Leeds has everything to offer lawyers and legal practitioners wanting a challenging career combined with a good work/life balance.

The birthplace of several multi-national law firms, Leeds is home to more than 180 companies ranging from niche practices to international firms. Leeds is now the country’s most important centre for legal services outside London, with over 8,000 professionals employed in the sector.

Some of the best established names in law, including Addleshaw Goddard, DLA Piper, Eversheds, Hammonds and Pinsent Masons, have their roots in Leeds. Over the last 250 years, entrepreneurial Leeds lawyers have been working with clients across Yorkshire, the UK and — with the development of modern communications — internationally too.

Today those firms proud of their Yorkshire roots still have a strong presence in the city, and have been joined by other notable practices such as HGF, Irwin Mitchell, Lupton Fawcett and Walker Morris, who have all established offices in Leeds.

It’s not hard to see why: in 2006 Gordon Brown, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, named Leeds as one of the two UK cities whose vibrant legal and financial markets are essential to the continued growth of the UK economy.

Recent research conducted by Leeds Metropolitan University reveals that Leeds is a major centre for international infrastructure and project management work in the UK, including that related to the 2012 Olympics. Although London remains the dominant centre, Leeds, snapping at its heels, has developed a significant specialist cluster due to its high levels of skills and experience.

So why is now a good time to be a lawyer in Leeds? Alan M Baker, chairman of Leeds Legal — a unique alliance of the city’s law firms, designed to promote Leeds as a world-class destination for legal services — explains why Leeds deserves its reputation and how the city continues to attract both newly-qualified and more experienced lawyers: “Leeds lawyers are renowned for offering what we have termed the ‘Yorkshire approach’; no-nonsense, value for money advice, focusing on strong personal client relationships and a willingness to go that extra mile — all instrumental in the high quality service that the profession in Leeds prides itself on.”

Leeds also provides first class training for the profession, with three highly acclaimed law schools at the University of Leeds, Leeds Metropolitan University and BPP Law School. All offer opportunities for career development and improving job prospects to lawyers at all levels of the profession.

And with drastically reduced average commute times compared with the capital, lawyers in Leeds can benefit from a better work/life balance than their colleagues elsewhere, without compromising on the quality of legal firms to work for, their prospects for partnership or the calibre of client work available.

So whether you're straight out of law school, or looking to develop your career further, there are opportunities aplenty for lawyers in Leeds, with an unparalleled quality of life at the end of the working day!