Lex 100 P014-024 Winners.Qxp 17/08/2007 15:08 Page 14
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Lex 100 p014-024 Winners.qxp 17/08/2007 15:08 Page 14 Job satisfaction How would you rate your overall job satisfaction? Lex 100 winners 1 Farrer & Co 9.10 2 Harbottle & Lewis LLP 9.00 Analysis = McDermott Will & Emery UK LLP 9.00 This important category is topped this year by Farrer & Co in what’s = Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom (UK) LLP 9.00 been a highly impressive overall performance – the firm appears in every single one of our Lex 100 5 Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP 8.75 Winners tables, often near the top, the first firm to do so. So why is this 6 Covington & Burling LLP 8.71 mid-sized London firm so popular with trainees? It certainly sounds a fun place 7 Latham & Watkins 8.67 to work and offers six seats in a wide variety of practice areas. There’s a strong 8 Ashfords 8.63 bond between current trainees, who praise the ‘great people and great mix of work’, ‘unique atmosphere’ and ‘sheer breadth of training = Stephens & Scown 8.63 opportunities’. Media boutique Harbottle & Lewis comes next. Trainees here feel they have ‘considerably 10 Bristows 8.60 better quality work than peers, better experience and more exposure’. Then, as last year, there’s a strong showing = Shoosmiths 8.60 by five US firms: McDermott Will & Emery, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, Cleary Gottlieb, Covington & 12 Browne Jacobson LLP 8.58 Burling and Latham & Watkins. These firms have not been offering training contracts for that long in London and all have 13 Birketts 8.50 limited intakes. None of them feature in the work/life balance or = Capsticks 8.50 stress levels tables (US firms have exacting expectations and there are plenty of stories of late nights), but they have a good showing = Hodge Jones & Allen 8.50 in the quality of work and client contact tables. At Skadden ‘we have been exposed to some fascinating deals and given levels of = Mills & Reeve LLP 8.50 responsibility that other trainees can only dream of’, boasts one trainee. A Covington trainee rates the ‘early exposure to the more = Walker Morris 8.50 difficult end of practising as a lawyer’, while Latham & Watkins is 18 Kendall Freeman 8.46 ‘progressive, friendly and offers a rich variety of work’. Two South West firms also feature in the top ten – Ashfords and Stephens & Scown. The 19 Lester Aldridge LLP 8.43 latter is a new entrant to The Lex 100; a trainee there experiences ‘less stress and pressure than other firms. I think I have more responsibility and = Pannone LLP 8.43 there’s less of a negative, competitive atmosphere’. At Ashfords, ‘top to bottom, everyone is approachable, helpful and friendly’. The good spread of London, regional and international practices in this table demonstrates that job satisfaction is a quality not limited to any particular type of firm. 14 • The Lex 100 Lex 100 p014-024 Winners.qxp 17/08/2007 15:08 Page 15 Firm living up to expectations How far has the firm lived up to your expectations? Lex 100 winners 1 Harbottle & Lewis LLP 9.67 2 Farrer & Co 9.30 Analysis 3 Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP 9.25 You’ve read the brochures, done some vac schemes, been to 4 Covington & Burling LLP 9.00 interviews and secured a training contract. So far so good, but now = McDermott Will & Emery UK LLP 9.00 you’ve started work is the firm delivering what you expected? = Shadbolt & Co LLP 9.00 Trainees at media powerhouse Harbottle & Lewis certainly think so; = Thomas Eggar LLP 9.00 one ‘can’t think of anything bad’ to say, while another feels that the firm is living up to promises as ‘the best media law firm = Walker Morris 9.00 in the UK’. Farrer & Co isn’t far behind; one trainee here comments ‘I did a vac scheme and = Wedlake Bell 9.00 loved it. It’s even better now I’ve got here and am part of the firm’. Another one targeted the firm 10 Burges Salmon LLP 8.98 ‘because I thought (and still think) that it’s simply unique’. In third and fourth places come US firms Cleary 11 Shoosmiths 8.93 Gottlieb, McDermott Will & Emery and Covington & Burling, a strong showing, as in the job satisfaction 12 Shearman & Sterling LLP 8.92 category. At Clearys, one trainee attracted by ‘pay, international scope, flexibility of the practice areas, the early 13 Jones Day 8.88 responsibility and the congeniality’ hasn’t been disappointed. It’s a similar story at Covington & Burling; here one trainee found 14 Mills & Reeve LLP 8.85 everyone friendly and approachable at interview, and having started work commends the collegiate culture. Tied with the US 15 Bircham Dyson Bell LLP 8.83 firms are Walker Morris, Thomas Eggar, Wedlake Bell and 16 Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP 8.81 Shadbolt & Co. At Leeds stalwart Walker Morris one trainee ‘did the vac scheme and really enjoyed it’, whilst working here has meant 17 Forbes 8.75 ‘better exposure to clients and quality of work than at other solicitors in Leeds’ for another. At the other end of the UK, South East giant = Hodge Jones & Allen 8.75 Thomas Eggar offers training which is ‘absolutely outstanding’. 19 Travers Smith 8.71 Reigate-based Shadbolt & Co has certainly delivered on promises for one trainee: ‘I believed that the firm would offer high-class work in a 20 McGrigors LLP 8.68 good working environment; I’m pleased to say that this is how it’s turned out to be’. At London’s Wedlake Bell, size matters for one trainee: ‘its medium size can mean it loses out on bigger deals. However, as a trainee, I’ve chosen the firm for the very reason of its size’; being part of a more limited intake here means ‘excellent training which has a lot to do with the size of the firm’. The Lex 100 • 15 Lex 100 p014-024 Winners.qxp 17/08/2007 15:08 Page 16 Quality of work How would you rate the quality of work you are given? Lex 100 winners 1 Harbottle & Lewis LLP 9.33 2 Hodge Jones & Allen 9.25 Analysis 3 Birketts 9.17 Have you heard stories of trainees being chained to the photocopier 4 Forbes 9.00 or stuck in windowless data rooms for days on end? While most = Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom (UK) LLP 9.00 trainees, irrespective of the size or location of firm, will experience some = Walker Morris 9.00 routine and, dare we say, humdrum work from time to time, the firms in 7 Covington & Burling LLP 8.86 this table stand out for giving their trainees meaty work to get their teeth into 8 Thomas Eggar LLP 8.80 from the start. As with living up to expectations, media boutique Harbottle & 9 Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP 8.75 Lewis is top of the tree. Trainees here commend the variety of both interesting clients and work – a glance at the client list and you’ll know why (Mr and 10 Shoosmiths 8.73 Mrs Beckham are just one example). In second place is a new entrant to The Lex 100, Hodge Jones & Allen. 11 Pannone LLP 8.71 Primarily a legal aid firm, trainees here report hands-on experience from day one: ‘I feel like I work on cases in a lot 12 Farrer & Co 8.70 more depth than some of my peers’. Whether it’s obtaining an 13 Ince & Co 8.67 emergency injunction to prevent a client being made homeless or taking a landmark miscarriage of justice case to the House of = Latham & Watkins 8.67 Lords, you need a solid commitment to social justice to be at home here. Ipswich firm Birketts gives trainees the responsibility of 15 Ashfords 8.63 running their own cases, plus plenty of high-calibre commercial work; ‘you cannot buy experience like this firm gives you’ says one 16 Jones Day 8.62 happy trainee. Three firms are tied in fourth place: Walker Morris, Forbes and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. Leeds firm = Shearman & Sterling LLP 8.62 Walker Morris offers plenty of experience of life at the coal face: ‘I was left to deal with a banking completion very early on in my first seat’ 18 Russell-Cooke LLP 8.60 says one. Blackburn’s Forbes offers a good breadth of work – ‘life does 19 Speechly Bircham LLP 8.58 not consist solely of sifting through reams of documentation!’ – and the mix of commercial and private client work is popular. Covington & Burling, 20 Kendall Freeman 8.54 Thomas Eggar, Cadwalader, Wickerhsam & Taft and Shoosmiths aren’t too far behind. Cadwalader trainees say they get ‘a lot more responsibility and very little photocopying’. Another thinks that ‘due to the size of the firm, the quality of work you are given is great’. And it’s true that none of the firms in this table have trainee intakes of more than 40, with most considerably less than that. 16 • The Lex 100 Lex 100 p014-024 Winners.qxp 17/08/2007 15:08 Page 17 Client contact How would you rate your amount of client contact? Lex 100 winners 1 Hodge Jones & Allen 9.75 2 Forbes 9.25 Analysis 3 Fisher Meredith 9.00 For many trainees, the moment when they meet a walking, talking = Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom (UK) LLP 9.00 client is the moment they realise that this is for real and not an LPC 5 Russell-Cooke LLP 8.80 interview exercise.