About us
Clifford Chance is a leading global corporate law firm. At Clifford Chance, you'll be joining a global team of bright minds in one of the world's leading law firms. With over 30 offices across the world, we're uniquely placed to advise market-leading clients on complex deals that frequently headline the business and financial news. The work you do and the people you work with won't be limited by where you're based. From when you join as a trainee, you'll become an integral part of an innovative, diverse and ambitious team of people.
What we do and where:
We give expert legal advice on every aspect of commercial law. Our clients are wide ranging and world-leading. From corporations, governments and global banks, to not-for-profits and charities, we bring with our specialist knowledge and skills to deals that shape the world around us. That variety definitely makes life here interesting. As does the scale and scope of what we do. Our work covers corporate; global financial markets; real estate; litigation and dispute resolution; plus tax, pensions and employment. And when it comes to where we are, we work in major financial centres across the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Our legal practice areas
Corporate; global financial markets; real estate; litigation and dispute resolution; tax, pensions and employment.
Notable highlights of our work
In July 2021, the Supreme Court heard judicial review proceedings on X Passports brought by Clifford Chance on behalf of Christie Elan-Cane.
Clifford Chance and Blackstone Chambers, acting pro bono on behalf of Christie Elan-Cane, launched judicial review proceedings in 2017 challenging the lawfulness of the UK Government's passport policy. That policy requires that either an 'M' or an 'F' gender marker appear on every UK passport and does not allow for a non-gender specific marker, notwithstanding that non-gender specific passports ('X passports') are permitted by the relevant international standards and are available in a number of countries worldwide.
Opportunities on offer to join us
You don’t need a law degree to join us. (About half of our trainees come from non-law backgrounds.) What matters is that you’re resilient, curious, creative and open to new challenges. Someone who can deliver a high standard of work, continuously in a rigorous industry. You’re someone who loves to learn. A great problem solver. A smart thinker. You’re commercially savvy, solutions-oriented and up for working as part of a close-knit team. One of the ways you can show us you have what it takes is to experience life here before you apply for your Training Contract. You can explore the possibilities available by attending one of our virtual events or completing one of our free Global Virtual Internships — open to everyone. These offer unparalleled access to legal resources whilst revealing the people and culture in a way that has never been done before.
Diversity & Inclusion
At Clifford Chance we see inclusion as a core value of the firm and also of the law.
We see inclusion as an intrinsic value of our firm. It is a matter of justice. It is also a core part of our identity. Our history as a firm has been anchored in innovative and diverse cultures and approaches which have both disrupted traditional attitudes and set global standards.
Our goal is to deliver an equality of opportunity, an equality of aspiration and an equality of experience to everyone who works in our firm.
In 2020, Clifford Chance launched new and ambitious global and regional targets for gender, LGBT+ and ethnicity inclusion. Find out more here
Employee Networks
Arcus
Arcus is our global inclusive employee network open to all Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Trans*, Intersex, Queer people and their Allies. Arcus aims to encourage an inclusive and integrated culture within Clifford Chance that gives colleagues the choice to be open and out.
Enable
Clifford Chance Enable is our disability action group which seeks to provide a safe, inclusive and open environment for colleagues to discuss their lived experience at Clifford Chance. We offer adjustments to the recruitment process to assist candidates with a disability and work with our people to consider adjustments to help them perform in their role.
We have an active network of Enable groups across the globe.
REACH
The Clifford Chance (UK) REACH Network is the firm’s network (“REACH”) for advancing race equality and celebrating heritage. In doing so, we aim to increase understanding of the value of our cultural differences and achieve equality of opportunity for all so that at all levels, the firm will reflect the cultural diversity of its employees.
Accelerate>>>
Our global gender parity group, Accelerate>>>, is committed to taking bold actions to accelerate the pace of change towards gender parity and drive forward an inclusive and diverse culture. It's about all of us contributing to a culture, where everybody has the opportunity to succeed.
Awards
2022 Stonewall Top 100 Employers List
This year, Clifford Chance climbed from 19th to 3rd place, the highest ranked law firm in the list, which celebrates the pioneering efforts and commitments of leading organisations to LGBTQ+ workplace inclusion.
The Times Top 100 Legal Employer of Choice 2022
We're thrilled to be named the Graduate Employer of Choice in the legal sector by The Times Top 100. This is based on research from 12,432 interviews with final year university students.
Award-winning Global Virtual Internships at People in Law Awards
Our Global Virtual Internships won 'Best Global HR initiative' at the People in Law Awards 2022. This award recognised the scale and reach of this global initiative in improving access to the profession.
Legal Sector Employer of the Year at TARGETjobs Awards
A pool of over 65,000 student voters named Clifford Chance the Most Popular Graduate Recruiter in Law at the 2022 TARGETjobs National Graduate Recruitment Awards.
Most Innovative People Initiative at People in Law Awards 2022
We're proud that our Learning Internships for Future Trainees (LIFT) programme won 'Most innovative People Initiative' at the People in Law Awards 2022 for the second year. We were given recognition for our groundbreaking programme's strategic significance and reach, involving partnering with clients.
Other Benefits
Benefits include free gym membership, pension scheme, on-site healthcare, private healthcare scheme, season ticket loan, cycle-to-work scheme, dental plan and more.