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Osborne Clarke

Unique selling points

  • Expertise across a wide range of sectors, including energy and utilities, financial services, life sciences and healthcare, real estate and infrastructure, indicating a strong grounding in vital industries.
  • ‘Non-hierarchical’ culture promises that trainees are treated as valued members of the team, creating a supportive environment for trainees to learn and develop their skills.
  • Commitment to providing pro bono legal advice, supporting educational organisations, and participating in fundraising activities for nominated charities and community organisations.
  • Keen interest in diversity and inclusion as demonstrated through its Gender Action Plan, REACH network and Mind and Body Network.
  • Notable clients include the Mulberry Group, HSBC and ITV.

We cover these selling points in more detail below, alongside other relevant firm facts and characteristics.

Practice areas / services

Osborne Clarke is a full-service law firm, with a broad range of practice areas including:

  • Banking and Finance
  • Commercial
  • Competition, Antitrust and Trade
  • Corporate
  • Dispute Resolution
  • Employment and Pensions
  • Infrastructure Services
  • Intellectual Property
  • IT and Data
  • Real Estate
  • Regulatory and Compliance
  • Tax

Chambers and Partners, a leading analyst of the legal market, has awarded Osborne Clarke its highest ‘Band 1’ ranking for the following departments: Capital Markets: AIM, Media & Entertainment: Advertising & Marketing and Public Procurement. See here for more information

Key sectors / industries

Osborne Clarke services a broad range of industries, with some of its highest-value clients operating in the following sectors:

In addition, Osborne Clarke services the following industries: Mobility and Infrastructure, Retail and Consumer, Tech, Media and Comms and Workforce Solutions. 

Work

Osborne Clarke is consistently involved in cross-border, high-profile work. Examples of projects include: 

  • Mulberry Group: The firm advised Mulberry Group, the British sustainable luxury brand, on its £10.4 million cashbox capital raising. 
  • HSBC: Osborne Clarke advised HSBC on its investment in FINBOURNE Technology as part of one of the largest series B raises in the UK. 
  • ITV: The firm advised ITV on its investment in online estate agent Strike (trading as Purplebricks) which is the latest ‘Media for Equity’ investment by ITV.

Older examples

  • Treatwell: An international team from the firm advised Treatwell France, the leading beauty and wellness site and app in Europe, on its acquisition of Wavy. 
  • Industrious: Osborne Clarke represented the highest-rated flexible workplace, Industrious, in its acquisition of 100% of the share capital and voting rights of its European counterpart, Welkin & Meraki. 
  • Fime: The law firm advised Fime on an exclusive strategic partnership with National Instruments. 

Offices / global footprint / expansion

Headquarters: London, One London Wall

Offices: Osborne Clarkehas a total of 26 offices across the globe. A few of the firm’s locations include Brussels, Barcelona, Palo Alto, and Shanghai.  

Insights, internships and other opportunities

Osborne Clarke offers several opportunities for students to gain an insight into working life at the firm. Aimed at first-year law students and second-year non-law students, the firm’s Insight Schemes enable attendees to experience the day-to-day work carried out by lawyers, talk with partners, and get advice on vacation scheme applications. The firm’s vacation schemes provide budding lawyers with an active role in ongoing projects as well as regular in-depth knowledge sessions and a number of social events. 

Training contract

Osborne Clarke offers a four-seat training contract, with each seat lasting six months. Across these two years, trainees will have an initial scoping meeting to determine where their interests lie. After this, the firm provides regular reviews to discuss strengths and areas for improvement. This support does not, however, come to a close after the first 2 years. During lawyers’ first year with the firm post-qualification, they can expect to receive further guidance when it comes to developing specialist “future of work” skills. 

Secondments

Osborne Clarke offers its trainees the chance to apply for a secondment during their training programme. This may be to one of the firm’s clients, or to one of the firm’s many international offices. For those who do not complete a full international secondment, Osborne Clarke encourages them to work in another country for a shorter period of time (1-3 weeks) while carrying out their day-to-day UK work. 

Technology and innovation

As a firm, Osborne Clarke has adopted a “pioneering approach to shaping, using and sharing legal services technology”. Some of the initiatives introduced as a part of this approach include:

  • Client Hub: The digital “front door” of the firm, the Client Hub offers clients an easy and efficient way to manage legal work and spend.
  • Matter Manager: This powerful tool enables the management of day-to-day tasks as well as more complex matters through its simple and efficient design.
  • Asset Manager: This initiative allows stakeholders to follow agreed workflows, share information, and automate documentation. 
Corporate social responsibility

Osborne Clarke seeks to combine the firm’s “corporate responsibility initiatives” with its “employee development strategies”. Some of the work carried out to this end includes:
  • Rule 39 Initiative: Osborne Clarke, along with 7 other international law firms, helped support the Rule 39 Initiatives which assisted with the protection of human rights of asylum-seekers, refugees and migrants in Europe. It has assisted over 500 people and provided 4,000 hours of pro bono legal support. 
  • Zacchaeus 2000 Trust (Z2K): The firm provided pro bono volunteers to advise Z2K in a successful DWP appeal. 
  • UK Youth: The firm is a founding partner of UK Youth’s Joined Up Institute which aims to be the place where young people and professionals come together to learn, turn evidence into action and solve key issues. The firm will support the digital aspect of the Institute.

Diversity and inclusion

Osborne Clarke regards “sustaining an inclusive culture and increasing diversity” as central to the firm. To this end, the firm has launched a number of D&I initiatives, with some examples including: 

  • OC50:50: the firm launched its Gender Action Plan which focuses the firm’s work on inclusive recruitment practices, the progression and development of female talent, and developing a workplace culture where everyone can reach their full potential. 
  • OC Reach: Osborne Clarke has its REACH network (Race, Ethnicity & Cultural Heritage) which supports colleagues within OC from a black or other ethnic minority background. It raises awareness of issues, supports the development of policies and initiatives and promotes the progression of those colleagues. 
  • OC Mind and Body: This is the firm’s internal employee network, which focuses on neurodivergent colleagues, and those with disabilities and long-term health conditions. It is made up of subcommittees focusing on mental health, neurodiversity and physical disability.