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And the winners of The Legal Cheek Awards 2025 are…

By Lydia Fontes on May 16 2025 1:10pm

Who won what: revealed 🏆

Last night, the legal community gathered to honour the achievements of the nation’s top trainee-rated firms and chambers at the annual Legal Cheek Awards ceremony.

This year’s Legal Cheek Awards, headline sponsored by BARBRI, BPP University Law School and The University of Law, as well as additional sponsor The College of Legal Practice was held at the Battlebridge Suite of Kings Place London.

More than 250 guests from the UK’s premier law firms and barristers’ chambers attended the much-anticipated ceremony, alongside esteemed academics and prominent industry figures.

While enjoying some fizz and canapés, guests heard welcome addresses from Lucie Allen, chief growth officer at BARBRI; Jonny Hurst, head of outreach and student engagement at BPP University Law School; and Morette Jackson, director of business development at The University of Law.

From left to right: BPP’s Jonny Hurst, BARBRI’s Lucie Allen, ULaw’s Morette Jackson

Legal Cheek‘s Annabelle Oliver and Lydia Fontes, the hosts of this year’s Awards, were joined by award sponsors, as well as Legal Cheek previous winners and top industry figures, to reveal the winners across the 26 categories featured in this year’s ceremony.

The winners of our firms and chambers awards were determined by the results of our annual trainee and junior lawyer and barrister surveys, which included responses from over 2,000 lawyers across the country.

Our Sixth Formers’ Choice for Solicitor Apprenticeships Award was determined by a survey of registrants for Legal Cheek‘s January sixth former virtual event series, where Year 12 and 13 students were asked: ‘Which firm would be your first choice for a solicitor apprenticeship?’

Our Best Use of Social Media and Best Journal Contribution Awards are decided by independent judging panels.

So who won what? Read on to find out…

Best law firm for training 2025: Mills & Reeve

Highly commended: Accutrainee, Charles Russell Speechlys, Farrer & Co, Forsters, Michelmores, Shoosmiths, Stevens & Bolton, Travers Smith, Winckworth Sherwood

Best law firm for quality of work 2025: Harbottle & Lewis

Highly commended: Accutrainee, Fried Frank, Hill Dickinson, Lewis Silkin, Michelmores, Ropes & Gray, Shoosmiths, TLT, Willkie Farr & Gallagher

Best law firm for peer support 2025: Bristows

Highly commended: Burges Salmon, Farrer & Co, Lewis Silkin, Michelmores, Osborne Clarke, Shoosmiths, Stevens & Bolton, TLT, Winckworth Sherwood

Best law firm for partner approachability 2025: Ashfords

Highly commended: Accutrainee, Ashfords, Bristows, Farrer & Co, Harbottle & Lewis, Haynes Boone, K&L Gates, Mills & Reeve, Morrison Foerster, Shoosmiths

Best law firm for work/life balance 2025: Russell-Cooke

Highly commended: Ashfords, Bevan Brittan, Birketts, Brabners, Farrer & Co, Howard Kennedy, Russell-Cooke, RWK Goodman, Stevens & Bolton, Trowers & Hamlins

Best law firm for legal tech 2025: A&O Shearman

Highly commended: Addleshaw Goddard, CMS, Dentons, Orrick, Osborne Clarke, Shoosmiths, Stevens & Bolton, TLT, Travers Smith

Best law firm for perks 2025: Willkie Farr & Gallagher

Highly commended: A&O Shearman, Brabners, Clifford Chance, Freshfields, Goodwin Procter, Harbottle & Lewis, Travers Smith, Weil Gotshal & Manges, White & Case

Best law firm office 2025: Dechert

Highly commended: Baker McKenzie, Freshfields, Goodwin Procter, Kingsley Napley, Lewis Silkin, Michelmores, Milbank, Stevens & Bolton, Vinson & Elkins

Best law firm for social life 2025: Burges Salmon

Highly commended: Bates Wells, Farrer & Co, Forsters, Osborne Clarke, Stevens & Bolton, Walker Morris, Wedlake Bell, White & Case, Willkie Farr & Gallagher

Best law firm for eco-friendliness 2025: Brabners

Highly commended: Bates Wells, Burges Salmon, Lewis Silkin, Michelmores, Osborne Clarke, Shoosmiths, Taylor Wessing, TLT, Travers Smith

Best law firm for international secondments 2025: Clifford Chance

Highly commended: A&O Shearman, Ashurst, Baker McKenzie, Freshfields, HFW, Slaughter and May, Trowers & Hamlins, Watson Farley & Williams, White & Case

Best law firm for client secondments 2025: RPC

Highly commended: Baker McKenzie, Bird & Bird, Bristows, Clifford Chance, Dentons, DLA Piper, DWF, Walker Morris, Womble Bond Dickinson

Most admired law firm 2025: Freshfields

Highly commended: A&O Shearman, Addleshaw Goddard, Bird & Bird, Burges Salmon, Clifford Chance, Herbert Smith Freehills, Kirkland & Ellis, Latham & Watkins, Osborne Clarke

Sixth formers’ choice award for solicitor apprenticeships 2025: White & Case

Highly commended: A&O Shearman, Freshfields, Linklaters, Mishcon de Reya, Osborne Clarke, Simmons & Simmons, Slaughter and May, Taylor Wessing, Travers Smith

The winner of this award is determined by a survey of registrants for Legal Cheek‘s January sixth former virtual event series, where Year 12 and 13 students were asked: ‘Which firm would be your first choice for a solicitor apprenticeship?’

The Legal Cheek firm of the year 2025: Stevens & Bolton

Highly commended: Brabners, Farrer & Co, Lewis Silkin, Michelmores, Osborne Clarke, Shoosmiths, TLT, Wiggin, Willkie Farr & Gallagher

Best use of social media 2025: Aqeel Asif (@akkydoeslaw)

The winner of this category was decided by an independent judging panel, made up of Mary-Grace Olu (Magic circle trainee solicitor and last year’s winner pictured below) and Patrick McCann (former director of learning at a magic circle firm).

Highly commended: University of Liverpool graduate and future trainee at Debevoise & Plimpton, Victoria Hawley a.k.a. @tori.lawabroad (TikTok); Freshfields trainee Liberty Miles (YouTube); Charles Russell Speechlys early talent team (TikTok); Future trainee at CMS, Adam Khattak a.k.a. @futuretraineelawyer (TikTok)

Best Legal Cheek Journal contribution 2025: “Deepfakes and the law: navigating the blurred lines of reality in the digital age” by Raksha Sunder, student at the University of Essex

This award is sponsored by LPC Law.

Highly commended: The legal grey area of mining the moon by future trainee solicitor at A&O Shearman Declan Peters; The legal lessons of Barbenheimer by first-year law student at the University of Manchester Shinelle Leo; The cryptocurrency dilemma: Should volatile digital assets receive legal recognition as property? by University of Oxford BCL student Niranjana Ramkumar; Unmasking the legal challenges of cosmetic injections by University of Exeter student Nicole Barros Vardanega

The winner of this category was decided by an independent judging panel, made up of The Right Hon Lord Hermer KC (The Attorney General for England and Wales) and Holly Corder (recruitment manager at LPC Law).

Campus ambassador of the year 2025: Manya Pejavar Rao (University of Nottingham)

This award is sponsored by Travers Smith.

Highly commended: Casey Gilbody (University of Lincoln), Kieran Boyd (University of Southampton), Marc Giorell Tuazon (The University of Law), William King (University of Lincoln)