Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP |

Since 1946 our lawyers and staff have worked across practices, industries, jurisdictions, and continents to provide clients with simple, actionable approaches to their most complex legal and business challenges, whether domestic or international. We support every client relationship with intellectual agility, commercial acumen, and a human touch.

Who We Are. We have offices located in 16 major financial and political centres around the world, but we are a single, integrated firm. This “one firm” approach means we can better collaborate and deliver all our resources to all our clients, wherever they may be.

Diversity and Inclusion. We place a premium on leveraging the unique perspectives of individuals with a range of backgrounds, beliefs, and life experiences. The wide-ranging diversity of people and viewpoints makes Cleary an open and exciting place to work.

Ground-breaking Work. For more than 70 years, clients around the world have entrusted us to seamlessly handle their most challenging assignments, from large corporate transactions to cases of first impression. Our work is rarely easy, but our lawyers get the opportunity to work on high-profile cases and innovative deals—where the stakes are high and each lawyer’s talents can make a difference.

Culture. Our firm is arranged around an informal structure that is democratic and participatory. As your practice evolves and your interests expand, your career path will grow in tandem.

Professional Development. Cleary is a firm where lawyers at all levels talk to each other frequently and freely, so working and training go hand-in-hand.

One Firm

We are a single, integrated, global partnership. Our ‘one firm’ approach enables us to deliver all of our resources to all of our clients, wherever in the world they may be.
Multiple Specialties

We train our lawyers to identify and consider all issues raised by a transaction, and we encourage each senior lawyer to focus on more than one type of transaction. This approach equips our lawyers with a deep understanding of the ways in which all aspects of a transaction fit together. Unencumbered by departmental boundaries, our lawyers’ ability to see the ‘big picture’ delivers a propensity for innovation that can often be lost through over-specialisation.

Not Departmentalised

Following the standard found in all our offices, the London office is not departmentalised. Rather than limit our lawyers, we want them to follow their interests and abilities. Our lawyers’ offices are not grouped by practice area: they are mixed around the office. This encourages discussion and integration between lawyers working on a variety of matters related to a range of practice areas and contributes significantly to the informality and collegiality of our office environment.

Core Areas of Practice

Our core areas of practice in London include M&A and other corporate work, international capital markets and finance, antitrust, litigation and arbitration, tax, financial regulation, employment, and intellectual property. Lawyers who focus on different practices work closely together, according to the requirements of a particular transaction.

Multi-office Deal Teams

The London office is a key part of our closely integrated network of international offices. Our focus on high-quality, innovative, and high-profile transactions means that our work almost always has a cross-border element. We work with colleagues in our U.S., Latin American, European, Middle Eastern, and Asian offices on a daily basis. Deal teams typically combine the skills and resources of lawyers from more than one office.

Practice Environment

Our London office offers a dynamic, challenging, and stimulating environment in which to practice law. Our firm conducts the highest-quality work for the most interesting clients. You will work with colleagues of a consistently-high calibre across numerous jurisdictions. Lawyers in London are supported by an international network of knowhow, precedents, and best practices built on the vast experience of all our lawyers worldwide. Our London office practises in a smaller and more informal environment than is possible in the larger London firms. We believe we provide the optimal setting in which to train and practise as a solicitor.

• 25 days’ holiday
• Fitness subsidy
• Health screening
• Private health insurance
• Life insurance of twice annual salary
• Long-term disability insurance
• Critical illness insurance
• Dental insurance
• Employee assistance programme
• Emergency backup care,
• Cycle to work scheme
• Subsidised staff restaurant

All candidates should submit a cover letter and full CV, including a breakdown by subject of all A-Level (or equivalent) results and degree results where known.

Applications for both vacation schemes and training contracts should be submitted via our website by clicking apply below.

We will review applications for vacation schemes on a rolling basis. Direct training contract applications will not be reviewed until after the deadline on 31 July 2024.

Our Committee on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) promotes open exchanges about diversity and inclusion matters and drive changes at the firm. It is part of an overarching Committee which leads on and co-ordinates London’s DEI, ESG, and Pro Bono activities. Our DEI committees’ agendas cover a wide and visible set of initiatives that range from mentoring programmes and professional development to speaker series and workshops.

In London, the DEI Committee consists of four working groups, made up of a cross section of our legal and professional staff population, focusing on BAME, LGBTQ+, Social Mobility, and Wellbeing. Initiatives and events are designed to promote inclusivity through awareness raising and education both within the firm and the wider community. In short, you will find Cleary a compelling place to work— and diverse in the broadest sense of the word.

We were the first international firm of U.S. origin to sign the Law Society’s Diversity and Inclusion Charter, the flagship diversity initiative of the legal profession. We also pride ourselves on having more than 62 female partners and counsel globally, with the first woman elected to partnership in 1978. There is an overall focus on creating an atmosphere of inclusiveness through a diverse workforce, and more than 65 languages are spoken by our lawyers around the world.

We are proud to be using Rare Recruitment’s Contextual Recruitment System (CRS) which allows us to consider achievements in the context in which they were gained. We understand that not every candidate’s achievements look the same on paper — and we want to recruit the best people, from every background.