HSBC has the biggest legal team in the FTSE 100 with 1,109 lawyers, according to exclusive data in The Lawyer FTSE 100 2016 report.

HSBC, which has held the top spot from the previous year, is the only company to have more than 1,000 lawyers globally and is of a similar size to Clyde & Co. It is some way ahead of Barclays, the second-placed team in The Lawyer’s rankings with 750 lawyers. Third is GlaxoSmithKline (650 lawyers), fourth is Shell (600) and Vodafone is fifth (500).

In total there are 8,450 lawyers working at FTSE companies, roughly equivalent to the combined total number of lawyers at DLA Piper, Clifford Chance and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, the UK’s three largest firms by headcount.

Although the general trend is for in-house teams to increase in size, there have been few dramatic uplifts in headcount since The Lawyer FTSE 100’s first edition in 2015.

The median team size in the FTSE is 87, roughly comparable to the headcount at Harbottle & Lewis, which according to The Lawyer UK 200 employed 81 lawyers in 2015/16.

However, the size of the teams in the top five of the FTSE 100 rankings skews the overall figures. Just 26 companies out of the 100 have over the median figure of 87 lawyers.

For the full list and comparisons by sector please refer to The Lawyer FTSE 100 report. Containing data on FTSE 100 relationships, panels, demographics, deals and litigation and in-depth profiles of legal teams, the report is available to purchase. Contact richard.edwards@centaurmedia.com for more details.