Values & Culture

Practice Areas

Media & Entertainment
Technology & Digital
Data Protection & Privacy
Banking & Finance

Training Contract

We recruit trainees from our Vacation Scheme. Participants take part in the vacation scheme with the potential of joining one of our teams initially as a Paralegal and commencing our Training Programme in March or September 2026. Our Trainees will prepare for the SQE exams alongside working at the firm. In the first-year trainees will remain in the department in which they were a paralegal while studying for SQE1. You would be completing a part-time 40week preparation training course with our preferred provider, The College of Legal Practice. After completing SQE1 in your first year, trainees will complete 3 seats of 6 months each in other departments while studying for the SQE2 exam, again through 40 weeks of preparation training with the College. Trainees will work 4 days and have one study day each week whilst they are studying for the SQE exams over a two-year period. They will also receive coaching and support to develop a work-based portfolio for their Qualifying Work Experience. We have seats in Film/TV, Music, Corporate, Commercial, Litigation and Employment. Trainees usually complete a seat in Litigation or Employment, Corporate or Commercial and either Film/TV or Music depending on which department they were in when they completed their first year as a trainee.

Application Deadline: 3rd April 2026

Apply on the Lee & Thompson LLP website →

Notable Matters

L&T welcomes the second freelancer cohort in its partnership with Creative Access

We were thrilled to welcome to our offices this week members of the second cohort in our partnership with social enterprise Creative Access in for a touchpoint brunch to mark the launch of the Thrive 2025-2026 career development programme. The 3-year-partnership, set up on Lee & Thompson’s 40th anniversary, aims to tackle the barriers to progression often faced by freelancers from under-represented groups within the creative sectors, through the funding of a wide-ranging training programme as well as in-house legal training and networking facilitation. This year’s freelancer group includes producers, directors, designers, writers, performers, illustrators, editors, composers and marketers. The brunch was the cohort’s first opportunity to meet in person for a morning of introduction and speed meetings. The session also featured a roundtable discussion on key legal considerations with L&T Partner Will Everitt and Associate Pia Hutchinson, clarifying pressing issues to the group such as freelancer terms and conditions, getting paid and chasing invoices, and distributing original content through online platforms such as Spotify.

39 nominations for L&T films at the British Independent Film Awards 2025

We are proud that 10 films we advised on have been nominated at the 2025 British Independent Film Awards (BIFAs), collectively amounting to 39 nominations. Congratulations to everyone involved in the following BIFA-nominated films: My Father’s Shadow (dir. Akinola Davies Jr) received 12 nominations: Best British Independent Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay (Wale Davies), Best Debut Director, Best Debut Screenwriter, Best Cinematography (Jermaine Edwards), Best Costume Design (PC Williams), Best Editing (Omar Guzman Castro), Best Make-Up & Hair Design (Kehinde Are, Feyzo Oyebisi), Best Original Music (CJ Mirra), Best Production Design (Jennifer Anti, Pablo Anti) and Best Sound (CJ Mirra, James Ridgway, Joe Jackson, Adele Fletcher, Pius Fatoke) Die My Love (dir. Lynne Ramsay) received 8 nominations: Best Director, Best Lead Performance (Jennifer Lawrence), Best Cinematography (Seamus McGarvey), Best Effects (Victor Tomi), Best Music Supervision (Ian Neil, Raife Burchell), Best Make-Up & Hair Design (Colleen Labaff, Miho Suzuki), Best Production Design (Tim Grimes) and Best Sound (Tim Burns, Paul Davies, Linda Forsen, Andrew Stirk, Ron Osiowy) Wasteman (dir. Cal McMau) received 5 nominations: Best Lead Performance (David Jonsson), Best Supporting Performance (Tom Blyth), Best Debut Director, Best Debut Screenwriter (Hunter Andrews, Eoin Doran) and Best Music Supervision (Phil Canning) On Falling (dir. Laura Carreira) received 4 nominations: Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Debut Director and Best Debut Screenwriter 100 Nights of Hero (dir. Julia Jackman) received 3 nominations: Best Costume Design (Susie Coulthard), Best Make-Up & Hair Design (Natasha Lawes), Best Production Design (Sofia Sacomani) Ish (dir. Imran Perretta) received 2 nominations: Breakthrough Producer (Dhiraj Mahey) and Best Sound (Nina Hartstone, Jake Whitelee, Jens Petersen, Mike Tehrani, Rob Davidson) Tornado (dir. John Maclean) received 2 nominations: Best Costume Design (Kirsty Halliday) and Best Original Music (Jed Kurzel) The Thing with Feathers (dir. Dylan Southern) received a nomination for Best Effects (Hayley Williams, Conor O’Sullivan, Martin Malmqvist) Stomach Bug (dir. Matty Crawford & Karima Sammout Kanellopoulou) received a nomination for Best British Short Film Harvest (dir. Athina Rachel Tsangari) received a nomination for Best Production Design (Nathan Parker) Winners will be announced at the ceremony in London on Sunday 30 November.

Amanda McDowall appointed to INTA “Rising Practitioners Committee” for 2026-2027

We’re delighted to share that L&T Partner Amanda McDowall has been appointed to the International Trademark Association’s Rising Practitioners Committee for the 2026 – 2027 term. The International Trademark Association (INTA) is a nonprofit global association, which supports, strengthens, and advocates for trademarks and complementary IP, in order to foster consumer trust, economic growth and innovation. The Rising Practitioners Committee develops educational and professional development programs and resources specifically designed for rising practitioners with six or less years of IP practice. Its work includes content development, identification of speakers and moderators, and program implementation.

What Lee & Thompson LLP Looks For

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Central to the firm’s culture and ethos is our commitment to ensuring a diverse and inclusive workplace, preventing discrimination and creating an environment where everyone – staff, clients and everyone we work with – can be themselves and can bring their whole selves to work. Of course, we have all the right policies and procedures in place – but this is about far more than policies. We are committed to continued introspection and review, always seeking to improve and educate ourselves. Lee & Thompson actively celebrates diversity and belonging within the firm and beyond. We are committed to ensuring that we are inclusive of and accessible to anyone and everyone who wants to work at or with the firm, and we ensure that everyone can bring their true self to work.

Lee & Thompson LLP