- Renowned for its expertise relating to real estate (Band 1), energy, and food and agribusiness.
- Carries out a broader range of real estate work than some of its rivals.
- Initiatives such as BCLP Discover and working with Orbital Witness demonstrate the firm’s dedication to technological innovations to provide clients with cutting-edge legal solutions for complex matters.
- Worked on a broad range of interesting and high-profile matters over the last few years, including for Royal Mail, Unite and Nike.
- Guaranteed opportunity to work with the Innovation Team during the training contract, which involves dedicating 20% capacity to innovation projects and technical training.
- Launched a Global I&D Client Relationship Partner, has a range of affinity groups, and launched the BCLP Podium initiative.
We cover these selling points in more detail below, alongside other relevant firm facts and characteristics.
Practice areas / services
Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (BCLP) is a full-service law firm, with a broad range of practice areas including:
- Corporate
- Finance
- Investigations
- Litigation & Dispute Resolution
- Real Estate
- Regulation, Compliance & Advisory
- Tax & Private Client
Chambers and Partners, a leading analyst of the legal market, has awarded BCLP its highest ‘Band 1’ ranking for the following departments: Planning, Real Estate Litigation, Real Estate: £150 million and above, Asset Finance: Rail Finance, and Transport: Rail: Rolling Stock. See here for more information
Key sectors / industries
BCLP services a broad range of industries, with some of its highest-value clients operating in the following sectors:
In addition, BCLP services the following industries: Crypto and Digital Assets; Financial Institutions; Infrastructure; Insurance; Retail & Consumer Products and Sports & Entertainment.
Work
BCLP consistently advises on complex high-profile legal matters, including, for example:
- Royal Mail: The Supreme Court refused DAF Trucks permission to appeal a judgment of the Court of Appeal in favour of Royal Mail, a client of BCLP. The Supreme Court’s decision followed DAF’s unsuccessful attempt to appeal an earlier trial judgment of the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT).
- Unite: BCLP advised Unite, the largest owner, manager and developer of purpose-built student accommodation in the UK, on the sale of six purpose-built student accommodation assets to PGIM Real Estate for £184 million.
- Nike: The firm advised Nike on the pre-letting of a 1.3 million square foot logistics campus at Magna Park Corby – one of the largest dedicated sites in the UK.
Offices / global footprint / expansion
Headquarters: St Louis, Missouri
Offices: BCLP has an international network of 31 offices, with office locations including Abu Dhabi, Berlin, Frankfurt and Moscow.
Insights, internships and other opportunities
BCLP offers a number of opportunities for individuals wishing to gain experience in the legal industry and learn more about life at the firm. Opportunities for interested applicants include: the ‘Career Kick Start Work Experience Programme’, which offers Year 12 students from disadvantaged backgrounds the chance to learn more about working at a City law firm; a ‘Brand Ambassador’ programme, which involves university students working closely with the graduate recruitment team to increase the presence of the firm on campuses; and two vacation schemes (one in June, one in July) which each last two weeks and are open to penultimate year law students, final year law and non-law students, and graduates.
Training contract
BCLP offers a four-seat training contract, with each seat lasting six months. Trainees can apply for a seat in a variety of different departments, with the training contract recently updated to include a mandatory ‘innovation’ seat. Lasting six months, this seat will operate as a distinct “training and project delivery track” to run alongside normal, fee-earning work in a department-specific seat. This means that alongside a seat in Real Estate, Corporate, or any of BCLP’s many different departments, trainees will work with the Innovation Team, dedicating 20% of their time to innovation projects and technical training. While on the scheme, trainees receive support from the Emerging Talent Team, Training Principal and a Partner Mentor, with individual coaching provided by the Learning & Development team in regular sessions and in quarterly ‘Lunch and Learn’ meetings.
Secondments
BCLP offers trainees the opportunity to apply for international secondments to the Abu Dhabi, Brussels, Dubai, Hong Kong and Singapore offices. Trainees may also have the chance to travel internationally during their time in the London office, or take up a client secondment within the UK (previous client secondments have taken place at organisations including Goldman Sachs, Heathrow and AIG).
Technology and innovation
BCLP is committed to utilising technology to provide clients with flexible and innovative legal services, with related initiatives including:
- Orbital Witness: the firm was involved in the development and implementation of a generative AI lease reporting tool with Proptech innovator Orbital Witness. The firm worked closely with legal engineers, data scientists and software engineers from Orbital Witness to pilot Orbital Copilot.
- First firm to use predictive coding technology for electronic disclosure: as part of Pyrrho Investments Ltd v MWB Property Ltd & Ors [2016], the firm was the first to use predictive coding as part of a substantial document review exercise.
- BCLP Discover: this is a ‘smart search’ platform which provides lawyers with access to all matter documents and data over the last 10 years, tagged knowledge documents, closing binders and US court filings. It integrates data from across the firm, as well as external feeds from Thomson Reuters to collate intelligence about the firm’s clients and their matters.
Corporate social responsibility
BCLP is ‘committed to making a real and lasting difference to the communities’ where it works. Its pro bono initiatives include:
- Windrush Legal Initiative: BCLP collaborated with seven other firms and the Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit to assist with the Windrush Legal Initiative, which saw legal advice and support given to people applying to the Windrush Compensation Scheme.
- Hague Convention Work: the firm helped achieve a pro bono victory in a Hague Convention case which involved reuniting a German mother with her child who had been wrongfully detained for more than a year.
- Missouri Death Penalty Cases: the firm in 2024 entered into an agreement with the American Bar Association’s Death Penalty Representation Project which sees the firm provide pro bono assistance to the ABA identifying and tracking the status of capital cases in Missouri.
Diversity and inclusion
BCLP strives to foster an environment where all employees feel ‘valued and respected as an individual’. In light of that, the firm has established a range of initiatives to promote diversity, including:
- Global I&D Client Relationship Partner: in 2021, the firm established its Global I&D Client Relationship Partner across its 31 offices. The role is a first of its kind in the legal industry as it is a dedicated partner working pro-bono with clients to develop and collaborate around diversity efforts.
- Affinity Groups and Networks: its groups include Race and Ethnicity, Social Inclusion, Gender, Family and Carers, Disability, LGBTQ* and Wellbeing. These groups hold various events throughout the year.
- BCLP Podium: Female lawyers at BCLP - alongside in-house female lawyers from firms such as Bayer, BT, Credit Agricole Corporate & Investment Bank, Emerson, Enterprise Holdings and National Grid - came together in the BCLP Podium programme, which focused on developing leadership communications for female leaders in law.