Bevan Brittan Bristol office	For more information on Bevan Brittan click here
Our view....     Back in 2004 Bevan Ashford finally decided to ditch its notoriously odd 'town and country' management structure. After 18 years of sitting on the fence, the firm demerged its Bristol, Birmingham and London (BBL) from Exeter, Plymouth and London (EPL). The only real surprise about this announcement was that it took so long. The two branches of the firm always maintained separate profit centres, and even refused to share the same offices in London. BBL formed a new firm, Bevan Brittan, and EPL are now boring old Ashfords.     Good news for those in Bristol - the BBL centre was the more profitable of the two, and contributed to about two-thirds of the firm's combined turnover. Profits per equity partner are at a healthy £209,000, and the demerger was widely thought to strengthen Bevan Brittan's future prospects - it should have freed the firm from the administrative hassles and conflicts of two separate profit centres.   It hasn't quite worked like that. The firm was recently forced to announce that 34 support staff were likely to be made redundant across all its offices, on the grounds that it no longer needed such a large headcount now that the demerger had bedded down. Six lawyers are also expected to be given the chop: the partnership claims that this is a necessary evil to place the firm in a strong position in a tricky market. Hmm. Watch this space...   The firm has also recently lost some of its core work from the NHS Litigation Authority, so has sought to move away from its public sector practice and develop a more balanced profile in the private arena. However, its reputation for public sector projects remains strong - it was appointed to five out of seven of the Office of Government Contracts' panels, advised on the largest defence PFI scheme (the Future Tanker Aircraft Scheme) and this year landed the plum position of joint legal adviser on the PPP/PFI scheme to overhaul Glasgow's healthcare system. It is understood to have beaten Magic Circle firms including Freshfields, A&O and Linklaters and various Scottish heavyweights tendering for the job.     Bevan Brittan doesn't aspire to corporate domination, so if you're looking to make your mark through big ticket corporate and/or financial work it may not be the best choice. But it does have a good balance of public and private sector work, and a particularly good reputation for PFI deals. And now that it no longer has to worry about its country cousins, we have a feeling that Bevan Brittan may start looking for other partners to help it spread its net further across the country.     Email your comments  For more information on Bevan Brittan click here	Salary, new trainee	20,000
	Salary, newly qualified	34,000
	Salary, 1 PQE	37,000
	Salary, 2 PQE	40,000
	Salary, 3 PQE	43,000
	Salary, 4 PQE	47,000
	Target hours	1300
	Holiday	25 days
	Pension	Membership of a group personal pension plan with matching contribution from firm of up to 5% of salary
	Healthcare	Yes
	Maternity policy	Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption pay
	Gym	Off-site, discounted membership
	Restaurant	No
	Other	In house masseur, time recording based bonus scheme (5% of salary for 1600 hours, 10% for 1800) option to buy and sell up to 5 days' holiday per year, "concierge" service to help organise domestic activities
	Number of training places per year	8
	% of trainees retained	90
	24 hour photocopying support	Yes
	24 hour secretarial support	Yes