Freshfields

Pre-tax profits did slip slightly over the last year, from £668.9 million to £656.8 million, but this seems to have been driven largely by the cost of those expansion plans. Partner profits, however, still look healthy and broadly in line with the rest of the Magic Circle, with recent estimates placing profit per equity partner at around £2.2 million.

Veteran LC readers might recognise the firm’s decision not to release its annual figures as an approach borrowed from Magic Circle compatriot Slaughter and May. Freshies’ top brass insist, however, that the true measure of success lies not in pounds and pence but in the “quality of business” it builds and the client mandates it wins across the globe. Make of that what you will. The bottom line is that Freshfields continues to perform strongly and rewards its juniors accordingly. First-year trainees earn £56,000, rising to £61,000 in the second year, while newly qualified associates take home £150,000.

London trainees can also expect to enjoy “one of the best offices in the City” in Freshfields’ HQ at 100 Bishopsgate, a glass-clad skyscraper that dominates the skyline. Rookies rate the office as “one of the best perks of the firm.” It boasts stunning views across the city, standing desks, a moss wall in the canteen, top-of-the-line Hag Sofi chairs (“so comfortable”), and so much designer furniture that you feel like you’ve “walked into a showroom”. The canteen scores well too: trainees praise the “good range of food”, “super varied” options and “excellent” barista, though some note that lunch and dinner can be pricier than at firms offering complimentary meals all day. To make up for it, “there’s lots of free snacks” for extra peckish trainees.

When it comes to training, quality of work and peer and partner support, Freshfields hits the level you’d expect from an elite firm. Most trainees applaud the “excellent and consistent training”, which happens both formally through “well planned sessions” and informally through peer review. “Many different lawyers (including seniors) have volunteered a significant amount of their time to go through their feedback on my work or to chat through the wider context to a deal,” one insider shares. Another rookie tells us: “A good example is when I spent quite a few hours drafting something that ended up being unnecessary because of the client changing plans. Two associates still sat down with me for an hour to go through all my work and give me feedback and tips.” Freshfields stands out from the crowd by offering an eight-seat training contract, rather than the usual six-by-four method, giving trainees the chance to explore an even greater range of practice areas.

All of this means the work can be “incredibly tough and complex”, with a lot of training happening “on the job”. But the process is ultimately “rewarding”, and there’s “very high-quality work” on offer for trainees who can prove they’re up to the task. As one insider puts it: “Trainees who earn the confidence of their team are given lots of responsibility, and the opportunity to have direct client contact and project manage matters.” One trainee reports attending three hearings, including one before the Court of Justice in Luxembourg, drafting correspondence, managing process trackers and even reviewing clinical trial data to support settlement figures at mediation. Another says the work ranges from “manual and administrative work” to “full blown drafting” if you’re trusted, recalling the chance to mark up and negotiate two rounds of a roughly 30-page SPA. And the work itself is “usually high-profile stuff and often ends up in the news”.

That headline-grabbing work spans just about every corner of commercial law. Freshfields is a full-service giant, advising on major corporate deals, heavyweight disputes, regulatory investigations, finance, tax, employment, IP and data, almost always with a cross-border angle. Recent London-led work gives a flavour of the scale. The firm advised Standard Life on its £2 billion acquisition of Aegon UK, a deal expected to create the UK’s largest retirement savings and income business. On the disputes side, Freshfields secured a major Competition Appeal Tribunal victory for London & Southeastern Railway and Govia Thameslink Railway in a long-running opt-out class action concerning “boundary fares”, with the tribunal finding that the train companies had not breached competition law. And in a very 2026 example of BigLaw advising on the future of BigLaw, the firm has also acted for Carta on its acquisition of AI-powered legal and compliance outfit Avantia, launching Carta Law, an AI-native legal and compliance solution for asset managers.

Despite rookies being “consistently trusted with associate level work”, the work here is said to range from “the mind-bending to the mind-numbing”, and there are unavoidable bits and pieces that are “deathly dull”. On the whole, though, less stimulating work is avoided, as the firm sends “lots of the bigger tasks like first-level document review to the Hub in Manchester”. Freshfields’ Northern operation is largely a boon for London rookies, with the two offices so closely linked that a visit to the Manchester office forms part of the London trainees’ induction. That said, the hub isn’t immune to the pressures reshaping the wider profession: the firm recently trimmed its paralegal headcount in Manchester, saying the move would help it “keep pace with a fast-changing legal market”.

Further afield there’s also the Freshfields Lab, based in Berlin’s tech start-up hub, which focuses on developing new technology-based solutions. This leaves London trainees “expected to understand their matters inside out and be able to issue-spot rather than just being admin drones,” one source explains. Technology plays a big role here too: investment in automation has reportedly “really lowered the workload of contract proofing”, allowing trainees to spend most of their time “doing actual legal/commercial analysis rather than just proofing and cross-referencing”.

In terms of legal tech, Freshies appreciate that the firm has massively ramped up its efforts to be at the forefront of AI and other cutting-edge technologies in recent years. As one puts it, the tech offering here is “strong, and improving rapidly.” Partnerships with Microsoft and Google are said to be “yielding tangible improvements (especially for admin-based/process-driven tasks, which often fall to Trainees)”, and the firm’s dedicated tech team (the ‘Lab’) is said to be “running tailored team-by-team training on AI”. The firm has also recently struck a multi-year deal with AI giant Anthropic, the company behind the Claude chatbot, to jointly build bespoke legal AI tools and roll out its models to thousands of staff across the firm, underlining just how seriously Freshfields is taking the tech race. On top of all that, in a BigLaw first, new Freshies are given the opportunity to study a sponsored LLM in law and technology at King’s College London before starting their training contract.

Legal Cheek understands that the vibe among the current cohort of trainees is “very supportive and collegiate”. Rookies form a “tight-knit group who look to support each other”. One trainee describes a “great cohort dynamic”, adding that “no one is oddly competitive or anything like that” and that trainees will often have lunch together in the canteen. There’s apparently no sense of competition even around qualification, which is testament to the “great characters” that regularly fill the intakes, though of course in a firm of this size there are “individuals” who buck the trend.

One rookie sums up the mood: “We have a great intake of trainees here who generally eat together at lunch (and tea most nights!) and help each other out with work, which is particularly useful at the start of a new seat when you have no idea what you’re doing!” There are also “regular trainee socials” to help newcomers network and socialise, plus JATNOs (junior associate trainee nights out) further down the line. The canteen even “turns into a bar on Thursdays which most people usually nip down to”. But expect fewer wild nights out and more “wild variation between teams”, as the social life is said to be seat-dependent and a little quieter during periods when everyone is buried in work.

The feel-good vibes continue at senior level, where almost everyone is said to be approachable. “For the most part, people are very approachable and will always take the time to speak to you and help you,” one trainee tells us. Another puts it more bluntly: “The stereotype of Freshfields being the friendliest Magic Circle firm holds true.” Newbies are encouraged to “exercise common sense when people are busy”, especially with more senior partners who are “somewhat in an ivory tower”, according to one insider. The overall consensus, though, is that the vast majority of people at the firm are “super personable and approachable.”

Hours can be long and grinding, with late-evening (or later) departures from the office a common occurrence. Corporate seats are said to involve more unpredictable hours, ranging from “4am finishes” to “months with 30-40 client hours”, while disputes maintains a steadier level of busyness. Still, several rookies say the reality is better than they feared. “Much better than what I expected,” says one, while another describes the balance as “decent”, adding that most teams respect “non-work commitments such as friends’ birthdays, church groups, gym plans or dinner with friends, provided trust has been built up first”. They add that, in nine months, they had only around “three weekends of full work, usually with advance warning”. Another LC mole says: “Generally, when weekend work does kick in on busy matters, they respect plans made earlier and let you work around them. No one ever takes for granted how challenging this is for trainees and I believe they do notice the commitment, but it’s an expected part of the job.” One insider assures us the work-life balance is “not as horrific as I’d imagined”, but we think this wise trainee said it best: “Not ideal but goes with the territory.”

The firm’s vast overseas network (Freshfields has 33 offices in 18 countries, including a new hub in Boston) also means its youngsters have a good chance of enjoying an international dimension to their training contract. A secondment, either client or international, is encouraged in the final six months of the TC, and a good chunk of trainees spend time abroad with the firm in locations such as Tokyo, Dubai, Singapore, Hong Kong, Amsterdam, Vienna, Berlin and New York. In London, client secondments are also popular, with destinations including AstraZeneca and the Bank of England, one of Freshfields’ oldest clients.

It also helps that the firm has a very flexible work-from-home policy, with many doing just three days a week in the office. While some grumble that “it still feels like the older generation think we’re not working unless we’re in the office”, others have taken full advantage: “Very flexible to come and go from the office… WFH in the morning for early calls and come in during the afternoon, leaving the office for dinner and logging back on at home,” one details. The firm offers basic home office equipment (a monitor, keyboard, mouse and USB connector), and office chairs can be requested.

And the cherry on top of the Freshfields cake? The freebies. There’s an on-site pastry chef, two-for-one National Theatre tickets, a £25 after-hours Deliveroo and taxi service, health insurance and gym membership, ClassPass, cycling facilities, free pensions and mortgage advice, and even the odd free fruit bowl thrown in. And if that’s still not enough, there are free massages in the London office.