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Kingsley Napley LLP

9 vacancies
17 trainees
82 partners
486 staff

Kingsley Napley is an internationally recognised law firm based in central London. We provide specialist support for our clients in all areas of their lives.

Remember to cite LawCareers.Net on your application form if you apply to Kingsley Napley LLP.

More info

Candidates should apply via our online application form for a training contract. The application window is open from 14 December 2023 – 15 April 2024. Successful applicants will be invited to an assessment day.

If successful at this stage, applicants will be invited back for an interview. 

Final decisions are made shortly after the interviews take place and candidates will be notified in late June if they have been successful in their applications.


Applications to

Ms Molly MacKenzie-Williams

Method of application

Online Application Form

Method of assessment

  • Assessment centre
  • Panel interview
  • Partner interview
  • Presentation
  • Video interview
  • Written exercise

Kingsley Napley, established in 1937, is an internationally recognised UK law firm based in central London. Our wide range of expertise means that we can support our clients in all areas of their business and private life, when it matters most to them. Our practice areas and many of our lawyers are recognised as market leaders in the leading legal directories.

We are known for combining creative solutions with pragmatism and a friendly, sensitive approach. The relationship between lawyer and client is key. We work hard to match clients with lawyers who have the right mix of skills, experience and approach in order to achieve the best possible outcome.

To find out what it is like to work at Kingsley Napley LLP read the firm's 'Our People' profiles.

Kingsley Napley offer a limited number of legal work experience opportunities for students throughout the firm.

Work experience students have an opportunity to experience a number of aspects of life in a law firm – for example: general administration, library research and shadowing our qualified solicitors.

Applications should be made via the online application form which can be found here. Placements will be allocated at the discretion of the firm, and according to the firm’s requirements at that time.

These positions are not remunerated and candidates must be at least 18 years of age and entitled to work in the United Kingdom under applicable UK immigration laws.

The firm recruits up to nine trainees per year. Trainees complete four six-month seats, providing a wide range of practical experience and skills in contentious and non-contentious work. Our training programme is broader than most other firms due to the wide range of law practiced here.

Individual preference for seats is sought and will be balanced with the firm's needs.

Trainees work closely with partners and solicitors in a supportive team structure, and have regular reviews to assist development. The firm maintains a friendly and open environment and it is the firm's policy that each trainee sits with a partner or senior solicitor whilst working for a department as a whole. The firm gives trainees the chance to meet clients, be responsible for their own work and join in marketing and client development activities.

Kingsley Napley follows the SQE pathway to qualification. You can find further information on our website. 

Please note that if you have already started or completed the GDL or LPC then you are still able to apply for a training contract at Kingsley Napley. Guidance will be provided on an individual basis.

Diversity and inclusion of all is how we live our values at Kingsley Napley. We recognise that valuing each other’s individuality and difference brings strength to the teams we work in, our departments and the firm as a whole.

At Kingsley Napley we value everyone as individuals and have a consultative approach throughout the firm, from departmental strategy to key firm wide decisions. We encourage everyone to participate in firm wide discussions and share ideas as we believe in harnessing the diverse perspectives of everyone in the firm. It makes us better placed to meet our client needs, understand each other, work together, and strengthen the culture of the firm.

We are committed to ensuring all of our people have full opportunity to maximise their potential, for themselves and for the firm, and the key to this is embedding diversity and inclusion in all recruitment processes, our internal practices such as promotion and training, and working environment.

For our trainee solicitors, we fund the SQE1, SQE2 as well as the SQE plus. We also offer a maintance grant of £7,000 for those completing the SQE.

We welcome applications from individuals who have already completed the LPC, and offer a grant toward the cover the cost of the LPC.

  • Clinical negligence & personal injury
  • Corporate & commercial
  • Criminal
  • Public law
  • Dispute resolution
  • Employment
  • Family
  • Immigration
  • Private client
  • Real estate
  • Regulatory
  • General Practice
  • Corporate & Commercial

Practice Areas

Extra info

20 Bonhill Street, London, EC2A 4DN
Phone: 020 7814 1200
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.kingsleynapley.co.uk/careers/why-train-at-kingsley-napley/apply
Training programmes offered:
  • Training contract/QWE
Work placement: Yes
Number of vacation schemes: 30
Start salary: £40,000
Fees paid for:
  • LPC
  • SQE
Turnover: £35,000,000 (2015)
Profit per partner: £398,803 (2013)
Training programme applications: 500 (2023)
Retention rate: 71% (2022)
Partner diversity:
  • 48.0% male (2023)
  • 52.0% female
Lawyer diversity:
  • 23.0% male (2023)
  • 77.0% female
Has client secondments: Yes
Client secondments:
  • Energy companies
  • Shoreditch
  • Amicus
  • Queen Mary Legal Advice Centre
  • The Royal Courts of Justice Advice Bureau
  • Working Families
  • Zacchaeus 2000 Trust
  • #10000BlackInterns
  • City Parents
  • Diversity Access Scheme - Law Society
  • InterLaw Diversity Forum
  • Legal Apprenticeships
  • Rare Recruitment
  • Social Mobility Foundation
  • Stonewall
  • Sutton Trust
  • The Valuable 500
  • Urban Lawyers Careers Conference
  • Working Families