Law
• Scottish trainees recruited via two-week vacation schemes in Edinburgh or Glasgow (firm careers site)
• Bristol training contract for 2028 closes 19 November 2026
• Listed minimum AAB at A Level and a 2:1 (All About Law, undated)

Website: www.clydeco.com