EXCLUSIVE: Paul Weiss launches London training contract 

New juniors to earn market topping £180k

Elite US law firm Paul Weiss is ramping up its recruitment in the City of London with the launch of a new UK training contract programme.

The New York-headquartered outfit plans to recruit what Legal Cheek understands to be between five and 10 trainees from this autumn as part of an ambitious expansion strategy this side of the pond, which has seen it poach top partner talent from a raft of its Magic Circle and US rivals.

The inaugural cohort will commence their TCs in 2026 and earn a market-topping £180,000 upon qualification. The Legal Cheek Firms Most List — where Paul Weiss will soon appear — shows that currently only one other law firm, fellow US player Gibson Dunn, offers this amount of cash to its NQs.

Trainee pay is yet to be finalised, but the firm will offer additional financial support including maintenance grants and covering law school fees.

Over the past year, Paul Weiss has been assembling a formidable team of lawyers in London as part of expansion plan lead in part by private equity rainmaker Neel Sachdev, who attracted significant press attention when he moved from rival US firm Kirkland & Ellis last summer.

Speaking to Legal Cheek about the creation of the new training contract programme, London co-head Sachdev said:

“The launch of our training programme is a key milestone for our growing London office. We are excited to have the opportunity to mentor and develop trainees to become our partners of the future. We have an elite bench of lawyers across private equity, public M&A, debt finance, tax and antitrust who act on the highest profile and most complex transactions in the global markets. Trainees will have the opportunity to become part of these stellar teams in a unique, diverse and client-facing culture.”

Overseeing the programme is 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 programme at Paul, Weiss is going to be something special,” Gascoyne told Legal Cheek. “We aim to offer the best training to junior lawyers, in an environment like no other. The London team is extraordinarily talented, creative and collaborative, and our office will be a fantastic training ground for those looking to be at the top of the legal profession.”

Paul Weiss has had a presence in London since 2001, but it has only recently begun pursuing significant growth. The firm now has 108 lawyers in the UK capital, more than triple the headcount in 2022, thanks to a bold hiring 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 relocated to Twitter’s (now X) former London headquarters (pictured top), situated on the edge of Soho and just a stone’s throw from upmarket Mayfair, home to a large number of the firm’s private equity clients.

The new talent has in turn attracted big ticket work across the firm’s specialisms of M&A, finance, capital markets, tax, antitrust and IP. 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 on General Atlantic’s acquisition of a majority stake in Joe & the Juice.

Outside London, Paul Weiss is a major global legal player, with over 1,000 lawyers in more than 10 offices across the globe. Last year the firm turned over just over $2 billion in revenue, with profit per equity partner standing at a whopping $6.5 million (£5.1 million).