Legal Jobs in the East of England

The East of England is two legal markets that share a coastline. Essex looks towards London: Chelmsford and Colchester firms act for commuters, developers and the businesses along the A12, and their salaries reflect the capital next door. East Anglia — Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and Norfolk — is a market of its own, with a group of large regional firms headquartered in Norwich, Ipswich and Bury St Edmunds that compete with national practices for the best work and the best people.

This page covers Essex, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and Norfolk. The latest roles we hold across those four counties appear here, and our jobs search has the full list, whether a role sits in a top-100 firm's Cambridge office, a Colchester high-street practice or an in-house legal team at one of the region's technology or agricultural businesses.

We place from paralegal and newly qualified through to Partner, and we know the firms here well enough to tell you which Norwich office is really growing and which Chelmsford team is about to lose a Partner before the advert appears.

East Anglia's defining feature is its regional heavyweights. Mills & Reeve and Birketts are both top-60 national firms run from the region — Mills & Reeve from Norwich and Cambridge, Birketts from Ipswich with offices in Cambridge, Norwich and Chelmsford — and both recruit continuously across corporate, real estate, private client, agriculture and employment. Howes Percival, Ashtons Legal and Tees add further multi-office depth, and Leathes Prior in Norwich and Prettys in Ipswich are strong independents with good lateral-hire records.

Cambridgeshire's market is driven by the science and technology cluster rather than the university. HCR Law (formerly Hewitsons), Taylor Vinters (now part of Mishcon de Reya) and the Cambridge offices of the national firms recruit intellectual property, corporate, venture and commercial contracts lawyers for the spin-outs and scale-ups on the science parks, and Peterborough sustains a solid commercial and property market of its own.

Essex is the region's largest private-practice market by headcount. Birkett Long, Ellisons, Fisher Jones Greenwood and Thompson Smith and Puxon in Colchester and Chelmsford, together with the Chelmsford offices of Birketts and Tees, hire steadily across residential and commercial property, private client, family and litigation. Agricultural and rural property work runs right across the region, and Norfolk and Suffolk carry an unusually strong private client market built on farming and landed estates.