Orrick

Cheapside rookies can expect a six-seat training contract, with training said to combine observation and plenty of hands-on participation. Insiders say they enjoy the autonomy in shaping their own training because it allows them to focus on what will be most useful. It also helps that there’s some top-notch work for newbies to cut their teeth on. Trainees can find themselves working on projects that regularly feature in the Financial Times, or rubbing shoulders with pioneers and leaders in the tech sphere.

Formal training is provided throughout the training contract, covering specific areas of practice and process, with plenty of opportunities for trainees to request sessions on particular topics, as well as office-wide know-how seminars. The real emphasis, however, is on practical, on-the-job learning. Supervisors typically assign a task and then give trainees the space to take a stab at it, before sitting down together to discuss the outcome. As one insider puts it, this approach has been “really beneficial for developing technical skills, attention to detail and building confidence.”

With an annual intake of around five, trainees aren’t left fighting over who gets to do the scanning, as can be the case at firms with larger cohorts. The style of training does vary by department, with corporate feeling more paralegal-like for some, while other seats push trainees closer to NQ level. Across the board, though, supervisors are said to be genuinely invested in their trainees’ development. One trainee noted that the firm reduced its paralegal support in recent years, leading to an uptick in admin for some. That said, trainees can call on the firm’s US-based document processing function, which is available overnight and at weekends to help shoulder the load.

The firm’s legal tech gets a warm reception too, described as both handy and genuinely advanced. Newcomers are particularly complimentary about the global innovation team behind these platforms. One standout tool is Orrick AI, a ChatGPT-style assistant for various tasks, while the firm also uses DraftWise, a platform that quickly compares documents against precedents and flags errors.

Support doesn’t stop there. A comprehensive onboarding process kicks things off, supplemented throughout the contract by seminars, training lectures and sessions run by more senior trainees, offering a useful complement to the official routes.

As you’d expect at a US firm, trainees work hard and hours can be long, though they tend to ebb and flow with the rhythm of deals. Late nights and weekend work are more common in the corporate teams, while disputes and advisory offer better balance. Busy spells can be overwhelming, but supervisors are said to actively encourage work-life balance. As one source puts it, people make a genuine effort to protect important personal plans and are respectful and appreciative when you’re called on to put in extra time. Orrick also has a neat policy allowing lawyers to put up to 40 billable hours towards a holiday, ensuring they can properly unplug.

Insiders confirm the firm is making real efforts to root out bad working practices, and there’s a general sense that people are valued as whole human beings, not just billable units. Flexible working is well regarded too, with the firm providing everything needed to replicate the office at home, along with a generous budget for any extras. All in all, trainees say the firm has done a really good job on the agile working front.

Orrick’s small intake helps foster a tight-knit trainee community. Peers are described as down to earth and good fun, with those further along the process particularly generous in sharing their knowledge of the firm’s systems and day-to-day rhythms. There’s good camaraderie across the firm more broadly too, free of the stuffiness that can sometimes accompany City life. Senior lawyers are approachable right up to the head of the London office, where an open-door policy is actively championed. Trainees are each assigned a buddy, a seat supervisor and a mentor, providing support from both a professional and pastoral perspective.

This warmth shows up socially, with trainees and junior associates heading out for lunch and drinks together. A few sources suggest more could be done to organise ad hoc events, and busy schedules can make it tricky to get things in the diary for any stretch of time.

The approachability is all the more notable given that Orrick doesn’t operate an open-plan office, something insiders clearly treasure. Having the privacy and comfort of your own space, shared with just one or two colleagues, is genuinely appreciated. The ninth-floor terrace at the firm’s modern London office is another perk, with benches that are perfect for lunch or a spot of reading in the sun. The lack of an in-house canteen gets a mild grumble, and the coffee situation raises a wry comment or two. As one rookie cheerfully put it, come for the people, not the coffee. The location near St Paul’s Cathedral more than makes up for it, with a wealth of restaurants right on the doorstep.

Junior lawyers have plenty to spend in those restaurants, with NQ pay now sitting at a whopping £170,000. The broader perks package is solid too, including an app with offers and discount codes, subsidised gym membership and private healthcare. For the environmentally minded, the London office’s Green Committee runs events and charity drives promoting sustainability initiatives within the firm.

With 27 offices across eleven countries, international secondments are surprisingly rare. Graduate recruitment has shown interest in building exchanges between offices, but client secondments remain fairly uncommon, with the notable exception of a structured swap of junior team members between the firm and a client.