The new juniors will earn £180,000 on the market
Elite US law firm Paul Weiss is ramping up its recruitment in the City of London with the launch of a new training contract program in the UK.
The New York-based department plans to recruit co Legal Cheek It is understood there will be between 5 and 10 trainees from this autumn as part of an ambitious expansion strategy on this side of the pond, which has seen it lure top partner talent from its Magic Circle and US rivals.
The inaugural cohort will start their main contributors in 2026 and will earn £180,000 after qualifying, the highest in the market. The Legal Cheek The Firms Most List – featuring Paul Weiss soon – shows that only one other law firm, US player Gibson Dunn, is currently offering this amount of cash to its NQs.
The payment of interns has not yet been finalised, but the firm will offer additional financial support including maintenance grants and cover law school fees.
Over the past year, Paul Weiss has assembled a formidable team of lawyers in London as part of an expansion plan led in part by private equity rainmaker Neel Sachdev, who attracted considerable press attention when he moved from rival US firm Kirkland & Ellis last summer.
Speak with Legal Cheek on the creation of the new training contract programme, London co-head Sachdev said:
“The launch of our training program is a key milestone for our growing London office. We are excited to have the opportunity to mentor and develop interns to become our partners of the future. We have an elite group of private equity, public M&A, debt financing, tax and antitrust lawyers who act on the highest profile and most complex transactions in global markets. Interns will have the opportunity to be part of these stellar teams in a unique, diverse, client-focused culture.”
The program is overseen by the firm’s new senior recruitment manager, Paul Gascoyne, who led graduate recruitment at Shearman & Sterling prior to its merger with Allen & Overy.
“The training contract program at Paul, Weiss is going to be something special,” Gascoyne said Legal Cheek. “Our goal is to offer junior lawyers the best training in an environment like no other. The London team is extremely talented, creative and collaborative and our office will be a fantastic training ground for those who want to be at the top of the legal profession.”
Paul Weiss has been operating in London since 2001, but has only recently started to grow significantly. The firm now has 108 lawyers in the UK capital, more than tripling its 2022 headcount, thanks to a bold recruitment strategy that has attracted top partners from rivals such as Kirkland & Ellis, Linklaters, Clifford Chance, Macfarlanes and Ropes & Gray.
As part of this major recruitment drive, Paul Weiss also recently moved into Twitter’s former London HQ (now X) (pictured above), located on the edge of Soho and a stone’s throw from posh Mayfair, home to a large number of firms. private equity clients.
In turn, this new talent has attracted major work in mergers and acquisitions, finance, capital markets, tax, antitrust and intellectual property. The London office recently advised on the financing and structuring of a potential cash offer for International Distributions Services, the parent company of Royal Mail, as well as General Atlantic’s acquisition of a majority stake in Joe & the Juice.
Outside of London, Paul Weiss is a major global legal player with more than 1,000 lawyers in more than 10 offices worldwide. Last year the firm surpassed $2bn in turnover, with profits per equity partner at a whopping $6.5m (£5.1m).