Sidley Austin

The London office is playing host to many of these new faces, as Sidley kicked the year off by going on an outright partner spending splurge — poaching talent from US rivals such as Weil, Latham and Morgan Lewis to fuel its growth in the capital. Rookies and NQs have also benefitted from this expansionary policy, with starting rates up 5% to £175,000 for newly-qualifieds, and rookie salaries up approximately 10%.

Banking and finance is the beating heart of this City beast but even if private equity isn’t your cup of tea, trainees assure us that there is still “fantastic work to do in every department”. Our insiders were unanimous in their conviction that the quality of big-ticket work at Sidley is unmatched, even if the “demanding nature of senior colleagues (even when there are no pressing deadlines) makes work all the less enjoyable”. Generally though, the rule seems to be that “ability is rewarded with good work and responsibilities” and a small intake makes for “far less grunt work than you might expect at trainee level at firms with greater headcount”.

Another rookie offered this detailed insight: “There are typical trainee tasks like running CPs and transaction management, but I have often found myself doing work beyond what might be expected of a trainee at another firm, e.g. drafting or analysing complex transaction documents, negotiating points with deal counsel on the other side and running the end-to-end of smaller workstreams. Of course you start off with more repetitive/admin-type tasks, but if you show you can do those things, you are generally rewarded with more interesting work and more responsibility. There is also a solid amount of client contact — in typical Gen Z fashion, at the start of my first seat I was entirely averse to making phone calls, but by the end a managing director at a big PE client had me on speed dial!”

As you might imagine, the attitude towards training at Sidley is less goggles and armbands and more “being thrown in at the deep end”. As one current trainee describes it: “You learn as you go, though some seats are more “Wild West” than others. However, associates and partners are generally approachable and happy to offer support and informal training to walk you through any questions” It was also noted that the firm does seem to be moving “towards a more formal training structure” — at least for those sitting in the firm’s big-hitting leveraged finance practice — where there is now “weekly training sessions and a half-day grid negotiation exercise.”

Sidley recruits reserve their highest praise for each other, with one insider proclaiming that their “fellow trainees make it all worth it and are my support system.” Another adds that their peers “are one of the main reasons I enjoy my job and would find it difficult to go elsewhere.” As to be expected at top firms, there were also some less glowing reviews — one source succinctly described their cohort as “cut-throat” — but on the whole the consensus was that “Sidley somehow does an excellent job of recruiting people who get along well with each other from different background/experiences.”

One junior offered this assessment of the vibe at NQ level: “Being in one of the smaller teams here in London, it’s incredibly reassuring to know that each of the other associates in my team would be willing to offer advice, take something off my plate if I was too busy or even just cover for me if I need to pop out of the office. Those not in my team are also incredibly reliable — it’s definitely the sort of place where you can pick up the phone to someone and ask a question rather than having to send a formal email. 11/10 would pick them all as godparents.”

We’re told that the firm has also reimplemented a budget for trainee socials and, in addition to the more informal events, hosts “an excellent summer party and Christmas do”. Trainees have the opportunity to go to a European Lawyers Conference and, last year, members of the firm’s LGBTQ+ network SidleyPride went on a retreat to Chicago!

Higher-ups are said “generally very approachable” if a little loose-lipped: “some are nice, but they all gossip so I would not tell them anything personal” was the warning from one LC source. On the whole, Sidley is said to be “structured in a pretty flat and non-hierarchical way so there are lots of opportunities to work directly with partners and senior lawyers, who are usually happy to walk you through things.”

As with any US law firm the hours are on the long side: “It’s tough initially and you need to learn to balance it out”, one trainee explains, “but once you are in the swing of things it becomes much easier.” Insiders told LC that whilst “weeknight plans are always at risk of being derailed”, weekends and holidays are “well-respected”. Experiences also differ across seats: “If you do a seat in corporate, expect to work later than 11pm every night and some weekends. If you do a seat in tax, you probably won’t work past 9pm.” Advisory seats get to get a bit of a better rep, with transactional work predictably unpredictable and litigation rumoured to be “bad consistently.”

Standard perks at Sidley range from private healthcare (including a free Headspace subscription), to a £400 annual gym allowance, in-house counselling, £60 monthly mobile phone allowance, free Deliveroo after 7pm, a taxi home if you’re burning the midnight oil, and a £2,000 business development budget for those who reach NQ level. Oh, and of course the firm has a box at Chelsea’s football ground Stamford Bridge so free tickets are available from time to time if you can get in before the partners snap them all up. There’s also an “absolutely stunning 14th floor lounge for meals” which goes some way to assuaging complaints over the lack of a canteen.

“They do alright”, is the general consensus when it comes to tech at Sidley. Although “firm-issued laptops are generally good and IT is very responsive”, one respondent complains that Sidley’s document management system “looks like it was built for dial-up internet”. After an internal embargo, lawyers on Sidley’s front-lines have now been entrusted with ChatGPT but as one disgruntled insider reports “when you are up until the early hours trying to make sense of a Russian doll of defined terms across 1,500 pages of transaction documents, you really wish the firm had invested a bit more in legal tech.”

The same could be said about Sidley’s home-working package which consists of a mouse, keyboard and an office chair “if you ask”. The good news is that you won’t be needing any of this much anyway as Sidley has mandated all lawyers to be in-office at least four days a week, with some teams reportedly demanding rookies to attend every day.

The actual good news is that the firm’s “phenomenal” London office — housed within the iconic ‘Can of Ham’ or the City’s 70 St Mary Axe — gets a major thumbs-up from rookies. A base for around 200 lawyers, it features large communal areas, standing desks, biker-friendly facilities (including plenty of showers and lockers), kitchenettes, a beautiful lobby with flowers, and even “very fancy” iPad coffee dispensers. The office even boasts enough space for partners, associates and even trainees to each have their own private offices. “If Carlsberg did offices…”, one source summarises.

As part of its efforts to become greener, Sidley launched a unique apprenticeship covering, among other things, sustainability. While the opportunity doesn’t lead to qualification as a solicitor, at the end of the 20-month apprenticeship, the candidate will have gained a Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability diploma. The firm has also recently funded the opening of VYBZ youth hub in London with aims to help over one thousand young people explore their talents and passions in a safe space, over the next five years.