Linklaters
Interesting selling points
- Linklaters has 31 offices based across the world and is known for its work with clients in the banking, consumer, private equity and financial sponsors, and retail asset managers sectors
- Ranked Band 1 by Chambers and Partners across more practice areas and sectors (and a greater variety of practice areas and sectors) than many of its competitors.
- The firm has worked with a number of notable clients, including NatWest, BlackRock, Britvic, Unilever, Wise, SSE Renewables, Sony, and the London Stock Exchange
- It has invested in technology and innovation, as evidenced by the firm’s partnership with Crowdcube, and its launch of Nakhoda and Re:link
- The firm prioritises six areas of diversity, equity and inclusion, with its initiatives including supporting the Amos Bursary, neurodiversity training, and various female sponsorship and training opportunities.
We cover these selling points in more detail below, alongside other relevant firm facts and characteristics.
Practice areas / services
Linklaters is a full-service law firm, with a broad range of practice areas including:
- Antitrust & Foreign Investment
- Artificial Intelligence
- Banking
- Business Crime
- Capital Markets
- Construction
- Corporate/M&A
- Credit and Special Solutions
- Crisis Management
- Data and Cyber
- Digital Regulation and Technology Projects
- Diversity Faculty
- Employment and Incentives
- Energy & Infrastructure
- Environment, Social and Governance
- Financial Regulation Group
- Fintech
- Intellectual Property
- International Arbitration
- Investigations
- Investment Funds
- Islamic Finance
- Legal Operations
- Litigation
- Pensions
- Private Equity
- Public & Administrative Law
- Public Advocacy
- Real Estate
- Restructuring and Insolvency
- Risk and Resilience
- Supply Chain and Procurement
- Tax
- Telecomms
- Trade Law
Chambers and Partners, a leading analyst of the legal market, has awarded Linklaters its highest ‘Band 1’ ranking for the following departments: Banking & Finance:Borrowers: Big-Ticket, Banking & Finance: Lenders: Big-Ticket, Competition Law, Corporate/M&A: £800 million and above, Environment & Climate Change, Pensions, Restructuring/Insolvency, Capital Markets: Debt, Capital Markets: Derivatives, Capital Markets: Equity, Capital Markets: Securitisation, Capital Markets: Structured Products, Data Protection & Information Law, Employee Share Schemes & Incentives, Energy & Natural Resources: Mining: International, Energy & Natural Resources: Oil & Gas, Energy & Natural Resources: Power, Energy & Natural Resources: Renewables & Alternative Energy, Financial Services: Contentious Regulatory (Corporates), Financial Services: Non-contentious Regulatory, Infrastructure, Private Equity: Buyouts: £500 million and above, Projects, Retail: Corporate & Competition and Transport: Rail: Projects & Infrastructure. See here for more information.
Key sectors / industries
Linklaters services a broad range of industries, with some of its highest-value clients operating in the following sectors:
In addition, Linklaters services the following industries: Automotive, Chemicals, Energy & Utilities, Healthcare and Life Sciences, Industrials, Infrastructure, Insurance, Mining, Mobility, Real Estate and Leisure, Sports, Technology and Telecoms.
Work
Linklaters works to provide its clients with top-tier advice on complex, multi-jurisdiction matters. Examples of its work include:
- NatWest: The firm was involved in NatWest’s acquisition of Sainsbury’s Bank, which sees NatWest acquire approximately £2.5 billion of gross customer assets.
- Britvic: Linklaters advised Britvic Plc on its takeover by Carlsberg for £3.3 billion, which sees the combining of two major bottlers of PepsiCo Inc. Soft drinks
- BlackRock: The firm advised BlackRock on its acquisition of a minority ownership stake in the Saudi Bahrain Pipeline Company from Bapco Energies, the integrated energy company leading the energy transition in the Kingdom of Bahrain
Offices / global footprint / expansion
Headquarters: London, One Silk Street
Offices: Linklaters has a total of 31 offices in 21 countries around the world. Some of its office locations include Tokyo, Amsterdam and New York.
Insights, internships and other opportunities
Linklaters offers a number of opportunities for individuals wishing to gain experience in the legal industry and learn more about life at the firm. Opportunities for interested applicants include: the ‘Pathfinder Scheme’, which is a two-day developmental programme open to first year students; the ‘Get Ahead’ and ‘Going Forward’ programmes, which provide a programme of focused webinars and mentorship opportunities for candidates from underrepresented minority ethnic backgrounds and individuals granted refugee status; and winter, spring and summer vacation schemes open to penultimate and final-year undergraduates, graduates, and postgraduates.
Training contract
Linklaters offers a four-seat training contract, with each seat lasting six months. The training contract offers quality insights into the kind of work carried out by each department. Alongside enabling trainees to work out where their interests lie, the ongoing feedback provided by a Principal in each seat, as well as a training plan drawn up by the Trainee Development Team, supports each trainee’s skill development and understanding of key practice areas.
More specialised opportunities for internationally-minded training are offered by Linklaters through its ‘China-London Training Contract’ ‘Middle East-London Training Contract’ and ‘Singapore-London Training Contract’, with trainees on each scheme spending a year practising in each jurisdiction and having the opportunity to qualify in both jurisdictions at the end.
Note that if/when you are promoted to the role of Managing Associate (usually from 4+ PQE), you'll join the firm's "Leaders of the Future" training programme, which is part of the Linklaters Law & Business School, in conjunction with the University of Cambridge. This includes access to formal training workshops such as fee negotiation and feedback skills.
Secondments
Linklaters offers an impressive range of international secondments, with locations ranging from Asia to Australia. The firm has also previously offered client secondments at organisations including BP, Carlyle and Citibank. Secondments are usually undertaken in the 4th seat, although opportunities sometimes arise at an earlier stage of the training contract.
Technology and innovation
Linklaters is committed to utilising technology to provide clients with flexible and innovative legal services, with related initiatives including:
- Nakhoda: Nakhoda, Linklater’s flagship legal tech start-up, offers a variety of automated and streamlined legal technology solutions for clients, including CreateiQ, a digital contract automation and negotiation platform.
- Crowdcube: partnering with Crowdcube, Linklaters provides (what appears to be) free legal advice to select innovative start-ups that have received investment through the equity crowdfunding platform. This not only broadens its client base, but also provides the firm with exposure to exciting and disruptive new technology and fintech companies.
- Re:link: Re:link allows clients to contract lawyers from Linklaters for fixed-term projects, an innovative approach to legal services that allows both lawyers and clients to pursue a more flexible approach to delivering/sourcing legal services.
Corporate social responsibility
Linklaters is ‘driven to make a difference’, and accordingly invests its capabilities and resources into a broad range of projects designed to have a positive social impact. A few recent examples include:
- Supporting the Hackney East project, which involved providing employment workshops, CV reviews and long-term leadership coaching to residents.
- Partnering with the UK Lesbian and Gay Immigration Group (UKLGIG) to assist vulnerable LBGT asylum seekers with immigration applications and matters relating to family reunification.
- Contributing to “eyeWitness to Atrocities”, a project using technology to upload images and videos of war crimes for use as evidence in international investigations.
Diversity and inclusion
Linklaters believes diversity, equity and inclusion are the pulse of the firm. The firm prioritises six strands of diversity: gender, race and ethnicity, social mobility, age and life stage, LGBTQIA+ and diversabilities. Examples of its initiatives include:
- Female Development and Sponsorship Opportunities: The firm offers female talent programmes including its Women’s Leadership Programme for senior associates and Stepping Foward, its group coaching programme for more junior female associates
- Neurodiversity training: the firm rolled out neurodiversity training for all business teams and practice groups, which covered potential challenges and advantages of ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Dyslexia and Dyspraxia, including information about the support offered by Linklaters, as well as tips for managers and colleagues
- The Amos Bursary: The firm are continued supporters of the Amos Bursary, a charity focusing on ensuring talented men of African and Caribbean descent from less advantaged backgrounds have the opportunity to excel in education and beyond