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A headcount index tracking the real-time growth and contraction of the UK’s biggest law firms.
For years, we’ve tracked headcount data across the UK legal market. Initially just the top 100 firms, but now the top 250. What began as quarterly snapshots has grown into the most reliable monthly dataset on headcount in the UK legal sector.
It’s a consistent, independent measure of growth, retention and hiring momentum – the signals that matter most to leadership, BD, HR and strategy teams.
Headcount is more than just a number. It’s a signal of strategy, investment and market confidence.
For leadership, it highlights inflection points before they make the trade press. You’ll see whether competitors are doubling down in London, consolidating, or quietly scaling in new practice areas.
For BD and pricing teams, it’s context. Seeing that a rival firm has increased its headcount by 8% in a quarter changes how you pitch, price and position your own services.
For talent and HR, it’s competitive intelligence. The Index shows whether rivals are winning the war for associates or struggling to keep their headcount steady.
For comms and brand teams, it’s credible, independent data to cite in board papers, strategy decks and pitches.
Every month, we capture LinkedIn’s publicly available employee numbers for the top 250 firms in the UK.
We normalise firm names, check anomalies, and compile the data into a clean table.
Subscribers receive the latest month’s figures directly by email, plus premium subscribers can also access historic data and interactive dashboards that allow them to track trends, benchmark competitors, and see at a glance whether headcount is rising or falling.
The result is a rolling dataset and commentary you can rely on and use.
Here’s how you can access the data:
A simple Index:
Ideal if you want a snapshot of the dataset before subscribing.
Everything in The Index, plus:
Perfect for strategy teams, researchers and analysts.
Everything in The Index and The Archive, plus:
For leadership, BD and HR teams that need live competitor benchmarks and broader context.
We work with leading law firms every day. That gives us a front-row seat on the trends shaping the market and the blind spots firms can’t always see for themselves.
We know how to source, clean and interpret the data so it tells a meaningful story.
And because we’re independent, we can cut through the noise and show you the patterns that matter most.
The UK Legal 250 is part of our wider commitment: giving the legal industry clear, actionable intelligence it can actually use.
LinkedIn isn’t perfect, but it is the most timely proxy at scale. We smooth anomalies and flag where data looks unusual.
Yes – paid subscriptions include up to five years if you’re a Top 100 firm and two years if you’re in 101-250.
Data is delivered in Excel/CSV as standard.
We’re inviting a small number of partners to sponsor the UK Legal 250.
Sponsorship is a chance to get your brand in front of the leadership, BD, HR and comms teams in the top UK law firms.
As a sponsor, you’ll receive:
