We provide a culture and platform for ambitious professionals that rewards dedication to clients and colleagues, entrepreneurship, and hard work—a place where you can stretch and grow your career. Drive and success are central to the Shoosmiths’ ethos, and we embrace people who want to do the best for themselves, our firm, and our clients.

But your career is just one part of your life. You’re also a member of a family, someone with aspirations beyond work, someone who needs time to recharge, someone planning for their future. At Shoosmiths, our benefits and rewards reflect that reality. From generous leave and family support to flexible working, medical coverage, and financial planning advice, we’ve created a package that supports your whole person, not just the professional.

For time away that matters

Real life happens beyond the office, and we want you to live it fully. You’ll start with 25 paid days off (although the longer you’re with us, the more annual leave you’ll accrue), with the flexibility to buy up to eight more. Sometimes you need that extra week in the sun or a few more days to tackle your home admin to-do list. We allow you to adjust your holiday entitlement twice a year, in January and July, so your time off works with your life, not against it. We also give you your birthday off, not as annual leave, just as a free day to celebrate—plus a £50 voucher to spend however you like.

For families that matter

Starting or growing your family is one of life’s biggest decisions, and we’re here to support you through it. Whether you’re welcoming a child through birth, adoption, surrogacy, or fertility treatment, we’ve designed our policies to support different paths to parenthood—as well as providing additional leave for family and pet care.

We offer up to 26 weeks of enhanced maternity, shared parental, and adoption leave pay at full salary. Co-parents receive 12 weeks at full pay, because we know that bonding time matters for everyone, not just to the parent who gives birth.

For those on the journey to parenthood through assisted conception, we provide up to five days of paid leave per cycle for treatment, plus two days for partners or those supporting a surrogate. If you experience the heartbreak of early pregnancy loss before 24 weeks, you’ll have up to 10 days’ leave at full pay to heal, regardless of how long you’ve been with us. We also support adoptive parents with paid time off for up to five adoption appointments

We also understand that families come in many shapes and sizes, and we support you in caring for all its members, from babies and children to elderly relatives and pets. We offer all employees up to five days of back-up care for both your human and furry loved ones.

For wellbeing that matters

Your health— mental, physical, and financial—means everything. That’s why we offer private health and dental care, with discounted rates for your dependents. We provide life assurance of up to eight times your salary for genuine peace of mind, and a pension scheme of up to 5.5% to help you safeguard your future.

We recognise the importance of early detection when identifying potential health issues. Our partner provider offers a range of screenings and assessments to help you take charge of your health.

We know how important exercise is for overall health. You can choose discounted membership options from a network of more than 4,000 gym and leisure centres.

For flexibility that matters

We work hard at Shoosmiths and our expectations for excellence are high, but we don’t believe work should dominate your life. There’s no “facetime” culture at our firm—if you’ve done what you need to do, it’s time to log off. We trust you to manage your time, and subject to your role and team, we embrace hybrid working that improves both your and our clients’ experience.

Where roles permit, we work from home and the office in ways that suit different individual and team needs. We’ve created accessible offices that are great places to be, with modern workstations, natural light, collaborative spaces, and well-stocked kitchens and coffee bars. When you’re in, you’ll want to be here

Need a departure from the typical nine-to-five? We’ll listen. We’re ready to explore flexible working patterns that help you fit your job to your life, not the other way around.

For growth that matters

We invest in your development, professionally and personally, because your success is our success.

When it comes to continuing your education, we’ll reimburse certain expenses that advance your career with us. We’ll cover your professional subscriptions to keep you connected and current. If you bring talented people into the firm, our employee introduction bonus rewards you for building our team. And if you grow your career at Shoosmiths for the long term, we gift long service awards for your loyalty and commitment.

As a leading law firm, we’re also able to offer you discounted legal services to help you through life’s changes and challenges, including mortgage advice and conveyancing if you’re buying a home, as well as will contributions and—should you or a loved one ever need it—serious injury and clinical negligence advice through a partner law firm.

We also provide practical benefits that make your daily life a little easier, from interest-free season ticket loans to corporate discounts across a wide range of products and services.

For recognition that matters

We believe in winning together and showing appreciation for our colleagues. Our STAR recognition system allows you to give kudos to individuals and teams, through both monetary rewards and words of thanks.

We celebrate our collective wins through a firmwide bonus, available to all our people, which recognises our success in reaching financial and non-financial goals. This year we were proud to be the first major law firm to offer a £1-million bonus, to be divided among all staff, tied to our people’s usage of AI for the year—so it pays to use Copilot, both in terms of futureproofing your career with new skills sets and financially.  On top of this, our discretionary bonus scheme for legal advisers rewards your annual performance.

For a sense of belonging that matters

Diversity, equity, and inclusion are at the heart of our culture and our benefits, from our policies to our committees that embrace our varied backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences. We encourage our people to get involved, make a difference, and feel empowered to bring their full selves to work.

Our offices are also thoughtfully designed with inclusivity in mind. Multipurpose rooms offer quiet spaces for prayer, breastfeeding, or moments of calm and re-centring, supporting neurodiverse needs and personal wellbeing.

We believe that doing good and doing well go hand in hand. Our benefits help you make more sustainable choices for the planet and your future. Whether it’s cycling to work through our salary sacrifice scheme or leasing an electric vehicle to reduce your carbon footprint, we’re committed to helping you live and work in ways that reflect your values. We also encourage pro bono work and extend a day off for our people to spend time volunteering in their communities.

For the person you are

We see the whole you, not just the career-driven employee coming to work, but the parent juggling school runs, the person managing a difficult health condition, the carer needing extra flexibility, the individual pursuing personal growth and passions outside of the office. Our comprehensive benefits package underscores our commit to supporting your life and your career. We believe you do your best work when you feel truly supported. And that’s what matters most.