The biggest law firms in the UK, 2026
The top 40 UK law firms ranked by the turnover in their own filed LLP accounts — the number their members signed off, not the self-reported figures behind the Legal 500 and Chambers tables. The Magic Circle and global firms file worldwide partnership turnover (footnoted); the big US firms' London offices, and traditional partnerships like Slaughter and May, can't be ranked from filings and are named instead.
What the filings show
The Magic Circle still rules, but the shape is changing. A&O Shearman, Clifford Chance, Linklaters and Freshfields hold the top four and bill £9.80B — 40% of the top 43's combined turnover. The jolt at the top is A&O Shearman's (+33%): the 2024 Allen & Overy / Shearman & Sterling merger created the first genuinely transatlantic Magic Circle firm, and it shows in the filed numbers.
These are global figures for the firms that file globally — the UK LLP of a Magic Circle or international firm consolidates its worldwide partnership, so the turnover is earned everywhere, footnoted as such. It is also why the revenue-per-head looks enormous: a law firm books its partners' billings but counts only employed staff in the headcount, members excluded. Read the staff column as "people who aren't partners".
Below the global firms sits the engine room of UK legal services: the national and City independents — Macfarlanes and Travers Smith among the most profitable per partner, the insurance specialists (Kennedys, DAC Beachcroft, Clyde & Co, RPC) that the rest of the economy never sees, and the listed consolidators (Knights, Gateley) testing whether law can be run like any other business. A&O Shearman (+33%), Norton Rose Fulbright (+25%), Macfarlanes (+20%), Stephenson Harwood (+18%) led the growth table.
Top 40 law firms in the UK by filed turnover
Latest accounts filed as of August 2026 · refreshed monthly
| # | Firm | Turnover | YoY | Staff | Accounts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | A&O Shearman Magic Circle Multinational law firm Allen Overy Shearman Sterling LLP — the 2024 transatlantic merger; filed turnover is the global partnership. | £2.86B | +33% | 6,961 | FY to Apr 2025 |
| 02 | Clifford Chance Magic Circle Global LLP turnover. | £2.41B | +7% | 6,807 | FY to Apr 2025 |
| 03 | Linklaters Magic Circle Global LLP turnover. | £2.28B | +10% | 5,613 | FY to Apr 2025 |
| 04 | Freshfields Magic Circle Global LLP turnover. | £2.25B | +6% | 5,945 | FY to Apr 2025 |
| 05 | Hogan Lovells global (footnote) Hogan Lovells International LLP — global figure. | £1.23B | +3% | 3,355 | FY to Dec 2024 |
| 06 | Ashurst global (footnote) Global LLP turnover. | £1.03B | +8% | 3,880 | FY to Apr 2025 |
| 07 | Clyde & Co global (footnote) Insurance and sector specialist; global LLP turnover. | £845M | +1% | 4,961 | FY to Apr 2025 |
| 08 | DLA Piper UK global (footnote) DLA Piper UK LLP — the UK/Europe partnership of the global firm. | £770M | +7% | 2,719 | FY to Apr 2025 |
| 09 | Eversheds Sutherland global (footnote) Eversheds Sutherland (International) LLP — global figure. | £766M | +2% | 3,432 | FY to Apr 2025 |
| 10 | Norton Rose Fulbright global (footnote) Europe/Middle East/Asia LLP of the global verein. | £763M | +25% | 2,729 | FY to Dec 2025 |
| 11 | Herbert Smith Freehills global (footnote) HSF Kramer LLP — the 2025 HSF/Kramer Levin merger; global figure. | £727M | +2% | 414 | FY to Apr 2025 |
| 12 | CMS global (footnote) CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang LLP. | £711M | -3% | 3,749 | FY to Mar 2025 |
| 13 | Simmons & Simmons | £600M | +7% | 1,881 | FY to Apr 2025 |
| 14 | Pinsent Masons International law firm | £536M | +4% | 2,598 | FY to Apr 2025 |
| 15 | Addleshaw Goddard | £534M | +8% | 2,410 | FY to Apr 2025 |
| 16 | Kennedys specialist (insurance) Insurance litigation; global LLP. | £416M | +12% | 2,447 | FY to Apr 2025 |
| 17 | Macfarlanes City (independent) One of the most profitable firms per partner in the City. | £371M | +20% | 790 | FY to Mar 2025 |
| 18 | Fieldfisher Multinational corporate law firm | £363M | +17% | — | FY to Mar 2025 |
| 19 | DAC Beachcroft specialist (insurance) | £348M | +6% | 2,945 | FY to Apr 2025 |
| 20 | Mishcon de Reya International law firm | £332M | +9% | 1,126 | FY to Mar 2025 |
| 21 | Irwin Mitchell national (consumer) Irwin Mitchell Holdings Limited, consolidated — consumer and PI alongside business law. | £329M | +8% | 2,875 | FY to Apr 2025 |
| 22 | Stephenson Harwood City (independent) | £308M | +18% | 1,224 | FY to Apr 2025 |
| 23 | Taylor Wessing global (footnote) Files as Winston Taylor UK LLP; international firm. | £281M | +15% | 840 | FY to Apr 2025 |
| 24 | Squire Patton Boggs global (footnote) UK/Europe LLP of the US-headquartered global firm. | £271M | +2% | 1,024 | FY to Apr 2025 |
| 25 | Osborne Clarke global (footnote) International tech-sector specialist. | £257M | +7% | 1,319 | FY to Apr 2025 |
| 26 | Charles Russell Speechlys City (private wealth) | £242M | +11% | 1,089 | FY to Apr 2025 |
| 27 | Gowling WLG | £237M | +5% | 1,219 | FY to Apr 2025 |
| 28 | Shoosmiths | £217M | +14% | — | FY to Mar 2025 |
| 29 | Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner global (footnote) International corporate law firm UK/Europe LLP of the transatlantic firm. | £211M | +8% | 755 | FY to Dec 2024 |
| 30 | Travers Smith City (independent) Corporate law firm | £210M | -2% | 723 | FY to Jun 2025 |
| 31 | Mills & Reeve | £182M | +6% | 1,226 | FY to May 2025 |
| 32 | Withers specialist (private wealth) Withers LLP — international private-client firm. | £178M | +10% | 780 | FY to Jun 2025 |
| 33 | Burges Salmon national (Bristol) | £178M | +9% | 1,172 | FY to Apr 2025 |
| 34 | RPC specialist (insurance & disputes) Reynolds Porter Chamberlain LLP. | £173M | +3% | 1,083 | FY to Apr 2025 |
| 35 | Knights listed (national) Knights Group Holdings plc, consolidated — listed legal/professional-services consolidator. | £162M | +8% | 1,354 | FY to Apr 2025 |
| 36 | Trowers & Hamlins specialist (real estate) | £156M | +9% | — | FY to Mar 2025 |
| 37 | Weightmans | £144M | +13% | 1,277 | FY to Mar 2025 |
| 38 | Watson Farley & Williams specialist (energy/transport) | £141M | +2% | 604 | FY to Apr 2025 |
| 39 | Womble Bond Dickinson | £129M | +13% | 1,093 | FY to Mar 2025 |
| 40 | Browne Jacobson | £125M | +6% | 1,110 | FY to Mar 2025 |
The next 3
Firms ranked 41–43
| 41 | Gateley listed (national) | £125M | +4% | FY to Apr 2025 |
| 42 | Slater and Gordon specialist (PI/claimant) | £73M | -7% | FY to Dec 2024 |
| 43 | Bristows specialist (IP/tech) | £63M | +4% | FY to Apr 2025 |
The firms we can't rank
The biggest names missing here are the US firms' London offices and the partnerships that don't file an LLP.
- Slaughter and May — a traditional general partnership, not an LLP — it files only abbreviated information and no comparable turnover line
- US firms’ London offices (Kirkland & Ellis, Latham, Skadden, White & Case) — their UK turnover is consolidated into US partnerships that don’t file UK accounts
- Barristers’ chambers — chambers are unincorporated sets of self-employed barristers — no company filing
How this list is built
Source. The latest annual accounts each firm filed at Companies House. Where a firm files consolidated group accounts, the group figure is used; the entity ranked is named under each firm. Where a firm filed a transition period longer or shorter than twelve months (flagged in the Accounts column), the table shows the filed figure but the firm is ranked on its annualised equivalent.
Who counts as a law firm. Solicitors' practices, by the turnover in their own filed LLP or company accounts — assembled from a registry because the big firms file as LLPs with no SIC code. We exclude internal service companies (which file separately from the LLP), claims-handling subsidiaries, and barristers' chambers (unincorporated, no filing).
Scope. For Magic Circle and global firms the filed LLP turnover is the worldwide partnership figure — footnoted. For US/global firms with a UK LLP it is the UK/Europe arm. The US firms' London offices that consolidate into American partnerships, and traditional partnerships like Slaughter and May that don't file an LLP, are named in the firms we can't rank rather than estimated.
Cadence. Rebuilt monthly as new accounts land. Spot a firm we've missed or misread? Tell us — the methodology only works if it's challenged.
Quick answers
- What is the biggest law firm in the UK?
- By filed turnover, A&O Shearman — £2.86B in its latest LLP accounts, up a third after the 2024 Allen & Overy / Shearman & Sterling merger. The Magic Circle (A&O Shearman, Clifford Chance, Linklaters, Freshfields) hold the top four, billing £9.80B between them.
- How is this different from the Legal 500 or Chambers rankings?
- Those rank firms by reputation and by revenues the firms report themselves. This list ranks the turnover in each firm's own audited LLP accounts filed at Companies House — the number their members signed off, not the number their marketing department briefed.
- Are these UK or global figures?
- For the Magic Circle and the global firms, the UK LLP is the worldwide partnership, so the filed turnover is global — footnoted as such. For US-headquartered firms with a separate UK LLP (Squire Patton Boggs, Bryan Cave) it's the UK/Europe arm. The big US firms' London offices (Kirkland, Latham, Skadden) consolidate into US partnerships that file nothing here, so they can't be ranked.
- Why isn't Slaughter and May on the list?
- Slaughter and May is one of the few elite City firms still structured as a traditional general partnership rather than an LLP, so it files only abbreviated information with no comparable turnover line. It's named in the firms we can't rank.