A UK-rooted international law firm based in London, with a solicitor apprenticeship open in London, Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham.
Pinsent Masons is an international law firm that advises businesses, investors and governments. Its lawyers help with things like buying and selling companies, building big projects such as power plants and railways, financing deals, protecting technology and settling disputes. Wikipedia says its main sectors are financial services, technology, science and industry, energy, real estate and infrastructure. The firm also has a sister business, Vario, which supplies flexible lawyers and legal project help, though we did not read Vario's own pages.
Its roots go back to 1769, and the modern firm was formed through mergers of firms including Pinsent & Co, Masons, Simpson Curtis, Biddle & Co, L'Estrange & Brett and McGrigors. Its head office is in London, and Wikipedia says it has 29 offices across Africa, Asia Pacific, Europe and the Middle East, over 490 partners, about 1,900 legal staff and more than 3,500 employees. In the UK the early-careers pages name London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds.
The firm's purpose, as quoted on its early-talent blog, is to 'Champion change, promote progress and enable everyone to make business work better for people'. A placement student who wrote about it in 2019 described it as shaping decisions rather than being a slogan, and pointed to an Innovation Hub where staff at any level can submit ideas. That is one student's account of the firm's own approach. The Financial Times named it the most innovative law firm in Europe in 2015, 2020 and 2023, and it has been in the top ten of the Working Families benchmark for seven years in a row (Wikipedia).
Beyond general commercial law, the firm runs a thought-leadership service called Outlaw, which publishes news and analysis for its sectors. It partners with the 10,000 Interns Foundation and Aspiring Solicitors, which help students from less advantaged backgrounds into law, and it says it is committed to diversity and inclusion.
Working there looks collaborative: the placement student found it non-competitive with little emphasis on hierarchy, and placement work included researching business opportunities in Africa for sector heads and helping with pitch materials. For the training contract (September 2028 start, London only), applicants need ABB at A-level in one sitting or a 2:1 degree, law or non-law. Pay is 54,000 pounds in year one and 59,000 pounds in year two in London (as at August 2026), and the firm pays for the PGDL or SQE course plus a maintenance grant. Applications opened 15 September 2026 and close 4 November 2026. The process is an online form, a situational judgement and video assessment, then an assessment centre; AI answers are not allowed. Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds training contracts (September 2029) are reached through the 2027 vacation placement. A Legal Cheek page also lists a six-year solicitor apprenticeship (ABB at A-level, five GCSEs at grade 5 or above); check the firm's own pages for current dates.
Website: www.pinsentmasons.com
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