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Legal Cheek has unveiled an exclusive round-up of solicitor apprentice salaries at the UK’s top law firms — with some apprentices earning up to £33,000 straight out of school!
Drawing on data from 40 leading law firms featured in the 2026 Legal Cheek Solicitor Apprenticeships Most List, we’ve broken down the first-year salaries for new recruits. It’s also worth noting that some firms offer sign-on bonuses of up to £5,000 to support school leavers as they transition from student life to starting out as apprentices.
Solicitor apprenticeships — not to be confused with graduate solicitors apprenticeships — typically span six years, during which rookies earn the salaries listed below while completing a fully funded law degree and the SQE.
The usual set-up sees one day a week spent at uni and the other four with their firm. Salaries rise as apprentices progress through the programme, with those in years five and six usually pulling in the same trainee rates as their training contract counterparts.
It’s also worth noting the figures below are starting salaries for solicitors apprenticeships both inside and outside London.
You can view all of our salary data on our 2026 Legal Cheek Solicitor Apprenticeship Most List.
How much will I earn as a first-year apprentice? 💷
| Law firm | Starting salary |
| Weil Gotshal & Manges | £33,000 |
| A&O Shearman | £32,000 |
| Linklaters | £32,000 |
| White & Case | £32,000 |
| CMS | £30,000 |
| Hogan Lovells | £30,000 |
| Stephenson Harwood | £30,000 |
| Mishcon de Reya | £29,000 |
| Simmons & Simmons | £29,000 |
| Wedlake Bell | £29,000 |
| Dentons | £28,500 |
| Osborne Clarke | £28,500 |
| Pinsent Masons | £28,350 |
| Ashurst | £28,000 |
| Freshfields | £28,000 |
| Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer | £28,000 |
| Mayer Brown | £28,000 |
| Norton Rose Fulbright | £28,000 |
| Slaughter and May | £28,000 |
| Taylor Wessing | £28,000 |
| Bates Wells | £27,400 |
| Lewis Silkin | £27,000 |
| Gowling WlG | £26,500 |
| Reed Smith | £26,500 |
| Bird & Bird | £26,000 |
| Watson Farley & Williams | £26,000 |
| DWF | £25,640 |
| Farrer & Co | £25,500 |
| Kennedys | £25,500 |
| Bristows | £25,250 |
| Weightmans | £25,207 |
| Burges Salmon | £25,000 |
| Cripps | £25,000 |
| RPC | £25,000 |
| Michelmores | £23,000 |
| Addleshaw Goddard | £22,000 |
| Shoosmiths | £22,000 |
| Foot Anstey | £21,500 |
| Womble Bond Dickinson | £21,480 |
| Bevan Brittan | Undisclosed |
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