Cooley

As far as its London office is concerned, Cooley scores a unanimous “very impressive” in the Legal Cheek Trainee and Junior Lawyer Survey. “Gorgeous building, comfortable workspace, wellbeing rooms, the views are stunning, very central” was the rundown from one current rookie. Occupying 75,000 square feet across three floors at 22 Bishopsgate, it boasts (deep breath) an art gallery, fresh food market, innovation hub, business club, gym, meditation retreat and spa, as well as London’s highest free public viewing gallery and its largest bicycle park. There’s also an internal café and barista bar, Arthur’s, which offers “amazing views” and “delicious drinks”, though one hungry trainee told us that “the lunch is often way too many salads with sides of cold protein options”. While 22 Bishopsgate must concede the title of tallest building in London to The Shard (310m to 22 Bishopsgate’s 278m) it remains the tallest building in the City of London. From this eagle’s eye view, the firm’s lawyers will want to be commander of all they survey, keeping a close eye on rivals Covington & Burling and Skadden just a short elevator ride away.

Financially, Cooley is also reaching new heights with revenue climbing almost 6% this year to $2.1 billion (£1.6 billion). Profit per equity partner grew an even greater 9% to a staggering $3.9 million (£2.9 million). However, the London office’s 10 year anniversary was marked by an 8% decline in revenues, which now sit at $95 million (£70 million) in part due to headwinds in the market and the firm’s heavy investment in lateral hires. Recently, Cooley has been poaching from the likes of Taylor Wessing, Goodwin Proctor and White & Case and the firm’s aggressive hiring policy has seen its lawyer headcount double over the past decade.

So what else might attract a person to this high-rolling firm where the starting salary for a newly qualified lawyer is a megabucks £157,000? Well, the training isn’t bad either. “From day one you have plenty of exposure to high-level work. You receive internal, bespoke training based on the department you are in and those around you are always prepared to provide detailed feedback” one insider revealed. There’s also the formalised trainee-specific “Cooley Uni training” which is combined with the general training delivered to all levels in each department.

Partners are also said to be “actively involved in the formal ongoing training at the firm”, as well as the more ad-hoc stuff. As one happy camper told LC: “everyone I’ve worked with (and particularly my supervisors) have been very generous with their time and feedback, and are genuinely invested in the trainees at the firm.”

One bonus of working within the smaller office of a US firm is greater depth of involvement — Cooley often has only one trainee working on a transaction or case whereas other firms might have four or five. As one trainee details, this means there’s “real opportunity to take on responsibilities and work of an associate, but [you are] never left to flounder”. Another concurs, “I have been given many opportunities to work on a variety of matters, and associates and partners are always very willing to explain complex matters to me. My professional growth has really benefited from the firm’s collegiate nature”. It’s no surprise then, that Cooley rookies score the firm highly in terms of how stimulating they find the work they are given.

The firm takes on around four trainees each year. To be considered, applicants must have taken part in the firm’s two-week London summer programme, which accepts up to 10 people each year. Cooley has demonstrated its commitment to diversity, reviewing application forms on a name-blind basis as well as offering financial help and work experience in the form of a UK diversity fellowship programme to outstanding students. It also has a range of affinity groups, which support career development and identify opportunities for client and community partnering.

Once on board, trainees usually do two litigious and two transactional seats. The firm is accommodating to trainee interests and preferences and so it is possible to do split seats, for example, combining employment with compensation and benefits and Cooley also allows trainees to repeat a seat if they feel drawn to that particular practice area. As far as the work itself goes, rookies tell us that “entrepreneurship is really at the heart of what the firm does. You are trusted to run with things and take ownership allowing you to take on significant responsibility while always being supported.” Exciting clients make for “meaningful and fresh” work and even the more mundane stuff is treated with an air of reverence at Cooley: “Your tasks will vary from more admin tasks such as bundling, to drafting confidential material and attending clients meetings — all of which hold great importance.”

Recent notable work coming out of the London office includes a cross-border collaboration with the HQ in San Fran to advise Play AI — a startup that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to generate human-sounding voices — on its acquisition by Meta, and advising Etsy on its $700 million notes offering. The firm also continues a strong track record in pro bono representation, with trainees encouraged to treat their time spent on social security, asylum or immigration matters the same as billable hours.

As you might imagine for a US firm the size of Cooley, inside the doors it’s a “fast-paced intense environment”. Trainees note that the “nature of the job means that mid-week hours can be unpredictable”, although they add that “it is rare that [we] are asked to work on a weekend”. Another rookie reports being “pretty content with [my] work-life balance, despite a “few late nights”, whilst others acknowledge that they “often accept work with the full knowledge that it will eat into my personal time as they are often tasks I very much want to take ownership of.” As another current recruit told us, “For a US firm, I’ve found the work/life balance is really good. Working at weekends is not the ‘norm’. I’ve had a few late nights and will relatively frequently send late-ish emails, but I am consistently able to leave work at a reasonable time and regularly make evening plans with friends.”

While entry to the firm is fiercely competitive, it’s an encouraging place once you’re in. Respondents gave their peers top marks for being “highly supportive”, with one current trainee adding, “we have a wonderful cohort, and it’s very supportive and non-competitive — we regularly step in to help each other out, and it’s a very positive atmosphere.” This praise extends to superiors too, with both associates and partners at the firm described as being “so friendly”. People here are said to be “always very willing to teach and provide detailed feedback” and there’s also a “great” social life on offer when enough trainees can find the time to band together! As one revealed, “The social life at Cooley is really great — there are relatively regular, chill activities across the firm, departments and various affinity groups. Attendance at these is low-pressure, so people are there because they genuinely want to be. I’ve also been really pleased that there is not a drinking culture at the firm.”

Whilst the firm has no hard-and-fast rules on office attendance, the trainees we spoke to seem to be in four-days a week on average, subject to team demands. While one trainee finds Cooley’s WFH provisions “pretty good”, the consensus is that coming into the office facilitates better learning and opportunities, being able to “hear about deals that you might not have been aware of, which gives you a chance to put your hand up and get involved”.

For a firm as tech-focused as Cooley, you’d be forgiven for thinking that trainees have access to all the latest gizmos and AI programmes, but insiders speak of a pretty basic tech set-up with the firm said to have “adopted a sensible AI policy”.
In keeping with its San Francisco roots (it opened its first office there in 1920 and was an early starter in the Silicon Valley gold rush, opening its Palo Alto office in 1980), the firm offers free yoga and bi-weekly mindfulness sessions. What’s more, along with the aforementioned building perks, Cooley is one of the first firms in London to offer fertility related benefits, providing up to £45,000 for treatments. Private medical, season ticket loans and a good pension scheme make up the rest of the basic perk package.