Once a good company but now struggling
Pros
Lots of good people here, especially at the lower levels - I made some life-long friends during my time at the company. Managers never felt like they weren't approachable and the leadership team do put a lot of effort into making the company welcoming. Staff consistently go the extra mile in delivering projects and there is a strong collaborative atmosphere, which is unusual for the industry. There's a wide variety of work available, making this a good place to pick up experience. I felt like I got to explore a lot of the legal industry while working there.
Cons
Pay is frankly inadequate for 2024 and management are completely in denial about it. Lower level staff have been struggling with functionally frozen pay for years and consequently have begun leaving in droves as inflation eats through their pockets. The bonus system is inconsistent, opaque and nonsensical from the point of view of many staff. You could put a substantial amount of effort in developing and expanding a product that clients love, only for Sales to be applauded for selling it and awarded bonuses for what is effectively your hard work. This contributes to a large number of lower level staff feeling neglected and taken advantage of. My department put in a huge amount of effort and performed exceptionally well over the period I worked there, and nobody but a few managers received bonuses. The impact this had on staff morale was devastating. Certain managers in particular NEVER put their staff forward for bonuses and senior management do nothing about this, even though this unfairly penalises certain teams. Progression is blocked past a certain level by a large number of managers left over from the company's merger last decade. While none of them are inept or toxic, they do serve to stop staff progression, and this combines with pay issues to push more people to leave. Management are at least aware of this issue and have tried to tackle it over the last few years, but it remains a problem.