Company details

HEADCOUNT

25-99

ORG TYPE

Corporate

SECTOR

Professional Services

WEBSITE

http://www.frettens.co.uk/

About the company

Frettens Solicitors is a full-service law firm serving private and business clients across Dorset and Hampshire. The firm markets itself as a growth-focused practice that invests in technology, flexible working, and staff engagement. Frettens runs a structured pathway to solicitor qualification via a three-year graduate scheme aligned to the SQE route. The firm also offers a year-long placement scheme that can feed into training contracts.

Locations and presence

Frettens Solicitors operates from three offices: Christchurch, Ringwood, and Wimborne. Early-career routes appear to be offered across these locations depending on department need.

Palpable Score

72.2

/ 100

Frettens Solicitors is unusually strong on entry routes into law for students and graduates, with funded SQE costs and a placement-to-training-contract pipeline. The score is held back by a lighter-touch hiring process in places (email a CV) and limited published pay ranges for junior roles, even though benefits are clearly described.

Pillar 1: Early-career access

Score

16.0

/ 20

The company runs a three-year Graduate Scheme starting with a Graduate Legal Assistant year, then progression into trainee seats for Years 2–3.
Frettens operates a 12-month Placement Scheme with a stated opportunity to skip the first year of the graduate scheme and move straight into a training contract.
The company publicly describes an “academy” cohort with multiple trainees, graduates, and placement students active at once, which signals recurring early-career hiring rather than a one-off intake.

Pillar 2: Hiring fairness and transparency

Score

11.8

/ 20

The company publishes clear deadlines for the placement intake (including a dated closing window), which helps early-career candidates plan and prepare.
Frettens asks many applicants to apply by emailing a CV and cover letter, with limited visibility on stages, assessments, and decision timelines beyond the deadline.
The company describes what the placement involves (rotations across departments and location options), but the selection process expectations are not spelled out in the same practical detail.

Pillar 3: Learning and support

Score

16.8

/ 20

The company fully funds SQE tuition and exam costs and adds paid study time off (10 days per year) for graduate scheme participants.
Frettens positions the graduate route as structured exposure across departments, followed by trainee “seats” while studying, which is a clear learn-and-progress model rather than ad-hoc training.
The company backs support claims with concrete internal practices like firm-wide communication meetings and explicit support for professional training time and funding.

Pillar 4: Pay fairness and stability

Score

12.8

/ 20

The company publishes a detailed benefits package including private healthcare access, a health cash plan, life insurance, paid sick allowance, and flexitime from day one for most roles.
Frettens describes flexible working norms (including a “soft start” and non-standard hours across a large share of staff), which can materially improve stability for junior employees.
The company calls the graduate salary “very competitive” and the placement salary “competitive” but does not publish salary ranges on the early-career pages, limiting pay transparency.

Pillar 5: Early-career outcomes

Score

14.8

/ 20

The company publicly reports a full cohort from 2022 completing the scheme and qualifying as solicitors in 2025, which is a hard outcome signal for the pathway.
Frettens gives examples of post-qualification progression (for example a trainee completing a training contract and moving into an Associate Solicitor role), showing internal mobility beyond qualification.
The company references regular anonymous staff feedback and improvements driven by it, but published retention, promotion timing, and early-career churn metrics are not available, which caps confidence on outcomes.

Useful links & resources

Frettens Graduate Scheme Placement Scheme Training Contracts