2026 Training Contract

Trainees in our London office work directly with senior lawyers across practices and industry groups on complex and, frequently, cross-border matters. We offer a hands-on and varied experience where trainees build a thorough understanding of our firm’s business and of working with international, high-profile clients.

Engagement and teamwork are the foundation of the training you will experience at Morgan Lewis. You can expect to be an active member of a busy team and play a real part in doing challenging legal work. While classic “seat” allocations bring a practice area focus to each six-month phase of your training, the versatility and integration of our lawyers ensures that you will have a varied workload and regular exposure to diverse learning experiences. We currently offer seats in Antitrust, Corporate & Business Transactions, Finance, Investment Management, Labour & Employment, Litigation, and Structured Transactions, IP as well as the occasional client secondment in London. The majority of our trainees will also undertake a secondment in one of our international offices, including Dubai and Singapore.

Pay & Benefits

Candidates who have accepted a training contract offer with Morgan Lewis will receive a maintenance grant (paid in instalments), as well as the full payment of fees for both the PGDL and SQE/LPC. The firm does not provide retrospective funding for law school fees or maintenance grants.

1st year salary: £50,000 per annum.
2nd year salary: £55,000 per annum.
Qualification salary: £150,000 per annum.

Benefits include life assurance, private medical and dental insurance, pension, and income protection.

Applications for our 2026 Training Contracts are now open, with a deadline of 5 July 2024.Applicants will first need to complete the online application form, the second stage of the process is a phone interview with HR and if successful candidates will be invited to an assessment centre, which includes a partner interview, group activity, written exercise, and discussion panel with partners.

Summer Vacation Scheme

Our two-week summer vacation scheme provides students with the opportunity to learn more about the firm, meet some of our people, and gain insight into life at Morgan Lewis. During the scheme, students will be given as much hands-on experience as possible, as well as be given the opportunity to attend seminars, workshops, and various social activities. Summer scheme students will be assessed for a training contract during the course of the two-week placement.

Applications for our 2024 summer vacation scheme in the London office are now open, with a deadline of 26 January 2024. Please check back for more information. Obtaining a spot requires an online application followed by a telephone interview with HR and then a partner interview.

What we look for

Candidates applying for our open day, summer scheme, or training contract will need a strong academic record, including a minimum of AAB at A Level (or equivalent) and a 2:1 (predicted or gained) in their undergraduate degree.

Our online application form is the first opportunity for you to provide us with information that will help us to get to know you. We look for a range of prior work experience (a mixture of law and non-law), volunteering and extracurricular activities to demonstrate the development of your skills and experience. In particular, we are looking for candidates to show us their commercial awareness, team spirit, resilience, and passion for a career in law.

Applications for both our summer scheme and training contract programmes are open to penultimate year law students, final year law, and non-law students and graduates. If you have not completed a law degree in England and Wales, we will require you to complete the Post Graduate Diploma in Law (PGDL), before commencing the SQE.

Open Days 2023

Our Open Day runs in the spring of each year. The one-day programme is a great way to learn more about Morgan Lewis as a firm and about commercial law in general. We will introduce you to our key practice areas in the London office and give you the opportunity to meet with some of our trainees during a Q&A session. You will also sit down with some of our trainees over an informal lunch, before attending a number of skills sessions.

Our Open Days are open to those in their first year of a law degree, or penultimate year of a non-law degree. Applications are now open, with a deadline of 19 January 2024. Please check back for more information. If your application is successful, you will be invited for a telephone interview, before being offered a place on the day.