Clifford Chance
Overview
Clifford Chance is a global, full-service law firm and one of the Magic Circle firms — advising multinational corporates, financial institutions, sovereigns and governments across major business hubs. The firm emphasises cross-border capability and integrated teams (a "one firm, one team" approach) to deliver complex corporate, finance, capital markets, litigation and regulatory work. Clifford Chance combines extensive sector-focused expertise (energy, TMT, financial institutions, infrastructure and more) with an investment in innovation, delivery centres and legal technology to drive efficiencies for clients.
- Headquarters: London
- Lawyers: 3,360 (partners 723; senior lawyers/consultants 443; associates & executives 2,194)
- Partners: 723
- Trainees: 100
- Offices: 33
Values & Culture
Practice Areas
- Banking & Finance
- Capital Markets
- Corporate & M&A
- Competition & Antitrust
- Dispute Resolution & Litigation
- Technology & Digital
- Media & Entertainment
- Tax
- Employment
- Real Estate
- Energy & Natural Resources
- ESG & Sustainability
- Infrastructure & Projects
- Investment Funds
- Financial Services & Regulation
- Private Equity & Venture Capital
- Insolvency & Restructuring
- Regulatory & Compliance
- Pensions
- International Arbitration
- Private Client & Wealth
- Transport & Logistics
- Healthcare & Life Sciences
Geographic Focus: A truly international firm with integrated offices across Europe, the Americas, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East and Africa. Clifford Chance operates from major hubs (London, New York, Amsterdam, Paris, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, Dubai/Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, São Paulo, Casablanca, Madrid, Milan, Beijing, Shanghai) and markets itself as a single global network delivering cross-border M&A, capital markets, finance, energy transition and regulatory work.
Training Contract
Two-year training contract model is used across Clifford Chance's global intake; seats are allocated across practice groups with overseas and client secondment opportunities.
- Starting Salary: £56,000
- NQ Salary: £150,000
- Trainee Intake: 100
- Qualification Rate: 78%
- Academic Requirements: Minimum degree expectation: 2:1; Minimum A-level requirement: No minimum. The firm accepts non-law graduates and emphasizes diverse backgrounds in recruitment.
- Application Deadline: 19 November 2025
Sponsorship
PGDL / GDL grant: £12,500; SQE grant: £20,000.
SQE Support
SQE grant: £20,000 (financial support for SQE reported).
International Opportunities
Significant international secondment opportunities across the firm's global network (chance of a secondment abroad approx. 38%). Destinations are drawn from the firm's global offices including major hubs (e.g., Hong Kong, Singapore, New York, Beijing, Shanghai, Dubai/Abu Dhabi, European hubs).
Client Secondments
Client secondments are offered (chance approx. 32%); trainees have opportunities to experience in-house/client placements though specific clients and durations are cohort-dependent.
Mentorship
The firm operates mentoring and development processes, including formal mentoring, buddy systems and trainee networks; the People & Talent strategy emphasises mentoring and affinity networks as part of pastoral and professional support.
Programmes & Schemes
Regional summer vacation scheme for Hong Kong office; part of Clifford Chance's early careers pipeline and used to identify candidates for training contracts in the APAC region.
Summer internship in the Singapore office offering exposure to local practice teams and the global firm; applications were open for a fixed window (applications open until 2026-01-31 and will not be reviewed on a rolling basis).
- Deadline: 2026-01-31
Brussels summer programme running from July to September offering one-month internships to students in the Belgian practice.
- Duration: 1 month
Shanghai internship scheme intended to give students exposure to the firm's China practice and to introduce participants to life at Clifford Chance.
Short work experience/event in Paris (named 'Les Rendez‑Vous Clifford Chance') bringing students into the Paris office for insight sessions and local networking.
Notable Matters
Advised EE Capital (the family office of Elaine and Eduardo Saverin and an investor in 1892 Holdings) on its investment into Liverpool F.C. 1892 Holdings, a consortium led by Amit Bhatia and including other high-profile investors. The work involved strategic minority investment documentation and cross-border transactional advice.
Corporate & M&A
Acted for Paragon Partners on the acquisition of 100% of the shares in Babtec Informationssysteme GmbH (transaction subject to regulatory approvals). The mandate involved private equity acquisition documentation and related commercial and regulatory advice.
Private Equity & Venture Capital
Advised long-standing client easyJet plc on a recommended, competitive cash acquisition by Apollo-managed funds (headline value ~£5.7 billion). The mandate covered public M&A, takeover documentation and associated regulatory and shareholder aspects.
Corporate & M&A
Advised TotalEnergies on the acquisition of Shell’s onshore renewables business in Europe — covering c.500 MW of operational or under-construction solar and wind assets and a 3.5 GW pipeline of projects across Italy, the United Kingdom, Spain and the Netherlands — spanning asset-level acquisitions, project pipelines and energy-transition sector regulatory work.
Energy & Natural Resources
Advised Eurofiber on a €2.2 billion sustainability-linked refinancing package, providing structured finance, sustainability-linked loan and documentation expertise for a major infrastructure refinancing.
Banking & Finance
Acted for the underwriters on a US$1 billion junior subordinated notes offering for Alexandria Real Estate Equities, advising on the capital markets issuance and underwriting documentation.
Capital Markets
What Clifford Chance Looks For
Key Competencies
- Commercial awareness
- Teamwork and collaboration
- Attention to detail
- Resilience and drive
- Strong communication skills
- Intellectual ability and sound judgment
- Adaptability and cross‑cultural awareness
- Interest in innovation / legal technology
Evidence Signals
- International or cross-border experience (study/work/secondments)
- Relevant internships or vacation schemes (regional or global)
- Commercial work experience or client-facing roles
- Pro bono involvement
- Demonstrable commitment to inclusion and diversity networks
- Technical/technology projects or familiarity with legal tech
Benefits & Wellbeing
- Trainee salary Year 1: £56,000
- Trainee salary Year 2: £61,000
- NQ salary: £150,000
- PGDL / GDL grant: £12,500
- SQE grant: £20,000
- Annual leave: 25 days
- Access to global learning and development programmes and a large internal offering of legal and business skills courses
- Delivery Centres (India and UK) and legal project management support to complement fee-earner work
- Competitive, fair rewards and benefits designed to promote wellbeing (as described by the firm's people development pages)
Wellbeing
The firm runs global mental health and wellbeing initiatives, internal campaigns (e.g., #StampOutStigma), affinity networks focused on wellbeing and inclusion, wellbeing events and mental health awareness programmes; structured support is referenced in the firm's People development and Responsible Business resources.
Awards & Recognition
- Vault US 2025 — #2 Best Law Firm for Career Outlook, Firm Culture, Hours and Satisfaction
- Legal 500 US 2026 — 36 firm and 21 lawyer rankings (2026)
- Strong performance in global M&A league tables for H1 2026
- LMG Life Sciences EMEA Awards 2026 — firm recognition
- Casablanca: Morocco Law Firm of the Year 2022 – IFLR Africa Awards
- Casablanca: Morocco Law Firm of the Year 2022 – Chambers Africa Awards
- Casablanca: Africa-wide Corporate Law Firm of the Year 2022 – Chambers Africa Awards
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Clifford Chance embeds inclusion in its Code, maps objectives in responsible business reporting, and submits an annual Communication on Progress to the UN Global Compact. The firm publishes Responsible Business and UK diversity/pay gap reports and maintains global targets and reporting on inclusion.
- Enable (disability network)
- REACH (Race, Equality and Celebrating Heritage)
- Arcus (global LGBT+ network)
- Accelerate>>> (global gender parity group)
- Black & Latino Affinity Group
- Asian and Pacific Islanders Committee (US)
- Scholarships for Diverse Students in Europe (€10,000 awards)
- Hidden Disabilities Sunflower scheme (UK)
- Social mobility initiatives and reporting (UK Diversity Statistics)
Pro Bono
Clifford Chance runs a substantive pro bono programme with published pro bono statistics and case examples. Recent pro bono highlights include multi-jurisdictional expungement analysis for The Gay Project, advising the London LGBTQ+ Community Centre on its first community space, and pro bono support for HERA United (helping establish the first independent women's professional football club in the Netherlands). Full pro bono statistics are published in the firm's reporting library.
Innovation
Clifford Chance takes a structured, resourcing-led approach to innovation: continuous improvement and lean/six-sigma methodologies, data science to turn insights into action, delivery centres to optimise resourcing, legal project managers for complex matters, and an active legal technology/digital solutions programme including document automation (CC Dr@ft). Legal technology and innovation are heavily promoted across the firm and trainees are exposed to these initiatives as part of project and process work. Insider ratings give the firm top marks for legal tech.
- Continuous Improvement (global certified team)
- Data Science teams
- Delivery Centres (India and UK)
- Legal Project Management
- Legal Technology teams and digital solutions
- CC Dr@ft (document automation)
- Financial Markets Toolkit
- Talking Tech hub
- Innovation Insights and Innovation Hub content
Quick Application Angles
- Highlight commercial awareness in a sector where Clifford Chance is active (eg. energy transition or TMT) and reference a recent firm deal such as TotalEnergies’ acquisition of Shell’s onshore renewables business or the easyJet £5.7bn takeover when demonstrating deal awareness.
- Emphasise global experience and mobility — the firm runs an integrated global network and offers overseas secondments (reported ~38% chance). Use concrete examples of cross-border teamwork from your CV or applications.
- Show awareness of the firm’s innovation agenda and legal tech capability (legal tech rated A / A*). Describe any experience with automation, data or project management and how it improved outcomes.
- Reference the firm’s inclusion networks (e.g., Enable, Arcus, REACH, Accelerate>>> ) or any relevant advocacy/affinity work you’ve done to demonstrate cultural fit with Clifford Chance’s people and inclusion priorities.
- Use evidence of practical client skills (client-facing internships, secondments or project work) rather than generic claims — the firm values immediate responsibility and demonstrable contribution.
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