Leigh Day

Overview

Leigh Day is a national claimant-focused law firm founded in 1987, with main offices in London and Manchester and a network of regional offices across England and Wales. The firm specialises in high-profile claimant work including group and multi-party litigation, employment and equal pay claims, environmental and public law judicial reviews, serious personal injury and clinical negligence, and international corporate accountability cases. Leigh Day is known for bringing large-scale group actions and strategic human rights and environmental challenges (for example, landmark international and environmental cases, and multi-party actions against multinational corporations), and for a clear social justice mission that underpins its client work and community partnerships.

Headquarters: London, Panagram27 (Goswell Road)
Founded: 1987
Lawyers: 500+
Partners: 86
Trainees: 15
Offices: 10

Values & Culture

Practice Areas

Employment
Public Law
Environment & Planning
Personal Injury & Clinical Negligence
Dispute Resolution & Litigation
Data Protection & Privacy
Retail & Consumer
Regulatory & Compliance
Healthcare & Life Sciences
Insurance & Reinsurance

Geographic Focus: Strong national focus across England and Wales with offices in London, Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Birmingham, Nottingham, Newcastle, Plymouth, Bristol and Cardiff. The firm also pursues significant international claimant and corporate accountability work (bringing cases in English courts on behalf of overseas communities and individuals against multinational corporations and in some instances against foreign states), representing clients from regions including Africa, South America and other,

Training Contract

Two-year Trainee Solicitor Programme consisting of two seats (one per year). Trainees complete two substantive seats across the firm’s claimant-focused departments; supervision is described as structured and meaningful with exposure to significant client work. Recruitment for training contracts is conducted internally only (from existing paralegals). Typical recruitment occurs in spring/summer for a September start. Trainees frequently study for the SQE part-time alongside paralegal roles.

Starting Salary: £36,000
NQ Salary: £52,000
Trainee Intake: 15
Qualification Rate: 92%
Academic Requirements: Minimum degree: 2:1. Minimum A-level requirement: BBB. The firm accepts non-law graduates and encourages internal paralegals to apply; contextual recruitment support is provided via Rare’s Contextual Recruitment System.
Application Deadline: TBC

Seat Options

Personal Injury & Clinical Negligence
Employment
Public Law
Dispute Resolution & Litigation
Data Protection & Privacy

SQE Support

Trainees commonly study for the SQE part-time alongside paralegal roles. The firm encourages part-time SQE study while working; specific providers, exam fee coverage or study‑leave policies are not stated on the available pages.

International Opportunities

0% (chance of secondment abroad reported as 0%)

Client Secondments

0% (chance of client secondment reported as 0%)

Mentorship

The programme provides structured supervision and meaningful day-to-day responsibility; trainees are embedded in teams with supervisory arrangements. The firm has a Head of Learning and Development and internal professional support functions which support junior development.

Apply on the Leigh Day website →

Programmes & Schemes

Summer internships (law school schemes)

Partnerships with selected law school schemes to provide mentoring and work experience opportunities. Participation is administered directly by the partner law schools listed (Bristol, Cardiff, Salford and Warwick).

Legal internships (work experience)

Aimed at students in further education with an interest in law, prioritising applicants from underrepresented groups who are committed to claimant litigation. Typical placement offered (when running) is a two-week placement in the London office involving shadowing fee-earners, undertaking legal research, administrative support and visits to court hearings.

Duration: Two weeks (typical)

Apply →

Paralegal recruitment (route to training contract)

Leigh Day recruits trainees internally from its paralegal cohort. There are no minimum service requirements — paralegals can apply for the trainee programme from their first day with the firm. Candidates typically study for the SQE part-time alongside paralegal roles; the paralegal route is the primary pipeline into the trainee solicitor programme.

Apply →

Notable Matters

Shell – Bodo villagers settlement

Acted for the Bodo community in litigation against Shell in London which led to a landmark settlement of £55 million securing compensation for widespread oil pollution in the Niger Delta. The claim used English courts to hold a multinational accountable for environmental damage overseas.

Environment & Planning

Mau Mau torture claims

Historic group actions representing claimants alleging torture and abuses, part of the firm’s prominent international human rights/corporate accountability work bringing actions connected to abuses outside the UK.

Public Law

Anglo American – Silicosis / former miners cases

Representation of thousands of former miners in claims concerning silicosis and other industrial disease allegations against mining companies, working in multi‑party actions and coordinating cross-border litigation strategies.

Personal Injury & Clinical Negligence

Diesel emissions / vehicle manufacturers group action

Leading work investigating potential legal action and group claims against vehicle manufacturers for alleged defeat devices and emissions deception, coordinating group litigation strategies on behalf of affected vehicle owners.

Dispute Resolution & Litigation

NEXT equal pay claim (store workers)

Acted in large-scale equal pay litigation on behalf of thousands of store workers pursuing parity with distribution/warehouse colleagues, an example of Leigh Day’s claimant-side employment group litigation work.

Employment

What Leigh Day Looks For

Key Competencies

Commitment to social justice and claimant advocacy
Client care and resilience
Teamwork and peer support
Litigation and advocacy interest (group claims, public law, human rights)
Attention to detail and case-focused research skills
Practical experience (paralegal or relevant placements)

Evidence Signals

Paralegal experience at a claimant firm or in litigation
Experience or demonstrable interest in group actions, employment equal pay, human rights, environmental or clinical negligence work
Volunteering or pro bono experience (law centres, legal advice clinics)
Participation in law-school partnership schemes or targeted internships (partner law schools listed for summer internships)
Demonstrable commitment to client-centred claimant work and social justice

Benefits & Wellbeing

Hybrid working (typically 2 days from home for a full time worker)
29 days annual leave (excluding public holidays)
Enhanced pension contributions
Life assurance 4 x salary
Healthcare cash plan
Cycle to Work scheme
Discounted gym membership
Enhanced maternity & paternity pay
Electric car scheme
First year trainee salary: £36,000
Second year trainee salary: £38,000
Newly qualified salary: £52,000

Wellbeing

Healthcare cash plan, discounted gym membership and other wellbeing-related benefits; the firm runs internal diversity and wellbeing committees and offers enhanced parental pay.

Awards & Recognition

Times Top 100 Law Firms (listed in The Times Top 100)
Legal 500: consistently ranked; multiple Tier 1 practice rankings (2025/2026 listings referenced)
Chambers & Partners: top rankings across multiple departments (ranked in several areas; 2023/2024/2026 mentions)
LexisNexis Legal Awards - Employment Team of the Year 2022
Legal 500 Northern Powerhouse Awards 2026 - firmwide and individual recognition

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Leigh Day is committed to diversity, equity and inclusion, has a bespoke 2025-2028 inclusion strategy and publishes diversity data (staff-provided) and gender pay gap reporting (pages referenced for 2023, 2024 and 2025). The firm is a Stonewall Diversity Champion and uses contextual recruitment to support social mobility.

Rare’s Contextual Recruitment System (used in graduate recruitment)
Stonewall Diversity Champion
LGBT+ & Allies staff network
Disability committee (DISCO)
RISE (Race, Intersectionality, and Structural Equality) committee
Social Mobility committee
Women’s committee
Signatory to the Women in Law pledge

Pro Bono

Leigh Day does not operate a formal pro bono policy; lawyers undertake unpaid work routinely for existing and past clients and provide regular volunteering at law centres (Lewisham Law Centre, Islington Legal Advice Centre) and support for NGOs and charities. The firm runs charitable projects including scholarships with the Canon Collins Educational & Legal Assistance Trust and supports education projects in Africa via the Africa Educational Trust and other partnerships.

Innovation

There is limited publicly stated detail on named legal tech tools or innovation platforms on the careers and service pages. Insider ratings indicate a positive but not top-tier assessment for legal tech (grade B) while other internal measures show strong office and perks scores; trainees and staff report above-average office and social life ratings. Specific firm-wide innovation programmes or platform names are not listed on the available pages.

Quick Application Angles

Emphasise a demonstrable commitment to claimant work and social justice—cite an interest in or experience relevant to group claims, equal pay work or public law challenges (Leigh Day positions these as central to the firm’s mission).
If applying via the paralegal-to-trainee route, highlight substantive paralegal experience and examples of managing casework while studying (the firm recruits trainees internally and expects many to study SQE part-time).
Reference recent headline matters where relevant (for example, large-scale group and international actions such as the Shell Bodo settlement and multi‑party industrial disease litigation) to show commercial and contextual awareness of the firm’s major work.
Demonstrate collaborative working and client-facing skills: the firm’s trainee/insider ratings show strong peer support and partner approachability, so give examples of teamwork, client contact and taking responsibility on files.
Mention the firm’s diversity and inclusion activity (Rare contextual recruitment, Stonewall Champion status, internal networks) and, where relevant, describe lived experience or demonstrable commitment to social mobility or inclusion efforts.