Litigation and Dispute Resolution at Macfarlanes | Career Guide

Macfarlanes' dispute resolution offering is often described in the market as specialist and high-calibre, with emphasis on complex commercial litigation, arbitration and contentious private client matters. The team frequently collaborates with the firm's corporate, trusts and tax teams, which is an important feature for disputes arising from M&A, shareholder relationships and high-net-worth estates.

Typical practice areas and focal points include:

• Commercial shareholder and joint-venture disputes.

• International and domestic arbitration (institutional and ad hoc).

• Commercial fraud and asset-tracing.

• Insolvency-related litigation and restructuring disputes.

• Professional negligence and trust disputes linked to private client work.

These areas reflect how the team combines technical litigation skills with a commercial understanding of clients' broader business and personal objectives. For candidates, this means developing both strong legal analysis and an ability to tailor strategies to commercial outcomes rather than purely legal wins.

The team is engaged on high-value, often multi-jurisdictional matters that require joined-up thinking between litigation, arbitration and corporate lawyers. Examples of the types of instructions you may encounter include:

• Acting in shareholder disputes with complex factual matrices and competing valuations, often involving strategic injunctions or proprietary claims.

• Conducting LCIA or ICC arbitrations arising from cross-border contracts, where procedural strategy (seat, governing law, interim measures) is crucial.

• Leading asset-tracing and freezing order proceedings to preserve client recoveries in fraud and breach of trust scenarios.

• Advising on disputes that span insolvency and restructuring, including preference claims and disputes over restructuring plans.

• Handling professional negligence claims against advisors in transaction and trust contexts.

These examples show the practical skills solicitors develop at Macfarlanes: drafting witness statements and pleadings, running disclosure exercises, drafting and arguing injunction applications, preparing skeleton arguments for hearings and managing parallel arbitration and court processes. Expect a high degree of partner involvement on files, which offers close supervision and rapid exposure to strategic decision-making.

Trainees and junior solicitors in dispute resolution at Macfarlanes typically get hands-on experience from an early stage. The training emphasis blends technical litigation skills with commercial judgment.

Typical daily tasks and learning opportunities include:

• Drafting: witness statements, particulars of claim, defences, skeleton arguments and arbitration pleadings.

• Court and tribunal exposure: attending strategy meetings, hearings, interim applications and costs hearings.

• Disclosure and document review: running electronic disclosure projects and preparing disclosure schedules.

• Client-facing tasks: preparing client updates, attending negotiations and liaising with external counsel in foreign jurisdictions.

• Research and legal analysis: producing advice on jurisdiction, limitation, enforceability and remedies.

Training contract structure and development strategies:

1. Expect to complete at least one seat in dispute resolution during the training contract. This is where you consolidate advocacy, drafting and procedural skills.

2. Use each seat to build a portfolio of tangible examples for interviews and assessor feedback: record files you contributed to, documents you drafted and discrete contributions to hearing strategy.

3. Seek out advocacy and courtroom exposure early. Ask to attend interim hearings and to prepare skeleton arguments or oral submissions under supervision.

4. Pursue additional qualifications that add value, such as Higher Rights of Audience after qualification, or short courses in arbitration procedure (e.g. ICC/LCIA practice workshops).

Macfarlanes also offers mentoring and partner-led feedback; trainees should proactively request structured review sessions and identify technical topics to focus on during each seat.

Competition for training contracts and junior litigation roles is strong. To stand out, combine clear evidence of litigation experience with commercial awareness and fit for Macfarlanes' partner-led, high-value model.

Application and CV strategies:

• Tailor your application to dispute resolution. Highlight mooting, moots won or judged, pro bono advocacy, mini-pupillages or paralegal litigation experience.

• Use concise, outcome-focused examples: explain the problem, your role, the action you took and the result. That helps assessors see your impact on real matters.

• Demonstrate commercial awareness. Reference recent commercially significant legal developments (for example arbitration awards or key Commercial Court decisions) and explain their possible impact on clients or firm practice.

Interview and assessment centre tactics:

• Prepare 3-5 litigation-focused examples from your experience to use in competency questions (teamwork, resilience, analytical thinking, client service). Use the STAR format but keep answers legal and commercially anchored.

• Expect technical questions on civil procedure, the arbitration framework, or basic remedies. Review CPR essentials, arbitration clauses, and injunction principles.

• For written or case-study exercises, allocate time to identify key legal issues first, then present a pragmatic commercial recommendation. Macfarlanes assesses both legal accuracy and commercial judgment.

• Use market intelligence resources to research the firm and team. Useful sources include YourLegalLadder, Chambers Student, Legal Cheek, LawCareers.Net, The Lawyer and Practical Law. These sources help you reference actual market positions or recent firm instructions in interviews without overclaiming.

Progression in dispute resolution at Macfarlanes typically follows a partner-track model where strong technical ability and client development are both essential. Junior solicitors should focus on building a reputation for reliability, sound judgement and commercial thinking.

Key skills and how to build them:

• Advocacy and oral skills: Get mooting experience, undertake pro bono advocacy for Citizens Advice or Law Centres, and request opportunities to present in court under supervision.

• Drafting and pleading: Practice concise drafting; ask supervisors to review your witness statements and skeleton arguments and implement feedback quickly.

• Project and client management: Volunteer to run discrete elements of a matter (e.g. disclosure plan or schedule of issues) to demonstrate organisational capability.

• International and arbitration expertise: Read award summaries and arbitration rules, attend arbitration-focused seminars and seek secondment opportunities with international counsel or in-house legal teams.

Longer-term options:

• Seek secondments (in-house or overseas) to broaden client-side perspective and sector expertise.

• Consider Higher Rights of Audience and advocacy qualifications, which can enhance courtroom responsibilities.

• Build a niche: combining dispute resolution with sector knowledge (private wealth disputes, financial services or energy) can make you indispensable on particular file types.

Finally, maintain a habit of regular legal reading and commercial updates. Subscribing to market newsletters and using platforms such as YourLegalLadder for weekly commercial awareness updates keeps your knowledge current and interview-ready.