News Feed

Leathes Prior is delighted to announce that the prestigious Legal 500 Future Lawyers survey has awarded the firm a winners badge in five categories with two being a national top spot: ‘Vacation Schemes’ and ‘Social Life’.

As remarkable as being ranked no.1 in the UK in the ‘Social Life’ category is, it in fact is the fifth time in six years that Leathes Prior has topped the nation’s rankings, with only an otherwise impressive step down to second place in 2021 preventing a winning streak that would have lasted six years.

It is of course also fantastic to be as the UK’s joint-leader in the ‘Vacation Schemes’ category, the goal has always been to offer a true reflection of life as a Trainee Solicitor at the firm during the programme of which the results show that we have achieved this.  

In addition the firm has also been awarded category prizes in the league tables for its very high rankings in three other categories: ‘Inclusiveness’, ‘Work/Life Balance’, and ‘Client Contact’.

The Legal 500 Future Lawyers survey (previously known as Lex 100) bases its rankings on anonymous feedback collected from trainee solicitors in the UK who share their experiences whilst training at their law firm. Using a mix of scores and comments, the responses are gathered to create a profile for each firm which future candidates can look through and choose the firms with the best fit for their training contract.

The just released 2022 edition of the Leathes Prior profile includes comments such as:

“We get the best training here”; “it is rare for me to hear trainees from other firms discuss tasks as involved as those we are given”, “It’s easy to feel relaxed and comfortable being yourself in the workplace”, thanks to a “family approach” where “all of the teams are properly connected”.

The Legal 500 Future Lawyers survey verdict also ends with the following summary:

“For a Norwich-based firm, with plenty of opportunity for client contact, both locally and nationally, and an excellent work/life balance, consider Leathes Prior.”    

Leathes Prior’s Dan Chapman, said “It was with slight disquiet that after four years of being awarded the most sociable firm in the UK, we discovered last year that we had slipped to second place. Aghast at the thought that there was another firm out there offering more sociability, it is a source of some comfort to discover that in 2022 we have regained our rightful crown! In all seriousness, we take great pride in our culture and very much embrace the positives of being a law firm which is more than just a business full of colleagues, and the benefits of that are seen ultimately not just by our people, but by our clients. It is great to see that our vacation scheme programme reflects this too because it is so much more than work experience for students; it is their opportunity to try out life at the firm before deciding whether it could be the place of their future career. Ultimately these rankings are about recruitment and training, so for a Norfolk firm to be ranked so highly for its vacation schemes is a tremendous achievement and we are grateful for the hard work of our training principal Sarah Appleton, HR Manager Anastasia Panova and Lawyers Alex Saunders and Lily Beel. I hope it will attract more talented lawyers to come and join the LP family.”

For those ready to find out more on how to apply to join Leathes Prior - head straight to our Careers page.