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Womble Bond Dickinson

Interesting selling points

  • Serves a wide span of industries, including real estate, manufacturing, retail and hospitality, healthcare, energy and natural resources, financial institutions, insurance, life sciences and pharmaceuticals, private wealth, public, government services and third sector, technology, and transport.
  • Has a dedicated private wealth team, as well as the more common City law firm practice areas, offering greater variety than a number of other City firms.
  • Strong reputation for client service, ranked in the top tier for client service in the BTI Consulting Group’s Client Service A-Team 2022 report.
  • Strong presence both in London and across the UK’s various legal markets, with a total of nine offices across England and Scotland.
  • Strong firm support for its pro bono programme, which includes mentoring local children in the UK, collaborating with Access to Justice to provide legal advice, and supporting small businesses through the University of Law Small Business Clinic.
  • Fosters diversity and inclusion through its various DEI networks and integration of DEI celebrations like Neurodiversity Celebration Week.
  • Integrating innovation and technology into the firm’s work by using solutions like Neota Logic and Lex Machina as well as the establishment of GCSolutions as a team within the firm.

We cover these selling points in more detail below, alongside other relevant firm facts and characteristics.

Practice areas / services

Womble Bond Dickinson is a full-service law firm, with a broad range of practice areas including:

  • Commercial
  • Corporate
  • Dispute Resolution and Litigation
  • Employment and Pensions
  • Finance: Banking, Restructuring, Insolvency
  • Intellectual Property
  • Projects, Construction, and Infrastructure
  • Real Estate
  • Regulatory
  • Private Wealth

Chambers and Partners, a leading analyst of the legal market, has awarded Womble Bond Dickinson its highest ‘Band 1’ ranking for the following departments:  Agriculture & Rural Affairs, Construction, Employment, Information Technology, Planning, Real Estate and Litigation. See here for more information

Key sectors / industries

Womble Bond Dickinson services a broad range of industries, with some of its highest-value clients operating in the following sectors:

In addition, Womble Bond Dickinson services the following industries: energy and natural resources; financial institutions; insurance; life sciences and pharmaceuticals; private wealth; public, government services and third sector; real estate; technology; and transport. 

Work

Womble Bond Dickinson is consistently involved in high-profile work. Examples of the firm’s work include: 

  • Tees Maritime Cluster: The firm has supported the creation of this new regional partnership that will champion and grow Teesside’s maritime sector. It is a private-sector initiative supported by Maritime UK. 
  • Aviva: Womble Bond Dickinson provided legal advice to Aviva’s £20m full buy-in of the BPT Retirement Benefits Scheme which was sponsored by a subsidiary of listed residential landlord Grainger. 
  • Doncaster Sheffield Airport: The firm advised the City of Doncaster Council on the agreement of a headlease for Doncaster Sheffield Airport.

Older examples

  • LDC: the firm advised the UK’s leading mid-market private equity firm on its significant minority investment in award winning IT managed and internet service provider Aspire Technology Solutions.
  • TAQA: the firm supported energy group TAQA on its acquisition of oilfield specialist Tendeka BV from Shell Technology Ventures Fund BV and others. 
  • DG Innovate plc: the firm advised on the reverse takeover of electric mobility and storage specialist DG Innovate. 

Offices / global footprint / expansion

Offices / global footprint / expansion

Headquarters: London, 4 More London Riverside

Offices: Womble Bond Dickinson is a transatlantic firm with a total of 27 offices. Some of the firm’s locations include Bristol, Edinburgh, Boston, and Atlanta. 

Insights, internships and other opportunities

Womble Bond Dickson offers several opportunities for students to gain an insight into working life at the firm. The firm runs an Insight Programme aimed at those studying towards their A-Levels (or equivalent), which enables attendees to spend several days in different teams across the firm. For individuals seeking to secure a training contract, Womble Bond Dickinson runs Work Placement Weeks as a part of its recruitment process. These provide applicants with an insight into the business, as well as the chance to take part in group activities and work within teams at the firm.

Training contract

Womble Bond Dickinson offers a four-seat training contract, with each seat lasting six months. During this time, trainees can expect to be involved in high-quality work and have contact with senior client contacts. To support trainees across these two years, the firm allocates mentors who provide ongoing guidance, ensuring each trainee settles into life at the firm and continues to develop key technical skills. 

Secondments

Womble Bond Dickinson offers its trainees the chance to apply for one 6-month secondment during its training contracts. Whilst international placements are rare, trainees are often able to undertake secondments with the firm’s clients, some of which include FTSE 100 companies and global retailers. 

Technology and innovation

Womble Bond Dickinson “invests heavily in innovation” to ensure its clients and lawyers work together as effectively and efficiently as possible. Some solutions made use of by the firm include:

  • GCSolutions: This is the firm’s solution to plug the disconnect between what clients need and what traditional Big Law delivers. It is a division of the firm which provides solutions to in-house legal teams and small to medium sized businesses. 
  • Lex Machina: Womble Bond Dickinson uses Lex Machina to gather valuable insight when preparing for litigation. It uses machine learning to search volumes of court records to provide statistical insight and historical data about judges, opposing counsel, parties and case matters. 
  • Neota Logic: The firm uses Neota Logic, an AI-based tool for application design. It helps create efficiencies whilst also ensuring that the client stays within or under budget.
Corporate social responsibility

Womble Bond Dickinson has a longstanding commitment to community service and helps fulfil this commitment through its active pro bono programme. Examples of the firm’s projects in this context include:

  • University of Law Small Business Clinic: The firm provides pro bono support to the University of Law Small Business Clinic as part of a long-standing partnership. 
  • Access to Justice: Womble Bond Dickinson fundraises through local legal walks near each of its offices to support Access to Justice. 
  • Envision: The firm provides mentors for Envision, a charity which works with young people from less advantaged backgrounds in Bristol, Birmingham and London. 

Diversity and inclusion

Womble Bond Dickinson believes its clients and lawyers “benefit from a more rounded, informed culture”. To foster such a culture, the firm has introduced a number of D&I initiatives, including: 

  • Neurodiversity Celebration Week: In 2023, for the first time the firm hosted Neurodiversity Celebration Week, where it supported the ADHD Foundation’s Umbrella Project. 
  • WBD Reach: Womble Bond Dickinson’s Reach Network is open to all colleagues and works to improve BAME representation, offer focused training, and raise awareness. 
  • WBD Thrive: This is the firm’s network which aims to support women across the business. It raises awareness of issues, empowers everyone with the tools to support women, and leads initiatives to drive change.