Linklaters - True Picture

Linklaters training contract review 2025

The Firm

What’s in a name? Titles and labels carry with them a great weight of expectation, anticipation and distinction. For Linklaters, a magic circle member with one of the most familiar and respected names in the legal world, you’d expect the firm to be worthy of its status… and it is. The trainees on our list confirmed that the prestige was a huge reason they were interested in the firm: “It all comes down to the reputation. You go in knowing they’ve got good quality training and top clients.” And training is key, as the international heavyweight goes above and beyond to ensure no one slips through the cracks of its (admittedly) massive cohort of over 200 trainees. “With training, you’ve got the best of both worlds as you get the academic side, and then go straight into practice,” an insider grinned. “It’s a fabulous place to train.”

“It all comes down to the reputation. You go in knowing they’ve got good quality training and top clients.”

There’s no doubt that strong training makes for strong lawyers, which has very much been reflected by Chambers UK, which recognises the firm in over 50 departments, including top honours in areas such as banking & finance, corporate/M&A, capital markets, restructuring/insolvency and financial services, just to name a few. That’s just the start as well, with Links appearing in an impressive nine of our other guides at Chambers. So, if the old adage that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link is true, we wouldn’t hesitate to hitch ourselves to the Linklaters wagon!

The Seats

While trainees may be the future of the firm, Links is also keeping an eye on the future of technology, as seat allocation utilises an AI tool known as RUTH. Trainees fill out a list of their preferences, then RUTH organises and allocates seats. Lastly, it’s up to graduate recruitment to approve or alter the choices (just to ensure fairness of the algorithm – for example, if there was a large gender imbalance for one seat). With such a large cohort, it’s natural that not everyone lands where they’d like, but for what it’s worth, all the sources on our list got their first choice at least once.

Once you’re in your third seat, opportunities for both international and client secondments open up, and the majority of trainees will get the chance to go. For international secondments, there is the chance to head to places like Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai, Frankfurt, Milan and Tokyo. Sources who went abroad had nothing but glowing reviews to share from their time away: “It’s an amazing experience and the firm gives you so much support in terms of the relocation and accommodation.” Client secondments are UK-based, encompassing a mixture of the top banks and multinationals you’d expect. There is also a secondment to the in-house pro bono team, which we heard is popular. That’s not all that our pro bono interviewees got to try their hand at either, with insiders reporting that all pro bono is billable and highly encouraged – even at their level. As one source was pleased to tell us, “They incentivise it, as they treat it the same as they do live deals.”

On the busy banking team, newbies are exposed to a lot of work at a high velocity: “You hear things like, ‘You’ll be a small cog if you’re at a big firm,’ but that’s not the case here.” Responsibility is abundant, with trainees seeing the likes of investment-grade lending, leveraged buyouts, margin loans and asset management over the course of the seat. “It can be pretty complex stuff,” one insider explained, “but you feel like you’re being treated like an associate!” This is unsurprising when you consider the kinds of clients on hand. For example, the firm advised the Bank of America and Citibank as joint underwriters, arrangers and bookrunners on BAE Systems’ acquisition of Ball Aerospace from Ball Corporation. This acquisition is worth upwards of $5 billion… so no big deal at all. The tasks expected of trainees are decidedly varied and include completing CP satisfaction letters and checklists, legal opinions, security agreements, legal research, drafting ancillary documents and client emails: “you get so much to do and can be involved from the start.”

“I’ve seen a few M&A deals trainees were involved in making it to the news, which was really cool. Imagine waking up in the morning and seeing your work on TV!”

Within the large corporate department are various subgroups, such as M&A and private equity, for rookies to sink their teeth into. From there, the work is vast, including corporate takeovers, IPOs and industrial deals. An example of a recent M&A feather in the firm’s cap is Links advising the specialist diagnostics company Thermo Fisher Scientific on their acquisition of Birmingham-based life sciences company The Binding Site Group – a matter valued at £2.25 billion.  If that wasn’t enough to tickle your fancy, there’s plenty more where that came from, and chances are you’d probably know one or two of them too: “I’ve seen a few M&A deals trainees were involved in making it to the news, which was really cool. Imagine waking up in the morning and seeing your work on TV!” Tasks include due diligence, ancillary documents, project management and lots of process-driven work. We did hear the group is “not for the faint of heart” when it comes to its intense hours, but the seat does provide “a lot of independence to push ahead with your work streams.”

For those in the derivatives and structured products team, being on the front lines of the sector is the norm, as detailed by this trainee: “Linklaters basically leads and creates the market, so that’s very exciting!” What that market consists of is a collection of securities work, fintech, OTC (over the counter), crash loan obligations, carbon credits and digital bonds. “It can be quite technical and a thinking person’s seat,” cautioned one source. The firm knows trainees aren’t entering the seat as experts, however. Upon joining, “you get three weeks of broad capital markets training and then derivatives-only training, which is much more detailed and specific.” Newbies get exposure to drafting transaction documents and running the execution of a deal, with trainees happy with the gradual increase in responsibility as the seat progresses: “You have quite a lot of independence, and my skills improved significantly as a result.” Recent matters have included big names like Barclays, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan and Lloyds. More specifically, the firm acted for Cerberus as a buyer on the acquisition and financing of over 10,000 portfolios, valued at €33 billion!

“Linklaters basically leads and creates the market, so that’s very exciting!”

The litigation, arbitrations and investigations team is comprised of four subgroups (litigation has two), allowing trainees access to an all-you-can-eat feast of contentious work. “The subgroups are there to add a framework, but we all do a little bit of everything,” one source elaborated. We heard the time-sensitive nature of the long-running deals means that the seat can be quite fast-paced for rookies. As this insider confessed, “I’m very happy with the responsibility I’ve got in my seat, but it was sometimes limited due to the high value of some of the matters.” An example of such a matter is the firm’s recent representation of IT supplier and customer services provider Capita in its defence of several potential claims, including a group claim in the High Court in relation to a cyber incident from March 2023. The incident led to the exfiltration of data that impacted many organisations and pension schemes, in which Capita denies liability. Trainee tasks varied and included reviewing court transcripts, drafting, research, document review, note-taking, bundling and even the occasional trip to court. “It’s all interesting on its own merit, and they’re great skills to have under your hat,” one interviewee divulged. “Understanding the detail of each stage is really important and interesting.”

Trainee Life

Sources told us the kind of supervisor you get is very dependent on the individual, with some relaying that their principal was hands-off, and they had to be proactive about receiving feedback. Perhaps to reduce these kinds of experiences, we heard that from now on, trainees will get to enjoy having not one but two supervisors per seat. On the other side of that spectrum, interviewees told us of a great many cases where their supervisors backed them like no other. “My supervisor was so supportive,” reminisced one grateful insider. “They said they wanted to put me on work that set me apart from other trainees.” This kind of commitment to their development was a huge source of self-confidence for our sources. When it comes to training, newbies experienced a three-week crash course induction, followed by up to six weeks of training for each seat. Sources were very keen on the training available to them, enthusing: “The good thing about Links is there’s a lot of theoretical training. They’ll tell you the concept or idea, and then you grasp it once you actually do it in practice.” There's also a Global New Lawyer program which trainees can join to meet their global colleagues.

“My supervisor was so supportive, they said they wanted to put me on work that set me apart from other trainees.”

The perception of the Barbican office itself was one of respect rather than adoration. Like a beloved elder that is past its prime, trainees are looking forward to the late 2025/early 2026 move to Baker Street. “I think it’s just starting to look like it’s had its time,” one source admitted. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t have its upside: a subsidised café, free gym and large client space are all benefits of the current office. A good thing too, since trainees are required to be in four days a week, whereas qualified lawyers have three mandatory in-office days. Not that this was an issue for our interviewees, as “it’s so valuable being in the office just for what you can learn. Even if the policy was less, I’d still be in four days.” The bigger demand of trainees comes of their time, with hours being a fluctuating factor for our insiders. “Start and end times are incredibly fuzzy,” one mused, and depending on the seat, we heard that some trainees finish as early as 6pm, whereas others clocked off at 7pm to go home before logging back on until the wee hours of the morning. Weekend work was common for certain seats, but trainees stressed that they were never alone: “It’s not just me doing it. You know you’re part of a team that’s doing what needs to be done.”

When explaining the closeness of the trainee cohort, one newbie happily conveyed, “A lot of us consider each other friends first and colleagues second.” All our insiders spoke of an environment that was supportive rather than competitive, which led to a positive workplace. The firm is a big proponent for this as well, with a variety of socials such as summer and Christmas parties to look forward to, alongside some trainee-exclusive events which the firm provides a budget for. Not to mention the select number of international retreats on offer for different practice groups; some trainees we spoke with were lucky enough to jet off to Barcelona or Bali with their teams!

Regarding diversity, our interviewees were proud to be part of a well-represented cohort that hopefully signals a continuing shift to a more diverse legal profession. Within that, the firm has a selection of affinity groups that host events and recognise holidays. “They target all the diversity strands – you can see they’re actively trying,” one trainee nodded. Mentoring also factors in, as diverse individuals can link up with someone more senior who is from a similar background to seek advice and ask questions if they wish.

With intense hours and high expectations of their work, do Linklaters’ trainees think that they’re compensatedfairly? “I don’t think anyone’s going to get their violins out for us!” laughed one, while another also pointed out that the pension contribution from the firm goes “above and beyond.” When qualification rolls around, the goal is for trainees to broadly know what to expect, as “it’s a proactive conversation with all the partners throughout your seats. So, when you get to that stage, there should be no surprises.” We did hear that departments differ on how quickly they let qualifiers know their decision, but there is no interview or formal process for trainees to worry about. The firm did not disclose its retention rate.