Linklaters is the biggest faller, shedding 40 TCs after ramping up its solicitor apprenticeship programme, but US firms are supporting the market as they continue to hire more trainees in London
Trainee solicitor numbers have remained broadly stable across more than 100 leading law firms, new Legal Cheek research reveals, despite the rapid rise of AI, the emergence of new routes into the profession such as solicitor apprenticeships, and ongoing economic uncertainty in the UK. Beneath the relatively flat headline figure, however, some firms have made eye-catching cuts to their trainee intakes.
The latest figures, compiled as part of Legal Cheek’s newly-released 2027 Firms Most List, show the number of TCs on offer across 109 firms falling from 2,593 to 2,549, a drop of 44 places, or 1.7%. While 25 firms have increased their advertised trainee numbers, 24 have decreased them, with 60 remaining unchanged. You can view a full breakdown of the numbers in the table below.
Legal Cheek Firms Most List Training contract numbers: 2026 v 2027
Some of the biggest reductions have come from major City firms. Linklaters has seen its advertised intake fall from 100 to 60, while Pinsent Masons has moved from 68 to 54 and Freshfields from 85 to 70.
Other notable fallers include Kennedys, down from 31 to 16, and Addleshaw Goddard, from 70 to 60. The changes leave Clifford Chance at the top of the TC table with 100 places, a figure that has remained broadly steady in recent years.
These declines can be largely explained by the rise of solicitor apprenticeships. As firms expand their six-year school-leaver programmes, headline training contract figures increasingly tell only part of the story when it comes to the overall size of trainee lawyer cohorts.
The Legal Cheek Solicitor Apprentice Most List shows that Linklaters currently takes on around six school leavers each year, although its annual intake was as high as eight when the firm launched the programme several years ago. On that basis, by the time its first apprentices reach qualification, roughly 40 will have entered the six-year programme across successive cohorts, many carrying out work traditionally associated with paralegals and, later on, trainees. The other firms that have reduced training contracts also have a sizeable solicitor apprentice intake by market standards. Clifford Chance, by contrast, does not run a solicitor apprenticeship programme, which may go a long way to explaining why it has kept its traditional trainee intake unchanged.
Linklaters told Legal Cheek:
“We remain committed to recruiting high-performing talent that meets the evolving needs of our business and our clients.
“As part of that approach, we continue to invest in a range of pathways into the profession, including both our trainee solicitor and solicitor apprenticeship programmes. The introduction of our solicitor apprenticeship programme reflects our commitment to widening access to the legal profession and attracting talented individuals through different routes to qualification. Linklaters introduced its UK Solicitor Apprenticeship Programme in 2023 as an alternative route to qualification.
“We regularly review our recruitment plans to ensure they align with the future needs of the firm, and training contract intake numbers may vary from year to year as part of that process. Our focus remains on attracting, developing and retaining exceptional talent, and providing the high-quality training and career opportunities needed to support the next generation of Linklaters lawyers.”
AI may also be feeding into longer-term recruitment planning. It can increasingly assist with tasks such as document review, due diligence and first drafts, raising questions about how the trainee role might evolve and whether firms will eventually need fewer juniors carrying out traditional process-heavy work.
The wider economy is another factor. While the global economy has proved relatively resilient, the UK picture has been less impressive. And with firms often recruiting trainees up to two years before they start, changes to intake sizes may reflect expectations about future demand just as much as current workloads.
Still, it is worth keeping the scale of the overall fall in perspective. At 1.7%, the dip is relatively modest, and plenty of firms are moving in the opposite direction. Several leading US outfits in London are expanding their rookie ranks, including Gibson Dunn, which has moved from 15 to 25 training contracts, Milbank from eight to 15, and Greenberg Traurig from eight to 12.
Simpson Thacher has also entered the market with a new training contract programme, offering a punchy 10 places to kick things off. The figures underline the continued growth of US firms in London as they compete more aggressively with established UK players for junior as well as senior talent. There are eye-catching risers among UK firms too. TLT has increased its intake from 27 to 37, Birketts from 30 to 41 and CMS from 70 to 79.
Taken together, the numbers suggest more of a reshuffling than a wholesale retreat from trainee recruitment. Almost as many firms have increased their numbers as have reduced them, with the overall decline driven largely by sizeable cuts at a small number of traditionally large graduate recruiters.
The figures should also be taken as a guide rather than strict numerical requirements that are rigidly adhered to. Firms often provide headline numbers, while actual annual intakes can fluctuate either side of the stated figure. But across more than 100 firms, the data doubtless provides a useful insight into the shifting sands of the legal graduate recruitment market.