Reed Smith

It’s been a record year for the firm financially, as revenues crossed the $1.5 billion mark (£1.1 billion), up 15% from $1.3 billion (£967 million) last year. Profit per equity partner (PEP) rose a similar 14% to $1.8 million (£1.3 million). The financial industry group led the pack, whilst insurance, recovery, litigation, managed care, entertainment and media, and bankruptcy and restructuring all had stellar years. M&A also enjoyed a decent lift through deals such as Concord’s £1.1 billion acquisition of British music royalties investment fund Hipgnosis. Global managing partner Casey Ryan also pointed to the firm’s investments into technology and innovation training as another reason for healthy growth, with over 750 lawyers and staff said to have completed internal AI certification training. London, in particular, had a good year, with domestic revenues up 15% to $247 million (£183 million) and revenue per lawyer in the capital up nearly 30% to $947,000 (£704,000). There’s been strong strategic investment into the capital over the past couple of years, with the firm building on its private equity, corporate, finance and energy capabilities with lateral partner hires from the likes of McDermott and Linklaters. Rookies haven’t been forgotten about either, as Reed Smith increased salaries for first and second-year trainees, to £53,000 and £58,000, respectively.

On top of all that, the firm has also just upgraded its London digs. City lawyers have moved over the road to “an amazing new office” at Blossom Yard & Studios, near Spitalfields Market. An oligarch-style penthouse at the top of Broadgate Tower — the new location, comprising restored Georgian and Victorian warehouses, has an industrial vibe unique to the City and is described as an “open-plan, collaborative and light” space. It also features its very own art gallery thanks to a partnership with Chelsea College of Arts. Insiders praise the “good co-working collaborative spaces” and (equally as important) the office bar — nicknamed the ‘Gem’. Our sources also add that if you can, you’ll want to bag a desk on the top floors as these “benefit from a nicer view and more light.”

The new space also operates from a subsidised canteen, equipped with a “beautiful terrace” and a “good salad bar”. The menu is said to be “constantly changing” with a variety of options to pick from at breakfast and lunch — the only criticism some trainees had was that at £5-7 for a meal, the food isn’t as subsidised as it perhaps could be.

Important stuff aside, let’s talk about the work. Reed Smith takes a sector-focused approach. Its five key areas are financial services, life sciences and healthcare, energy and natural resources, transportation and media and entertainment, so if none of those are up your street, this might not be the place for you. The quality of work, overall, seems to be very good, according to insiders — although it can “vary between departments”. The shipping team received a special shout-out in the latest Trainee and Junior Lawyer Survey, as did litigation, where tasks often include “research, witness statement drafting,” and ample opportunities to understand how their work impacts “the wider case”. The firm has a business support centre in Leeds that operates alongside its sister hub in Pittsburgh. While these ‘Global Solutions hubs’ help ease the administrative burden on trainees, one insider notes that some departments “seem to use trainees for everything instead of the proper teams”. Overall, however, the verdict seems to be that while it is team-dependent, the quality of work is generally good.

When it comes to training, expect “hands on supervision” paired with seat-specific introductory sessions and a learning and development course which runs throughout your TC and further. The trainee experience is reported as being “very department dependent” — a common theme among many US players in the City — but when it is good, it’s “top-rate”. There are even “videos to train for each individual project” in the firm’s pro bono practice. In what is perhaps a nod to its US roots, quite a lot of training is delivered “on the job” and supplemented with “extra optional sessions and online options”.

The culture at the firm is described as “extremely supportive”. The shipping litigation team received high praise from one trainee, who described them as “absolutely marvellous!”. Among peers, rookies appreciate the “small trainee cohort which means everyone knows each other and is supportive of one another”, while firmwide “everyone is friendly, approachable and generally helpful”. One spy noted: “It’s amazing how most of the superiors don’t act superior at all!” We are also told that supervisors make time for trainees even during busy periods, which rookies are very appreciative of. A few lucky trainees even received Christmas presents from their superiors!

On the social side, trainees give a particular shout-out to the monthly drinks trolleys on the corporate floor and that the people are lovely, making it easy to build relationships within the firm. Although cross-departmental and impromptu socials are a rarity, invites to client events might compensate for this. Trainees here also get more opportunity than most to make pen-pals with their international colleagues as client visits to Hamburg on a big litigation case, a week-long trip to Seoul and a Korean shipyard to take statements, and a week in Japan for business development and marketing are just some of the international trips our jet-setting sources have reported.

Work/life balance differs between departments and according to time of year: “If you’re in a finance seat, particularly in Q4, then there will be early morning finishes and weekend working.” For early finishes, dispute and arbitration seats seem to be the place to be, with one trainee “generally logging off at 6.30pm” whilst their peers in asset finance and shipping litigation worked “much longer hours”. Trainees are conscious, however, of how Reed Smith compares with other firms and consider themselves relatively fortunate: “The salary is at the higher end of firms without the constant horrendous hours trainees seem to be working elsewhere in the City.” NQ rates currently sit at £125,000; not quite crazy US MoneyLaw levels but still very respectable for the City.

Luckily, an “accommodating” working from home policy eases any tensions on this front, with Reed Smith rookies having the option to work from home two days a week — though there are gripes about removal of the £350 WFH equipment grant, which used to be a trainee favourite. One survey respondent also pointed out that the Citrix-based virtual desktop is “slow, unreliable and crashes frequently”, although people unanimously appreciate the flexibility offered on office attendance.

In London, Reed Smith has a dedicated innovation lab and trainees note that “the firm is very proactive in trialling new technologies”. It is said to have a clear tech strategy, with the aim of “integrating tools that are useful in day-to-day work”. The firm’s legal services centre in Leeds, where lawyers and support staff can benefit from a “creative environment” in which “to find new approaches to problem solving” are also always said to be looking for ways to invest in innovative tech and the firm has recently implemented AI tool Harvey.

Perk-wise. Reed Smith offer perks a range of health and travel insurance packages which are apparently “standard for City law firms”, as are the taxi services and Deliveroo allowances for those late nights in the office.

For those who are especially passionate about the environment, the firm offers a designated pro bono environmental working group which supports various environmental causes and a dedicated ESG (environmental, social and governance) practice with new ‘sustainability partners’ who are said to be “driving this forward”. The firm was one of the first to roll out a billable ‘sustainability hours’ policy, which allows lawyers to bill 25 hours of environmental leadership and advocacy training to count towards their targets.