As one of the largest and most successful law firms in the world, Linklaters provides an outstanding career experience that offers a passport to success for our lawyers. Join us and we’ll give you the opportunity to realize your ambition for your own career.
Founded in 1838, Linklaters has over 2,400 lawyers, and more than 500 partners, in 21 countries. A truly unified firm with a single management structure, our network of 31 offices combines local knowledge and experience with a global infrastructure to provide our clients with the highest standards of legal advice wherever they do business – in the Americas, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, or in Africa and Australia through our strategic alliances with Webber Wentzel (South Africa) and Allens (Australia).
Our Global U.S. Practice
Whether in established or developing markets, U.S. law is increasingly becoming the law of choice in complex transactions and disputes. Linklaters’ network of more than 200 U.S. lawyers extends across the world’s major business and financial centers, including Frankfurt, Hong Kong, London, Madrid, Moscow, New York, Paris, São Paulo, Seoul, Singapore, Tokyo and Washington, D.C. Our global U.S. team brings both commercial U.S. knowledge and familiarity with local markets to cross-border matters.
Our U.S. lawyers practice across the following areas:
- Antitrust/competition and Foreign Investment
- Banking
- Bankruptcy, Restructuring and Insolvency
- Business Crimes and Investigations
- Capital Markets
- Corporate/M&A
- Data Solutions, Cyber and Privacy
- Dispute Resolution
- Energy and Infrastructure
- Executive Compensation and ERISA
- Financial Regulation
- Fintech
- Investment Funds
- Structured Finance and Derivatives
- Tax
As a leading global law firm, we advise the world’s premier companies, financial institutions and governments on their most important and challenging assignments. Our global reach enables us to deliver integrated advice across multiple legal regimes and market practices, so we can help our clients achieve their objectives wherever they do business.
Recent significant transactions and cases include advising:
- Hg’s Genesis 7 Fund and Montagu on the sale of a stake in Visma to investors led by Hg’s Saturn 2 Fund. Valued at US$12.2bn it represents the largest ever software buyout.
- Lenzing and Duratex on the US$1.1bn financing to build one of the world’s largest and most energy-efficient dissolving wood pulp plants.
- Gabon in a U.S. enforcement petition preventing a US$49m default on an unresolved international arbitration award.
- Linde on a carve-out for the merger of Linde AG and Praxair to form Linde plc with an aggregated market capitalization of ~US$100bn.
To learn more about our global U.S. practice, click the link.
Diversity & Inclusion
Diversity & Inclusion is never far from our minds. As a global organization with 31 offices in 21 countries, the nature of our work requires us to collaborate with colleagues and clients around the world on a daily basis. As a responsible business, it is important to us that we represent the diversity of our people, clients, and communities and that we create an inclusive culture in which everyone – regardless of background, identity, and circumstance – can reach their full potential.
Linklaters is committed to fostering a culture of opportunity and access, and we work hard to create an open and inclusive atmosphere. One of our primary strengths is our ability to attract, retain and develop the finest people from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences.
To help us focus and measure our efforts in D&I, we have prioritized six strands of diversity globally. We aim to ensure proportional representation of these groups and equality of opportunity in our workplace:
Gender: We are committed to creating an environment in which women are able to progress and where all genders feel supported in balancing their responsibilities inside and outside of the workplace.
Race & Ethnicity: We want our firm to reflect the races, ethnicities, cultures and nationalities that exist in the communities in which we operate.
Social Mobility: We strive to be a place where personal background, social identity and socio-economic circumstances are no barriers to success.
Age & Life Stage: We strive to be a place where personal background, social identity and socio-economic circumstances are no barriers to success.
LGBT+: Our aim is to create an environment of inclusion and belonging for people of all sexual orientations, gender identities and gender expressions.
Disability: We want to be a firm that recognizes, harnesses and celebrates the unique talents and abilities of people living with disabilities.
Some of our global and local initiatives include our “Diverse Voices” Reverse Mentoring Program, our INspire Minority Ethnic Talent Program, our Women’s Leadership Program, a variety of affinity groups in many of our offices, and the Americas Race and Equity Discussion Group in our New York, Washington, and Sao Paulo offices. Our Race Action Plan affirms our commitment to anti-racism and using our position as a global firm to drive change. The plan sets out how we will accomplish this at all stages of the career path, with concrete targets and actions, and holds firm leaders and managers accountable.
Click the link to learn more about diversity at Linklaters.
Pro Bono
Linklaters is recognized as a trusted advisor to all of our clients, whether fee-paying or pro bono, and the greater community. We are committed to being a good neighbor and making a positive impact on the communities in which we live and work. We feel strongly that pro bono work is an essential part of being a responsible business and is the professional responsibility of all of our lawyers. We believe that lawyers can play a critical role in addressing social and economic deprivation, and in implementing solutions to poverty, suffering and injustice around the world.
While there is no shortage of deserving causes to support, law firms can be of most benefit to both the local and international community when they play to their strengths. Our work is targeted to programs that cover two global themes: Growing Capabilities of nonprofits through our skills and experience; and Growing Aspirations, which involves developing the skills and experiences of young people in our communities.
In New York and Washington, D.C., our work is also heavily focused on ensuring access to justice for indigent criminal defendants, representing such clients in federal criminal cases and appeals, state criminal appeals and death penalty appeals. Our pro bono practice is also highlighted by our work representing a variety of clients from underserved populations on immigration matters. This work includes assisting survivors of domestic violence with their residency applications; advising immigration detainees; and representing victims of persecution from countries around the world in their requests for asylum. We partner with many leading organizations, including the Immigration Equality, New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, Sanctuary for Families, the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund, and the Vance Center for International Justice.
Our strategic approach to pro bono work is both institutional in scale and individual in nature. We look for opportunities that touch on a variety of interests that support our local communities, and we find ways to best use our global network to support greater societal issues.
What our people have to say about working at Linklaters…
Alex Reed, London Associate
I joined Linklaters because of my interest in being part of a truly global law firm. When it came time to choose a legal home, I knew it was important to join a firm where I could learn and work on interesting transactions. I was also keen to one day advise clients based around the world, alongside colleagues spread out across a global network. On my very first week as a summer associate, I found myself in Linklaters’ London office learning about a South African client to whom we were providing U.S. securities advice. Boxes checked!
As a London-based U.S. associate, I’ve since continued to work on some of the most complex, interesting and headline-garnering corporate and capital markets transactions in Europe and Asia. Substantive work with frequent client contact and responsibilities beyond my class year are the norm, as is working with colleagues around the world. The time I’ve spent working in the New York, London, Singapore, Seoul, Tokyo and Hong Kong offices has shown me firsthand that no office operates in a silo. Instead, lawyers across the network work cohesively as part of a global practice in order to provide seamless legal advice across jurisdictions.
My travels have also confirmed that Linklaters associates are not only brilliant and hardworking, but also friendly and take the time to build relationships with one another. Regardless of where I find myself, colleagues are always willing to lend a hand on a deal or just grab a coffee to chat. Linklaters partners are genuinely interested in the development and wellbeing of associates; formal and informal mentorship is very common across the firm. Most importantly, Linklaters is a champion of diversity and inclusion. Along with global initiatives, the firm empowers its people to lead diversity initiatives and become involved in the recruiting process, regardless of seniority, from the ground level.
Jihe Kim, New York Associate
While interviewing with firms as a law student, I was most interested in a firm with an international practice and a culture where people care about each other. I knew when I spoke with people at Linklaters that it was the firm that I had been looking for. When I spoke with Linklaters attorneys, I felt that it was not simply the firm’s presence across the world that made the firm international, but its people, with their global mindset and diverse backgrounds.
I split my summer between the firm’s New York and London offices, two locations where I was considering starting my career. I wanted exposure to a diverse range of work and people, as I wanted the opportunity to explore a variety of practice areas. As a summer associate, I received substantive work and was treated as a member of the team, which allowed me to get a realistic sense of what it would be like to be an associate at Linklaters. I was given the opportunity to interact with people across each office, and the relationships I formed later helped me to settle in when joining as a first-year associate.
My instinct about the firm was right – people at Linklaters are friendly, open-minded and fun, but also motivated and serious about their work. With the smaller office in New York, we get the best of both worlds: having a more close-knit culture while being part of an integrated, cohesive global network. I am grateful for the mentorship culture at the firm, where people take the time to explain and discuss not only work, but career development as well. As a new joiner to the corporate group, I felt that I was part of the team right away, and I truly enjoy working with, and learning from, my colleagues.
Menaka Nayar, New York Associate
I knew Linklaters was the firm for me when I came back for my callback interviews and met the staff, associates and partners. Besides being friendly, smart and motivated, everyone truly embodied a global mindset. Working across cultures and countries (and time zones!) is a way of life here. That resonated deeply with me, given my personal background.
During the summer program, I was able to dive deeply into the practice areas that I knew I had a strong interest in as well as dip a toe into a number of other practices. I worked with people in different offices (London and New York) and practice groups and was made to feel like a true member of the team. I got substantive and meaningful work, which helped me make an informed decision about the practice area I ultimately joined (Dispute Resolution), and which I am ecstatically happy to be a part of.
As an associate, I have had the opportunity to work on a wide variety of different, interesting matters. One never knows what the next day will bring! I’ve had the opportunity to attend meetings at the UN and deliver presentations to gatherings with high-level UN officials. I’ve travelled to Colombia, Panama and Honduras and donned a hard hat and reflective clothing to visit industrial factories and installations. I’ve helped organize a conference of pre-eminent international development scholars at Oxford University. I’ve been given the opportunity to study Spanish so as to better serve our Spanish-speaking clients. I could go on, but in essence, my experience as an associate has vastly exceeded my expectations.