The Rackle Legal Hiring Index | August 2026

The London legal recruitment market remained active during July, although hiring activity moderated slightly following the stronger performance recorded in June. The Rackle Legal Hiring Index eased from 116 to 103, reflecting the seasonal slowdown often seen during the summer months. 

Executive Summary.

• The Rackle Legal Hiring Index decreased from 116 to 103 (-13 points).

• 88 new associate and PSL roles were advertised, down from 100 in June.

• Active vacancies fell to 299, from 319 in June.

• 70 firms recruited during the month, compared with 71 in June.

• Banking & Finance remained the most active practice area with 16 new roles, while Corporate and Real Estate also recorded particularly strong months.

What this means:

July's figures suggest the market has entered the more measured summer period following the stronger recruitment activity seen in May and June. Although the number of new vacancies reduced modestly, recruitment activity remained broad-based, with 70 firms recruiting across 28 different practice areas.

Transactional practices continued to dominate the market. Banking & Finance retained its position as the busiest practice area, Corporate recruitment strengthened compared with June, and Real Estate recorded one of its strongest months of the year. At the same time, Commercial Litigation continued to generate a several new opportunities, especially within the UK international firms.

Whilst the overall volume of vacancies eased during the month, this was to be expected.  However, when compared to 2025, we see the monthly index this year was above 100, compared to 89 at the same time last year.  This indicates a healthier level of recruitment across the London legal market compared to this time last year.

The Numbers

Metric	Current Month	Previous Month	Trend (last 3 months)
Hiring Index	103	116	Mixed
New Roles	88	100	Stable
Active Vacancies	299	319	Stable
Vacancies Closed	99	84	Increasing
Firms Hiring	70	71	Stable
Practice Areas hiring	28	28	Stable

What's Driving the Index?

Banking & Finance: Continues to Lead the Market

Banking & Finance remained the busiest practice area during July, recording 16 new roles.

The practice area has consistently generated some of the highest recruitment activity throughout 2026 and continues to demonstrate sustained demand across finance teams. Despite the broader seasonal moderation, Banking & Finance hiring remained resilient and once again led the London market.

Corporate: Recruitment Picks Up

Corporate recruitment strengthened during July with 11 new roles advertised.

This represents an improvement on June and suggests firms may have more confidence in more sustained M&A activity. Corporate remains one of the key indicators of confidence within the transactional market and July's figures point towards slight improvement.

Real Estate: Strongest Month for Several Months

Real Estate recorded 8 new roles, making it one of the most active practice areas during July. After more subdued recruitment earlier in the summer, this is a return to the type of activity that we saw at the beginning of the year.

Commercial Litigation: Demand Remains Healthy

Commercial Litigation generated 7 new roles during the month. Whilst not reaching the levels seen in Banking & finance or Corporate, this was the highest number of new roles in a month this year.

Overview

July saw a modest easing in recruitment activity following the stronger performance recorded in June, which is consistent with the seasonal slowdown often experienced during the summer months. Even so, the market continued to generate a healthy volume of new opportunities compared with 2025.  with 70 firms recruiting across a broad range of practice areas.

The continued strength of Banking & Finance, together with increased Corporate and Real Estate recruitment, provides encouraging signs for the transactional market. 

Attention will now turn to whether recruitment activity stabilises during August before the market enters the traditionally busier autumn recruitment period.

If you are interested in an objective view of what is happening within your specific practice area visit www.therackle.com and contact us to see how we can help.

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The Rackle Legal Hiring Index is an independent, proprietary measure designed to track changes in recruitment activity across the London private practice legal market, providing lawyers and firms with a consistent benchmark of market conditions over time.

Click here to learn more about how the Legal Hiring Index is calculated.