Burges Salmon	For more information on recruitment at Burges Salmon click here
Our view....    Burges Salmon and Osborne Clarke are the firms that dominate the Bristol legal scene and it's fair to say that the former is currently in the ascendant. It has stuck to a policy of steady organic growth, as befits a firm with a reputation as a restrained, stately sort of place with a conservative attitude to life. This stopped it putting as many eggs in the dotcom basket as Osbourne Clarke, and it has weathered recent economic ups and downs far more successfully. Average profits per equity partner are at a market-beating £410,000.    Burges Salmon has got a good name for banking, insolvency and corporate work and recently made moves to bolster its competition practice too. Notable recent successes included a £31m AIM flotation of new client Bristol & London, securing a place on the panel of the multinational aviation service BBA group, and nabbing its largest ever securitisation deal from under the noses of numerous Magic Circle candidates.    It also beat Slaughter & May, Denton Wilde Sapte and Dewey Ballantine to advise Honda UK on a refinancing and landed the job of advising the Ministry of Defence on the UK's largest ever PFI deal.    The firm remains committed to Bristol and its single-office strategy (although it has got a bit of an office hidden away in London). It has also embarked on a much-improved marketing policy, revealing a new-found willingness to dip a toe into the waters of the modern age. Or at least get rid of the dodgy salmon-coloured paper it had previously insisted on using.   The firm associates seem to have no complaints at all: they voted Burges Salmon  RollOnFriday's Firm of the Year 2006. The firm came second only to Travers Smith in 2007.   Prospective trainees should know that the firm gives GDL and LPC students maintenance grants of £7,000 each year wherever they choose to study. It reckons it's the only firm outside London to offer this level of maintenance.     For more information on recruitment at Burges Salmon click here   Email your comments	Salary, new trainee	30,000
	Salary, newly qualified	43,000
	Salary, 1 PQE	46,500
	Salary, 2 PQE	51,000
	Salary, 3 PQE	57,000
	Salary, 4 PQE
	Target hours	1300
	Holiday	25 days - additional day after 3, 6 and ten years' service
	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	Private medical insurance, life assurance (4xsalary), permanent health insurance, free BUPA assessment every two years. Professional subscriptions paid, interest-free season ticket loans, generous relocation allowances, sports and social club. Free car parking / £2,000 p.a. cash alternative for associates. Firm-wide bonus scheme
	Number of training places per year	20
	% of trainees retained	100
	24 hour photocopying support	No
	24 hour secretarial support	No