Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson

Fried Frank’s small intake helps trainees form close relationships while they form funds for the biggest players in the game…

Fried Frank training contract review 2026

About the firm

“We’re a US law firm, but we’re a global law firm,” explains training principal David Christmas when we catch up with him about the firm. He continues: “We’re headquartered in New York, but Fried Frank’s office in London is not a satellite office to New York. It’s a fully functioning, standalone offering of Fried Frank.” While the firm is often considered a bit of an investment funds pro, it’s far from a one trick pony. As Christmas tells us, “We have four key areas: corporate, finance, litigation, real estate, and all of the other supporting departments that go with that.”

Several of these departments, including fund finance and investment funds: private equity, have gained recognition in our sister guide Chambers UK, and that’s aside from the firm’s accomplishments in Chambers USA and nods in Chambers Global. Nevertheless, for more than one trainee, the firm’s financial industry and investment “specialism was something that interested me. It definitely caught my eye.”

“I wanted something more personal.”

But it wasn’t only practice areas drawing trainees to the firm: “I never liked the idea of being one of 100 trainees. I wanted something more personal,” shared one junior when asked what made Fried Frank stand out from the crowd. Saying there’s a small trainee cohort almost seems like an understatement; although Fried Frank recently increased its intake from three to four (!) trainees per year, it’s still one of the smallest intakes out there. “We want our trainees to get the best exposure, and I think the smaller intake means that they’ll always be busy,” says Christmas, a statement very much borne out in our interviewees’ experiences: “People will give you increasingly challenging work if they see you’re capable of it – I’ve really enjoyed that.”

Training Contract Structure

Trainees must complete seats in the asset management, finance, and corporate/M&A departments. For their remaining seat, they can express a preference for antitrust or real estate, but choices can’t be guaranteed. Having three compulsory seats “from the outside might sound like a negative, but it can be a positive because it’s one less thing for you to think about,” one junior informed us. “My experience has been that it takes an extra stress off your shoulders” while getting exposure to all the firm’s key areas of work.

Seat Experiences

Trainee Life

It’s inevitable that trainees will arrive with some preconceived ideas of what life at their new firm will be like, and Fried Frank is no exception: “When you’re going to an American firm, you think it’s going to be more of a pressure cooker,” one admitted, “but the reality here is that people are really relaxed and have always got time to help.” In fact, despite the stereotypes about US firms, the supportive culture at Fried Frank was a theme running through our interviews: “Everyone is really generous with their time,” an insider nodded, “high-flying partners will have a chat with you when you bump into each other at the coffee machine.” During busy periods, “you can rely on your colleagues to have your back. Everyone is working towards the same goals; you’re not left in isolation. I feel comfortable asking someone for advice, training or help.”

“Everyone is working towards the same goals; you’re not left in isolation.”

Roughly once a quarter, there’s a trainee social to which future trainees and recently qualified lawyers are also invited. Most departments host a monthly drinks, and “if it’s quieter one evening, we might do an impromptu drinks or something like that.” There are summer and winter parties, the latter often taking place in January instead of the busy December period to ensure as many people as possible can attend. Trainees really enjoyed office socials, “because you know everyone in the office. Seriously – you can walk around the office and just be able to strike up a conversation with everyone.”

The diversity and inclusion forum puts on events for cultural holidays like Lunar New Year, Diwali and Eid, which can be “a nice opportunity to get together and sit down with colleagues.” There are also various diversity groups people can join, including the Women's Forum, Working Families, First Generation Professionals network, EDGE - Ethnically Diverse Group of Employees, Pride Alliance and the Disability Inclusion Alliance. When pro bono opportunities arise, the firm sends out weekly emails inviting people to get involved and sometimes, opportunities crop up in departments like corporate and real estate.

Working at 100 Bishopsgate (right next to the iconic Gherkin), “you feel like you’re in the beating heart of London,” and we heard that the office itself is generally rather “swanky.” Trainees are required to show up in person Tuesday through Thursday, although it's often more, and our sources didn’t mind this one bit: “I enjoy the social environment,” one shrugged, “generally being able to walk into someone’s office if you have a question to ask them rather than having to send an email or call them.” Every trainee shares an office with their supervisor.

Speaking of supervisors, juniors are “encouraged to work with lots of different people within the department to get well-rounded training, learn different styles, and get different types of work,” but most of a trainee’s workload comes via their supervisor. “I couldn’t really ask for anything more from them,” one trainee told us, citing how their first supervisor was “always there to answer question;” this sentiment was echoed amongst our interviewees. What’s more, “there’s not a culture of you coming back from lunch to redlines on your desk,” another source mentioned, “People talk you through your work, and there’s an imperative put on improvement and active feedback.”

“People talk you through your work, and there’s an imperative put on improvement and active feedback.”

Those close relationships with supervisors and other senior members of the team also provide opportunities for hands-on learning. Formal training sessions are put on by each department every week or two: “It’s nice to have those training sessions baked in because you can sit down and have a bit of structure as well,” a rookie highlighted.

We’ll be Frank – the hours can be demanding. Juniors usually work into the evenings and sometimes past midnight. That said, we heard that “if you’re working on something really interesting and you feel like it’s both noticed and appreciated, you don’t feel it as much.” Trainee salaries“ are definitely on the good side of the spectrum,” and with one of the highest NQ salaries in the City, our sources were more than happy with their compensation.

Qualification

As for qualification, “the process is pretty soft compared to lots of larger firms,” a trainee explained, elaborating: “You get soft offers throughout your training contract” from partners who would like a trainee to join their team once the training contract is over. Offers are formalised during the fourth seat. How did our insiders feel about this process? “I really like it because it gives you the chance to speak with the people who you worked with, who liked working with, and drive that,” shared one junior. They continued: “It encourages relationships between seniors and juniors because the seniors have a vested interest in the next gen of the firm.” Our sources reckoned, given the small intake, the firm wants to retain all of its trainees. In fact, in 2025, Fried Frank offered all of their qualifiers an NQ position!