London Trainee Programme

Trainees in our London office work directly with senior lawyers across practices and industry groups on complex and, frequently, cross-border matters. We offer a hands-on and varied experience where trainees build a thorough understanding of our firm’s business and of working with international, high-profile clients.

Engagement and teamwork are the foundation of the training you will experience at Morgan Lewis. You can expect to be an active member of a busy team and play a real part in doing challenging legal work. While classic “seat” allocations bring a practice area focus to each six-month phase of your training, the versatility and integration of our lawyers ensures that you will have a varied workload and regular exposure to diverse learning experiences. We currently offer seats in Antitrust, Corporate & Business Transactions, Finance, Investment Management, Labour & Employment, Litigation, Structured Transactions, and IP. Some of our trainees will also undertake a secondment in one of our international offices, including Abi Dhabi, Dubai, and Singapore.

Pay and Benefits

Candidates who have accepted a training contract offer with Morgan Lewis will receive a maintenance grant (paid in instalments), as well as the full payment of fees for both the PGDL and SQE. The firm does not provide retrospective funding for law school fees or maintenance grants.

1st year salary: £57,500 per annum.

2nd year salary: £62,500 per annum.

Qualification salary: £173,000 per annum.

Benefits include life assurance, private medical and dental insurance, pension, and income protection.

Applications for our 2029 Training Contracts open on 08 October 2026 and close at midnight on 16 June 2027. Applicants will first need to complete the online application form, the second stage of the process is a phone interview with Graduate Recruitment and if successful, candidates will be invited to an assessment centre, which includes a partner interview, group activity, written exercise, and discussion panel with partners.