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Mid May - new private practice and inhouse roles.

Updated: 7 hours ago

Private Practice

As we reach the halfway point of May, the top 100 UK and US firms continue to advertise a wide array of legal roles across the London market on their career's pages. In the first half of May there were over 50 new roles, below is a breakdown by practice area - to read more about these roles, go to our jobs search page:


Transactional Roles

Spanning corporate, banking, restructuring, and projects, the first half of May saw new roles being advertised across a range of PQE levels.


Corporate / M&A

  • Clifford Chance – 2–5 PQE for its elite cross-border M&A team

  • Simmons & Simmons – Managing Associate / Of Counsel for its ENRI corporate practice

  • Wiggin – 0–2 PQE corporate associate for media and tech clients

  • Lewis Silkin – NQ associate in Corporate Finance, focused on tech, media and sport


Banking & Finance

  • Debevoise & Plimpton – 3–5 PQE associate advising on PE sponsor financing and fund-level debt

  • Hogan Lovells – 5–8 PQE senior associate in real estate finance

  • Ashurst – 3–4 PQE mid-level associate in leveraged/acquisition finance (Global Loans team)


Restructuring & Insolvency

  • Mills & Reeve – Senior/Principal Associate for non-contentious restructuring across sectors


Projects & Energy

  • Hogan Lovells – 5+ PQE senior associate in infrastructure, oil & gas, and international projects


Contentious Roles


General Litigation & Commercial Disputes

Whilst there were not many new roles on vanilla Commercial Litigation, there was a flurry of new roles for lawyers with specific expertise in certain sector such as tech, media, insurance, serious injury, and real estate disputes.


  • White & Case – Mid-level associate in technology disputes

  • Lewis Silkin – 2 PQE associate in dispute resolution

  • RPC – 4–8 PQE media disputes associate (FTC)

  • Fieldfisher – NQ–5 PQE associates in serious injury and industrial disease

  • Leigh Day – Personal injury and human rights litigators (NQ–4 PQE, FTC)

  • Devonshires – 3–5 PQE solicitor in housing/property litigation

  • Irwin Mitchell – NQ–3 PQE solicitor in catastrophic injury

  • RWK Goodman – 7+ PQE senior associate in commercial property disputes


Insurance Litigation:

  • CMS – 6+ PQE associate in aviation-related claims

  • Clyde & Co – 2–5 PQE associate in construction PI disputes

  • Mills & Reeve – Associate (FTC) in insurance disputes

  • Weightmans – 3+ PQE associate in aviation litigation and reinsurance


Construction Disputes

  • Addleshaw Goddard – 1+ PQE associate in contentious construction (TCC, arbitration)



Real Estate, Construction & Planning

Firms continue to hire in both residential and commercial property, construction (contentious and non-contentious), and planning with a focus on infrastructure.


Real Estate

  • Ashurst – 1–3 PQE associate in commercial real estate

  • Bristows – 1–3 PQE associate for general property matters

  • Irwin Mitchell – 2–4 PQE solicitor in real estate investment and finance

  • RWK Goodman – 3–4 PQE associate in residential property

  • Russell Cooke – 3+ PQE associate in residential conveyancing


Construction

  • Blake Morgan – 4–8 PQE associate/senior associate in mixed construction work

  • Addleshaw Goddard – contentious construction role (see above)


Planning

  • Pinsent Masons – 6+ PQE senior associate in infrastructure/energy planning (DCO, HRA, compulsory purchase)


Advisory Roles

Advisory areas like employment, regulatory, pensions, competition, tax and funds also saw a high volume of roles — particularly at mid-to-senior level.


Regulatory & Public Law

  • DWF – Senior Associate/Legal Director in criminal defence (insurance context)

  • DAC Beachcroft – NQ–Senior Associate advocate for inquests

  • Bevan Brittan – 5+ PQE associate in subsidy control and grant funding

  • TLT – 2–4 PQE associate in public procurement

  • Trowers & Hamlins – 3–5 PQE associate in public procurement

  • Capsticks – Principal Associate Barrister for regulatory advocacy

  • Browne Jacobson – Mid-level associate in criminal compliance and product regulation

  • Weightmans – 0–2 PQE solicitor in police claims (civil litigation)


Funds/FS Regulatory

  • Hogan Lovells – 2–7 PQE associate/senior associate in private and listed funds

  • Osborne Clarke – 6+ PQE senior associate in PE, RE and VC fund structuring

  • Addleshaw Goddard – Managing Associate roles in payments and regulated lending


Pensions

  • Dentons – 5+ PQE senior associate (advisory, transactional and regulatory)

  • Herbert Smith Freehills – Mid-level associate role advising trustees and corporates


Employment

  • Howard Kennedy – Associate-level role covering advisory and contentious employment matters


Tax

  • Bird & Bird – NQ associate for corporate tax (M&A, VC, VAT)

  • Wiggin – 8+ PQE senior associate/legal director for corporate tax (media/tech focus)


Competition / Antitrust

  • Squire Patton Boggs – NQ–2 PQE associate in UK/EU competition law, cross-border matters


Inhouse


There were over just shy of 150 new roles on the inhouse side. Financial services appear to be more active than usual. Normally roles at financial services firms account for just over 30% of the new roles, but in the first half of May they accounted for 40% of the new roles, whilst Commerce & industry accounted for 55% and Government/NFP accounted for 5%.


An overview of the number of new inhouse roles advertised directly by firms on LinkedIn in the first half of May.
An overview of the number of new inhouse roles advertised directly by firms on LinkedIn in the first half of May.

Financial Services Roles


Asset Management firms were quite active, with major players like BlackRock, Macquarie, Aviva Investors, Insight Investment, and Partners Group recruiting lawyers with mid to senior-level experience—most commonly in the 5–10 PQE range. Roles are often focused on supporting investment structures, regulatory issues, and cross-border fund operations.


In banking, top-tier institutions including Barclays, JP Morgan, NatWest Group, Citi, and Goldman Sachs continue to expand their legal teams. These roles span a wide PQE range—from 3 to 15+ PQE—and often focus on regulatory advisory, structured finance, M&A, and commercial lending.


The fintech and payments segment also remains highly active. Firms such as Stripe, Freetrade, Swift, YouLend, and Zepz are recruiting legal counsel to manage regulatory compliance, product development, and commercial partnerships. Many of these positions seek lawyers with 5–10 years’ experience.


Meanwhile, insurance sector hiring shows healthy activity, with employers like Direct Line, AXA, Munich Re, and Pensions Insurance Corporation seeking talent at the mid to senior level. These roles typically involve advisory work on underwriting, reinsurance, claims, and commercial agreements.


Other notable openings include roles at EY and the FCA, highlighting continued demand for lawyers within professional services and regulatory bodies, particularly those with compliance, enforcement, and financial regulation expertise.


Commerce & Industry


Energy & Infrastructure

The energy and infrastructure sector has remained a key area of hiring. Companies like Assala Energy, Uniper, Centrica, and Petrofac are recruiting legal professionals with anywhere from 4 to 10+ years’ PQE, reflecting a demand for expertise in project development, regulatory issues, and commercial contracting. Utility companies such as Utility Warehouse are also adding junior legal support.


Healthcare & Lifesciences

The healthcare and life sciences sector continues to offer opportunities for inhouse lawyers, with hiring from Convatec, Cleveland Clinic, Montu UK, and HCA Healthcare. Roles generally target 3–10+ PQE lawyers, with responsibilities likely to include regulatory compliance, R&D collaboration agreements, and data privacy.


Technology

Tech companies have been among the most active recruiters. Notable employers include Amazon Web Services, Google, Deel, GitLab, Normative.io, and TikTok. Roles typically span 4 to 10+ PQE, and focus areas include commercial technology, IP, privacy, and SaaS-related contracting. There were several roles on offer at firms like Google and Bending Spoons.


Retail & Consumer Goods

In the consumer-facing sector, brands such as H&M, McDonald’s, PepsiCo, and Wickes are hiring counsel with 2 to 10+ PQE, pointing to a need for legal expertise across supply chain, consumer law, and brand/IP protection.


Media, Entertainment & Digital Content

Legal hiring in media and entertainment remains vibrant, with DAZN, BBC, Sky, Paramount Pictures, and Open Bet leading recruitment efforts. Roles range from 2 to 10+ PQE and often span rights management, broadcasting, commercial partnerships, and digital advertising.


Professional Services & Real Estate

Firms like RSM UK, Auricoe, and Arora Group are actively building legal capabilities to support both internal governance and client service arms. Real estate and construction businesses—such as VINCI, Hill Group UK, and Bovis—are also investing in legal talent,  seeking lawyers with significant PQE to oversee transactional risk and development contracts


To search and find out more about these roles, go to the jobs search page on www.therackle.com



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