DLA Piper Manchester office
Our view....    Although it hasn't got quite the stellar reputation of the firm's Leeds office, DLA's Manchester outpost is still a class act. The office is busy and getting busier. Recent deals of note include advising Montagu Private Equity on their £142m acquisition of the Steam Packet freight services company and for the Royal Bank of Scotland on a £120m syndicated facility. In one of 2003's more unusual real estate deals, they acted for Mapeley Columbus Ltd in their £20m redevelopment of the "home" of Sherlock Holmes.    The Manchester office believes that they are only just scratching the surface in terms of both quantity and quality of work that is available in the city and surrounding areas. They're also very active on the pro bono front too, investing a great deal of time in LawWorks North, so if you've got a social conscience this could be the office for you.     In 2003 the firm as a whole saw a 15% increase in turnover to £234m, although profits per partner have remained fairly static over the last couple of years at around £460,000. There were also ranked number 8 out of the 50 companies listed by the Financial Times in its 2003 annual survey of the best places to work in the UK. It followed nicely on the heels of the firm's 16-out-of-a-hundred placing in a similar survey in the Sunday Times a few weeks before.     On the downside, whilst DLA made up 14 partners in 2003 only one of them was from Manchester. Still, at least they look after their partners once they make it. Two partners at the Manchester office have been charged by the Serious Fraud Office with offences relating to litigation they did eight years ago for the legacy firm Alsop Wilkinson. DLA are standing by them - saying that they have reviewed the SFO's evidence and can find nothing which suggests that their lawyers were involved in any wrongdoing - and despite removing them from client work are continuing to let them draw their full wedge.     Of more concern to assistants will be salary levels, which compare favourably with the local competition but are nothing like what lawyers at the firm's London office take home. And Manchester is hardly a cheap city...    Email your comments	Salary, new trainee	26000
	Salary, newly qualified	41500
	Salary, 1 PQE	42500
	Salary, 2 PQE	44000
	Salary, 3 PQE	47000
	Salary, 4 PQE	51000
	Target hours	1500
	Holiday	25 days plus 10 'earned' additional days to be taken over 2 year probation period after 3 years' continuous service
	Pension	6% firm contribution
	Healthcare	Private health insurance
	Maternity policy	Enhanced
	Gym	No
	Restaurant	Yes, subsidised
	Other	Life insurance, permanent health insurance, discretionary car parking, Life Works concierge service, Life Works staff assistance scheme
	Number of training places per year	10
	% of trainees retained	90%
	24 hour photocopying support	Yes
	24 hour secretarial support	Yes