Hudgell Solicitors named among Sunday Times Best Places to Work 2025

Hudgell Solicitors has been named one of the Sunday Times Best Places to Work in the UK for the first time, marking national recognition of its positive workplace culture and inclusive, values-led approach.

The prestigious 2025 guide, which celebrates the most progressive and creative employers across the country, highlights the firm’s continued investment in colleague engagement and its strategy of placing staff at the heart of business planning.

Inclusion in the list is based on outstanding employee feedback, with particularly high scores in response to the following statements:

• I feel proud to work for my organisation

• I believe our clients are at the heart of all we do

• I have a good relationship with my manager

The guide also acknowledged Hudgell’s commitment to inclusivity, career development and sustained growth, noting the increase in headcount from 138 in 2023 to 170 in 2025 across its Hull and Manchester offices.

A key milestone in the firm’s cultural transformation came in late 2023, when Hudgell Solicitors transitioned to an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT) – giving every member of the team an indirect ownership stake in the business and a greater voice in its future.

Since becoming employee-owned, two profit share bonuses have already been paid to all colleagues within the first 18 months.

Chief Executive Rachel di Clemente said, “We became an employee-owned trust just 18 months ago and we promised to foster a culture of transparency, fairness and equality and it’s fantastic that we are being recognised for achieving this with our inclusion on the Sunday Times’ ‘Best Places to Work’ list. We’re still on our journey to create the very best workplace culture, and we continue to include ‘looking after each other’ as a central theme throughout our strategy and decision making. At Hudgell Solicitors our objective is to create a culture of self-starters, motivated by a shared belief in our business values and objectives. We work as one team, supporting and developing each other, but not afraid to challenge each other.”

The Sunday Times Best Places to Work list evaluates organisations across six key areas: reward and recognition, instilling pride, information sharing, empowerment, wellbeing, and job satisfaction.

Zoe Thomas, editor of The Sunday Times Best Places to Work, said:
“These organisations know that happy employees are the superpower helping them thrive.”
“The Sunday Times Best Places to Work 2025 employers have brought clever and inventive ideas to bear on their workforces.”
“These are companies where staff have a spring in their step on Monday mornings and a willingness to go the extra mile.”
“Why have a job just anywhere when you could be carving out a career at a Sunday Times Best Place to Work?”

The Sunday Times also commended Hudgell Solicitors’ strong diversity credentials – including the fact that three quarters of its team are first-generation university graduates – and its commitment to nurturing early career talent.

The firm’s mentoring scheme pairs junior staff with more experienced colleagues to offer insight into the legal sector and tailored career guidance. Its high trainee intake is a reflection of its long-term commitment to developing legal professionals from within.

In 2024, Hudgell Solicitors reviewed its employee benefits, introducing new initiatives such as an additional day’s leave for birthdays and the option to buy or sell annual leave. Long-service leave rewards, life assurance, a health cash plan, paid professional memberships, client recommendation and colleague referral schemes, regular office events and an annual awards evening all form part of the wider package offered to colleagues.

Image provided by Hudgell Solicitors

Francesca Kaye