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The striking Legal 500 workers have won!

Breaking news! After two and a half weeks of strikes and daily picketing outside the Legal 500 offices, the workers of Legal 500 are pleased to announce that we have won! We have accepted an offer that fully met our original pay claims of a £2,000 pay increase for every worker in the bargaining unit.

You can read more about our win in the Unite press release here!

Consequently, after accepting the offer from management, all further planned industrial action is now cancelled and workers will return to work on 1st October.

However, it is not over! On this coming Monday, 5 October, we will have a short celebration from 9am to 9:30 at 188 Fleet Street before we collectively enter the offices. Please come join us!

We want to thank every activist and organiser that came out in support of our strike and spread our message, the numerous journalists that interviewed us and published stories about our strike, all the lawyers and passersby that spoke with us on the picket, as well as all the union branches that have donated to our strike fund.

However, now that we will be returning to work, it is necessary for us to rally other branches to bring back up Unite Digital & Tech Branch’s general strike fund to where it was once before, if not more robust than it was previously.

Therefore, we ask that you please continue to share our model emergency motion amongst other union branches. We are also available to speak at local London union branches about our experiences on the picket and the history that led us from a scrappy, two-year-old unionised workforce to a robust group of workers that beat senior management in just 13 working days.

Solidarity!

• Donate to our hardship fund
• Join our picket line
• Send us a solidarity message
• Model emergency motion
• Press and media coverage

Despite boasting record turnover of over £30 million in 2025, opening a new office in Leeds, and acquiring a subsidiary in Bristol, Legal 500 still refuses to compensate the department that produces its core product adequately.

Workers at the lowest end of the pay scale are expected to meet ever-increasing workloads and survive the worsening cost of living crisis, whilst the company holds out on a total pay increase of less than half the CEO’s annual salary. As a result, members of the editorial department have had no choice but to go on strike.

Legal500 workers have already rejected the 3.4% pay offer and a revised £1,200 uplift and will be taking strike action after no further improvement was forthcoming. Dozens of researchers, senior researchers, and deputy editors will be picketing from 14th to 25th September 2026, with the possibility of more strikes if Legal500 does not improve its low offer.

We encourage you to show your support to the strikers by sharing our story online and contacting our head of department: ella.marshall@legal500.com

You can also file a complaint through the Zendesk form accessed through the QR code below.

Let’s fight for fairer pay.

If you want to get in contact with the strike team for comment, please email: legal500.strike@outlook.com

Legal5oo ranks the best. How does it rank as an employer?

Donate to our dispute hardship fund

If you want to support our cause further, please donate to the bank details below:

London ITC Branch LE/7089L
Unity Trust
Sort Code: 60-83-01
Account number: 20303680
Reference: Legalease

Join our picket line

Workers at Legal 500 will be picketing from 8:00am to 1:00pm, beginning 14 September, at 188 Fleet Street, EC4A 2AG. We will picket outside Legal 500’s offices Monday to Thursday, rain or shine, until 9th October.

Please note that we are no longer picketing for the rest of this week (30th September until 2nd October).

We call on London-based trade unionists to support the Legal 500 researchers going on strike. Come show solidarity at our four-week picket! Tell your comrades!

Solidarity messages

Can be sent to legal500.strike@outlook.com

 

 

 

 

Model emergency motion

Model Emergency Motion to Support Striking Legal 500 Workers

 

Press and media

Legal 500 publication to be hit by strikes – Unite the Union (10 September)

Legal 500 staff to strike for £2k raise – RollonFriday (11 September)

Haldane Society of Socialist Workers (12 September)

Mutiny in the Rankings – Law Society Gazette (21 September)

No end in sight for strike by Legal 500 researchers – Law Society Gazette (22 September)

Legal 500 publishing workers in fresh strikes – Unite the Union (25 September)

Video – Trades Union Conference (25 September)

An interview on the picket line

In solidarity, Legal500 Researchers, Senior Researchers & Deputy Editors

Week 1

We had an amazing first week picketing outside of the Legal 500 office in London. A mixture of Legal 500 strikers, friends, and family joined to show their support for our fight for fair pay. Over the week, we handed out thousands of leaflets to members of the public, encouraging them to scan the QR codes, visit our website, and file complaints with the company. Signs and placards helped us get our message out, as well as interest from the media and photographers covering the action. The support and encouragement we received are greatly appreciated. Big shout-out to Chambers & Partners, as well as various media outlets showing their support. The response from passers-by was particularly encouraging, with bus drivers, motorists, and others on the road (including cyclists!) sounding their horns and bells to demonstrate their support. Over double the number of leaflets were handed out on day 2! Members of the strike team also visited law firms and Chambers to discuss our strike actions with lawyers and firms that use the Legal 500 platform. We ended this first week notifying the company of our intentions to strike for a third week following a lack of cooperation from the company.

Week 2

We started our second week with increased momentum, with a larger speaker and even more signs. We have continued to receive attention from various newspapers who have helped spread the news of our cause. We have also spoken at different branches to try to raise money for our strike fund. If your branch is interested in hearing about our strike and is keen to support, please drop us an email at legal500.strike@outlook.com. Thank you for all the support we have been shown. We ended this week notifying the company of our intentions to extend the strike for a fourth week.

The amazing team at Unite and RS21 also handled out leaflets at the Legal 500 Bar Awards!