JMW is a full-service law firm providing legal services and advice for both businesses and individuals. For more than 40 years, we have been fighting to achieve a positive outcome for our clients to get them the results they deserve.

We aim to offer an entirely new approach to the provision of legal services. We train our people on the importance of quality and efficiency to help them understand clients’ needs and the best way to meet their expectations. We are proud of our northern roots and heritage, and consider it important to give back to our local community.

We have three offices in the UK – our head office in Manchester city centre (Spinningfields); an additional family law team based in Liverpool city centre; and since May 2019, a full service office in London. We have around 600 employees across all locations, with over 100 partners.

Each year our client base grows and includes some of the UK’s most successful companies. The partners are proud of the firm’s achievements and are committed to maintaining the highest standards of performance across the spectrum of legal services.

JMW has been recognised by the Legal 500 and The Chambers Guide to the Legal Profession as one of the best law firms in the North West across various practice areas. We have also been ranked in The Sunday Times Best 100 Companies to Work for in 2018-2022, and have been accredited by Investors in People since 2005.

A career at JMW Solicitors is more than just developing your ability to apply the law. We support all our employees in developing their careers and helping them reach their full potential. Our success depends on attracting the best people and nurturing their talent.

We also believe in treating our employees as people. We encourage all of our staff to have a life outside the office - and to enjoy the time they spend at work. Of course we all work hard, but we also recognise the importance of home and family. We value strong all-round team players who can develop good working relationships with clients and colleagues.

What we offer our employees:

25 days holiday, plus bank holidays, and office closure between Christmas and New Year

Travel insurance

Group income protection

Private medical insurance (optional)

Travel loan (optional)

The opportunity to join additional rewards/discount schemes

Two days a year to carry out charitable work

Social events and sports teams

Equality and diversity

JMW has a committed and modern approach to equality and diversity. Our policy makes it clear that we do not tolerate any form of discrimination and this extends to the recruitment, training and promotion of people within the practice as well as the people we deal with outside of the practice.

Our equality and diversity and gender pay gap reporting data is published on our website. 

We offer a limited number of one-week placements to students keen to pursue a career in law. The placement will typically be split between several different departments to give students a real taste of life working at a law firm.

Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis, dependent upon availability. Students interested in getting to know more about what it’s like working at JMW can email their CV to [email protected]. 

Training seats

Our website contains details of all the various departments in the firm, and training seats are generally available in all those departments. The number of trainees in each department will vary from time to time depending on the specific needs of the business. Trainees will engage in a mix of contentious and non contentious work. Seats are allocated by taking trainees’ own preferences into account as far as possible, although due priority is of course given to the staffing requirements in each business area.

You can read about life as a trainee at JMW on our Trainee Careers page.

In Spring 2023 we will open our application process for those wanting to undertake a graduate apprenticeship (starting in autumn 2023) which will include passing the SQE exams to qualify. We will partner with an external training provider to deliver the programme and anticipate being able to fully fund it via the apprenticeship levy.

We will invite SQE applications separately in a similar application process to our traditional training contract route (detailed above). Full details of JMW’s SQE qualification route will be published in the coming months, but some information can be found on the FAQ section of our trainee careers web page.

• Niche
• General Commercial
• General Practice
• Corporate & Commercial

• Manchester
• Liverpool
• London