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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:
Stay ahead of the market with:
Perfect if you want a no-cost way to keep tabs on the UK’s biggest firms.
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 publish last month’s headcount data for the Top 100 UK firms openly on our website — no sign-up required.
It’s a free snapshot of the market. If you want the full Top 250 dataset, historic trends, and interactive dashboards, subscribe above.
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 TBD 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.
If you’re looking at the free snapshot or are a subscriber to The Index, the data is provided on a webpage. If you sign up to one of the paid plans, data is delivered as an Excel/CSV file.
We’re inviting a small number of partners to sponsor The TBD 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:
