The attractions of Biglaw are obvious: the big-name clients, the big deals, and the very big paychecks. And every year, Legal Cheek reminds us what those paychecks cost.
The UK legal news site just released the working-hours data from its 2026-27 Trainee and Junior Lawyer Survey. It’s based on more than 2,000 anonymous responses from trainees and junior lawyers at over 110 firms, and asks them when they actually get to the office and when they actually leave. According to Legal Cheek, hours are up overall compared to last year. The firms at the top of the table are the same ones paying the most, with newly qualified lawyers at the top-paying US firms in London earning up to £181,000.
Yes, these are London lawyers, and a trainee in the City isn’t quite a second-year at Midtown HQ. But most of the top of this list is American firms, and the pattern pretty clearly holds on this side of the pond too.
Milbank — 9:36am to 10:15pm (12 hours, 39 minutes)
Paul, Weiss — 9:15am to 10:07pm (12 hours, 52 minutes)
Fried Frank — 9:33am to 10:07pm (12 hours, 34 minutes)
Goodwin — 9:25am to 10:02pm (12 hours, 37 minutes)
Debevoise & Plimpton — 9:40am to 9:55pm (12 hours, 15 minutes)
Cleary Gottlieb — 9:26am to 9:53pm (12 hours, 27 minutes)
White & Case — 9:26am to 9:43pm (12 hours, 17 minutes)
Kirkland & Ellis — 9:35am to 9:32pm (11 hours, 57 minutes)
Freshfields — 9:26am to 9:28pm (12 hours, 2 minutes)
Paul Hastings — 9:23am to 9:25pm (12 hours, 2 minutes)
Milbank, which topped this list last year too, is apparently committed to being a market leader in more than just compensation. Paul, Weiss has the longest average day of anyone, at nearly 13 hours door to door.
Now, Biglaw usually talks about hours in terms of billables, and we cover those too, including which associates are billing the most. Billables matter to the firm because that’s how the firm makes money. For a young associate, though, time in the office may matter more, because it decides whether you have a life. If you bill eight hours but have to be at your desk for 10 to get there, your day is 10 hours long. Those two extra hours go to waiting for a partner’s comments, transitioning from one project to another, reading Above the Law, and being seen at your desk. None of that shows up on a timesheet, and all of it comes out of your evening.
So billable expectations are one thing, but it doesn’t tell the whole story. The finish time is the number that tells you whether you’ll make dinner plans or cancel them.
The juniors at firms at the top of the table know the deal. As one told Legal Cheek, “you don’t join a firm like this because you want early finishes or a full disconnect on the weekend.” Another described their work-life balance during a normal week as “almost non-existent.” At the other end of the table, a lawyer at a smaller firm said, “I have hardly ever worked beyond 5:30pm.”
That’s a different life, and it comes with a much smaller paycheck. But at least now you know what you’re trading for the money.
Earlier: The Biglaw Firms Where Associates Are Working The Longest Hours (2025)
The Biglaw Associates Billing The Most
What Firm Is Working Its London Associates The Hardest?
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Bluesky @Kathryn1
