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Hours

• "I work no more than my friends in other City firms and in some cases, I work less. I am yet to do an all-nighter!" -- Trainee
• "The UK billing hours target is 1600 hours a year. My hours in the office are variable. If I am working on a transaction, approaching closing, then I can often find myself in the office quite late into the night. At other times, I am able to leave at about six-thirty in the evening. Thankfully, to date, I have not had to work too many weekends. I have never had a problem taking any holidays. There is no ability to purchase additional holidays, but the allowance of 25 days is fairly good." -- Newly qualified solicitor
• "The number of hours can vary a lot, depending on which department you sit in. Being an American firm, there is an expectation of long hours, which has been the case in more transactional seats and less so in the advisory seats." -- Trainee
• "50/60 hours per week. I am working the sort of hours I expected." -- Trainee

• "...The nature of the legal profession is such that your work goes through bouts of very busy periods and very quiet ones – there is no happy medium ever." -- Newly qualified solicitor
• "9.30am – 6.30pm are the key hours with an hour for lunch. No one minds if you have to leave early or have an appointment during the day. If required, you may need to stay late and may need to stay late several nights/weeks in a row. Dinner and taxis are provided and as you are busy, staying isn't too painful." -- Trainee
• "Hours are generally good. There have been a few late nights in the run-up to signing a transaction which is naturally to be expected. The start time is flexible and on average, one would work approximately 9-10 hours per day." -- Trainee
• "I work on average probably 45-50 hours a week, which is about what I expected, maybe even a bit less." -- Trainee

Salary

• "Better than other law firms." -- Trainee
• "I am very happy with it." -- Trainee

• "You may be able to get a bonus if you bill more than a certain number of hours a year." -- Newly qualified solicitor

Perks

• "Delicious free meal if I stay later than 9pm, private medical insurance, pension, eye screening and prescription allowance, gym membership, season ticket loan, free flu vaccination, free lunch when you attend training." -- Trainee
• "We take part in the Manches Cup, a weekend of sailing and fun as we make our way from Port Hamble to the Isle of Wight and back again." -- Trainee

• "Free dinners, sailing weekends, contribution to gym membership, season ticket loan, Christmas party, summer party, themed Halloween party for families (which is amazing and very elaborate, bit like walking into a film set.)." -- Trainee
• "A small contribution to gym membership." -- Newly qualified solicitor

Fun Facts

• "Barack Obama was a summer student here." -- Newly qualified solicitor
• "We can claim Barack and Michelle Obama as former colleagues." -- Trainee

• "My firm organises an annual Halloween party in the office. The conference rooms become, for example, Alice in Wonderland realm for one evening. You cannot recognise your office! Personnel can bring their kids who play with live animals (spiders, snakes and so on.)." -- Trainee

Pluses

• "I have made some genuinely good friends, the work/life balance is fantastic from my point of view and I seldom have to do any drudge-work, which is the lot of junior lawyers elsewhere from what I hear. In tax, I feel I have the opportunity regularly to stretch myself intellectually which can be stressful but it's important for me to be academically challenged." -- Newly qualified solicitor
• "Small, and work closely with partners." -- Newly qualified solicitor
• "Colleagues and pay." -- Trainee

• "High quality work, friendly and bright lawyers, supportive colleagues, very good training, various networking events, things like the Manches Cup Regatta – an annual sailing event for law firms, Christmas parties, mentoring scheme." -- Trainee
• "You get a lot more responsibility early on and get good quality work. Everybody is very friendly so you always have someone you can go to with a question. The pay is also good!" -- Trainee
• "Working with smart people." -- Trainee

Minuses

• "Lack of firm arranged social events." -- Trainee
• "Sometimes long hours (depending on the department you work in), days when you don't have much to do in the morning and all of a sudden you are swamped with work around 4pm." -- Trainee
• "Working for a US firm your clients are often state-side, therefore the time difference often requires you to work late to meet with their working hours." -- Trainee
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• "Quite thinly staffed at the moment, no paralegals in London." -- Newly qualified solicitor
• "Sometimes I feel the instructions I get when things are busy are not as clear as they could be which adds to the stress of the situation, especially when I'm not convinced I know what's expected of me." -- Newly qualified solicitor
• "Long hours in certain departments." -- Trainee
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