Mishcon de Reya

“One of the nicest offices in London”, the firm’s “swanky” Holborn digs are feted as “extremely impressive”. “I often get people telling me ‘I just passed Mishcons, it looks like a palace’,” vaunts one insider, and marble staircases can have that effect on people. Having been impressed by the avant garde cocktail bar, clients can grab themselves sushi and martinis while they wait. You can also apparently have your coffee served via an iPad (because why not?). Just some of the famous names to grace the halls of Mishcon’s abode include Lady Gaga, Thierry Henry, Gordon Ramsay and former PM Sir Keir Starmer. “Makes me proud to go into work every day and one of the reasons why I love our firm,” gushes one insider.

Never known to settle (even for the very best), Mishcon de Reya has recently announced a 2029 move into the decidedly swish, glass-plated MidCity Place in High Holborn. Minutes from their current base, the move keeps MdR firmly at the heart of London’s traditional legal quarter, which it has called home since 1961, while allowing it to grow in line with business plans. In true Mishcon style, a full £20 million revamp will furnish the new office with swanky event spaces, a library podcast studio and a rooftop terrace, all powered exclusively by renewable electricity (of course!).

Work-wise, Mishcon’s twin strengths are litigation and private client work, meaning you’ll be dealing with clientele “ranging from high-net-worth individuals to start-ups and multinational corporations,” according to the trainees we spoke to. “A lot of the work is the stuff that you might only have once in your career at other firms,” added another. There is, inevitably, some variation between seats, but even the occasional “admin task” is more than made up for by “more stimulating tasks that definitely help you develop,” in the words of one LC source. “The work is very high quality (particularly in smaller teams or areas like tax), where trainees are encouraged to prove themselves and are given increasingly good work. The matters are really interesting, and Mishcon is always encouraging creativity to address and respond to the challenges the work throws up,” concurs another trainee.

Our sources tell us you can be “advising clients from day one”. If this is true, then trainees in London have had some big clients to get to grips with lately. The litigation team has been busy successfully defending an appeal on behalf of O2 in the high-profile Phones 4U v EE High Court case, while those in corporate have advised AI defence startup Arondite on its latest £9 million funding round and supported pre-seed funding rounds for AI start-ups Cassi and Mater-AI. Other Mishcon teams have been kept busy bringing a class action on behalf of UK consumers against Booking.com and representing around 13,300 black cab drivers in a £340 million group claim against Uber.

The firm made headlines this year, acting pro bono for the grandchildren of Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in the UK, and securing a posthumous conditional pardon from the King. In a very full circle moment, the firm’s founder, Victor Mishcon, actually worked on this case back in 1955. Aspiring lawyers keen to “make a difference” may be attracted by Mishcon’s recent work for environmental campaign group Clear the Air Havering, which successfully pushed Havering Council to clear an illegal landfill site.

Training at the firm begins with an “excellent” induction followed by “intense training in each department at the start of each seat”. One trainee summarises: “Training is great on both a technical and a personal level. Supervisors will bring you into matters that they think will be of interest to you as well as providing you with the technical skills you need.” Other rookies warn that while the training is “fantastic,” it does vary greatly across departments: “In some teams you might be managing your own caseload, while in others you are doing much more trainee work such as bundling etc,” said one. As with many firms, this usually depends on “how engaged your supervisor is or if the team has a knowledge lawyer,” insiders told Legal Cheek.

The firm also welcomed new leadership this year, with employment chair Daniel Naftalin taking over as managing partner in July 2026, supported by Johanna Walsh and Daniel Levy as executive partners. Insiders tell us there’s a “very lovely community” being fostered at Mishcon de Reya. “I would say that Mishcon has a very flat structure where there is no ‘hierarchy’ in the way that trainees are expected to approach team members,” were the words of one happy camper. Senior members at the firm are said to be generally approachable, with some said to “take a real interest in what you want to achieve and actively try to give you work that is interesting and might help you to get to where you want to be.” Others are reported as being less enthusiastic: “Mostly great, with the odd scarier partner,” said one recruit, “but the friendly faces far outweigh the more reserved.” If in any doubt, higher-ups in real estate, dispute resolution and employment were found to be more approachable than their private client counterparts.

On the whole, however, it’s an open-door policy, and it always helps that trainees tend to look out for each other. “Such an amazing group. We get on really well and are always there to support each other and advise. Zero sense of competitiveness and always feel like there’s someone to go to for help,” gushes one. Another echoes, “My cohort is really close, we regularly have lunch together and will always provide support and advice in the group chat if someone has a question. Some of my fellow trainees have become good friends of mine and I see them outside of work too!”

The firm provides a social budget for trainees as well as hosting firmwide socials bi-weekly. Teams also have regular department outings, and there are firmwide drinks in the client bar every so often. Although attendance “somewhat drops off higher up the chain in certain teams,” rookies tell us that “trainees are tightly knit and do socialise.” Some even wrote an article for the firm’s internal magazine together.

At Mishcon, you’ll have time for extracurriculars and then some, as our sources tell us that “generally the work-life balance is great”. One offered this personal insight: “Occasionally there will be a seat that demands more work, and so then things are a bit out of balance, but this is a rarity. The firm encourages you to have a life outside of work, and it’s not just at the junior level. The more senior fee earners are encouraged to as well. Trainees that I am friends with at other firms have told me horror stories about being on call all the time, taking their work laptops on holiday. These things are not even on my radar at Mishcon. My time really is mine, and for the most part you can switch off when you log off.” There are still moments where “life takes a back seat for a late night of work,” one recruit told us, but broadly “the hours are good and private life is protected” (especially in tax!). Mishcon’s newly qualified solicitors earn £110,000, on the low side for London, but not bad when you have the ability to stick to evening plans.

Trainees “have to be in at least 3 to 4 days per week,” according to the insiders we spoke with, but working from home is said to be a breeze, as all new starters “receive a budget for desks, monitors and desk chairs.”

If you fancy a longer break from the office, you’ll be pleased to learn that Mishcon has started to phase in international secondment opportunities again, with a select number of recruits enjoying six months in the firm’s Hong Kong and Singapore offices. Client secondments are also available, though just as rare, with one trainee spending three months at PGIM this year.

On the lawtech front, investment keeps flowing into boosting Mishcon’s capabilities, including its high-profile start-up incubator, branded ‘MDR LAB’, where numerous up-and-coming lawtech start-ups are housed. New tech is apparently “eagerly adopted at Mishcon,” and one such initiative sees billable targets for some associates cut by 20% to encourage tech-minded lawyers to spend more time on tech and innovation projects. What’s more, the firm now has its own ChatGPT-style AI, ‘deReyAI’ (extra credit for the name), which is praised as “fantastic” by current trainees, as is Legora.

Sticking with tech, Mishcon has also introduced an automated time recording system, ‘Time by Ping’, which, rookies tell us, automatically “captures everything we do” and has “completely revolutionised time recording”. In fact, the only bugbear with the tech on offer at MdR is that the firm is sometimes too eager to get new stuff rolled out before it’s been properly beta tested. But “once the teething problems are sorted out the tech is great,” one insider informs us.

The perks are pretty good. They include a subsidised bike purchase scheme, a season ticket loan for the Tube, an in-house doctor, free private health care, a £350 well-being allowance, free yoga classes, “really good summer and Christmas parties,” and regular talks from “respected and interesting speakers from inside and outside the law world.” Interesting is probably putting it mildly: the Mishcon Academy (the firm’s “in-house place of learning”) has hosted guests including former secretary of state Penny Mordaunt for a Q&A, and legendary children’s author Jacqueline Wilson to talk about Tracy Beaker, amongst others. There’s also free breakfast on Mondays and Fridays, and we’re told that there’s “emails always going around with tickets to concerts, football games and the theatre.”