Willkie Farr & Gallagher

Closer to home, the London office has been on a serious growth spurt of its own, with headcount up nearly 149% since 2020. The City team is still best known for cross-border private equity and M&A, litigation, arbitration and corporate crime, international finance, asset management, restructuring, corporate insurance, antitrust and competition, capital markets, financial services, regulatory and tax work. Behind the numbers sit some eye-catching lateral hires, including private equity partners drawn from leading rivals and a private funds specialist, several of whom join the corporate and financial services department and private equity practice group. Willkie is a firm on the up, and its London office is very much part of the story.

So what is it actually like to work there? The City office is long-established, dating back to the late 1980s, but the launch of its London training contract in 2021 marked a new level of commitment to growing talent on this side of the Atlantic. Several cohorts in, Willkie has embedded its rookies into the lean CityPoint operation, giving them early exposure to all manner of elite private equity, finance and disputes work. Trainee numbers have crept up too, with around seven training contracts now on offer. And with top-of-the-market NQ pay of £180,000, it’s not hard to see how the firm attracts ambitious juniors happy to shoulder plenty of responsibility from day one.

Lawyers report that team sizes are small, which gives juniors the chance to gain a broad range of experience and, as one puts it, “to overreach and work on stuff that Magic Circle juniors could only dream of.” That overreach “becomes evident when working across a counterpart on a deal at another firm who is a higher PQE level than you.”

Being thrown in at the deep end can be daunting, mind you. One trainee wished for a little more formalised training for juniors, which we’re told is being introduced. For others, the on-the-job approach suits them down to the ground. As one colleague reports: “There is plenty of work to take on and you can be as ambitious as you want. In that sense, I like the autonomy of being able to accelerate my pace of training, if I want to.”

All that responsibility means junior lawyers tend to find the work genuinely stimulating, with one noting they often get stuck into “complex investigations and disputes, interesting fact patterns, detailed and sometimes novel legal points.” Client contact isn’t unusual either: “I was really surprised to see that the work I submitted was to be sent directly to a client! The whole team is keen to get you involved as much as possible.”

One insider sums it up: “Junior associates and trainees are involved on work streams across the active matters and are expected to engage on all issues from the most simple to the most complex. There is emphasis on learning by doing so even if you are inexperienced you can participate in a wide range of work.” Another describes sitting in on and assisting with an entire international arbitration hearing within the first three months of a contentious seat, a level of court exposure that’s rare among associates, let alone first-seat trainees.

The training comes in for high praise, especially in private equity, where there’s “a good combination between on-the-job and formal training attended by the whole team, including partners.” Another insider rates the “super interesting” associate skills training and “regular workshops,” though notes that feedback can vary depending on the team member.

One PE aficionado tells us: “Training in my department (private equity) has been carried out with partners present (sometimes presenting) and during which the partners are interactive in giving their thoughts and experience which is invaluable.” Another agrees: “the private equity and private M&A training is stellar with partners and senior associates committing time and attention to ensuring juniors and mid-level associates understand key legal and commercial principles.” A first-year associate rates their training and professional development as “excellent,” with a good balance of “both the legal and practical aspects of practising.”

Given the pay, lawyers can expect to spend plenty of time at their desks. “There are often times when work hours can be pretty heavy,” explains one rookie. But even when the workload ramps up in the lean deal and case teams, there’s a strong sense of “we are in this together.” One junior described the unpredictable hours bluntly: “sometimes you might leave at 6pm, sometimes 11pm, and other times it might be 3am+.” Another admits there “have been a couple of over-nighters in the office, particularly in the manic lead up to Christmas.”

Even so, the general consensus is that the hours match other US, City or Magic Circle firms, if not better. One trainee called them “pretty good for a US firm.” It’s also worth noting that, unlike most commercial firms, Willkie doesn’t set billable hours targets. As one lawyer puts it: “I think this is the best-case work/life balance you can expect for the pay. Seniors make a genuine effort to respect time off and will step in and cover if you need to be absent.” Another echoed the point: “Weekend work is rare in most teams and annual leave is respected.”

It’s reassuring, when you’re bracing for long days, that respondents describe their peers as “super supportive,” “willing to help each other out” and “very close friends.” As one junior puts it: “I am overwhelmed by the support and encouragement of my peers at Willkie.” That spirit runs all the way to the top, thanks to Willkie’s strong open-door culture. “Although certain more senior partners are less available than others, there is generally a good partner-approachability in the team and senior associates are always available,” another adds.

Mondays and Fridays used to be WFH days, but Mondays are now a mandatory office day for all London staff. Helpfully, trainees and juniors have all the kit they could need to work from home. As one insider explains: “Everyone at Willkie is offered two monitors, top-of-the-range laptops (which are replaced every few years by IT) and any other requirements to work from home. We also all get Cisco headphones and a headset, which I’ve recently found out to be worth in the hundreds!” And that’s not all. Willkie’s lawyers are also handed an iPad Pro, plus an Apple Pencil and Magic Keyboard, which they describe as “a great perk which makes it easy to work on the go when needed.”

The firm’s lawyers enjoy an eagle’s-eye view of the world through the stylish windows of the CityPoint skyscraper, on the edge of London’s Square Mile. The office is “super swanky,” complete with a social area known as the “Hub” on the 27th floor for gatherings and firm events. It even has a screen career: the building turns up in plenty of London-set films and TV shows, often as “a shot of the London City skyline where you can see Willkie’s London office in the fancy CityPoint skyscraper,” which one junior calls “really cool.” Views of the Gherkin, Canary Wharf, St Paul’s, the Barbican and the London Eye no doubt soften the longer hours spent in meeting rooms. Offices are shared with one other associate, typically until the five-years-PQE stage.

There’s no canteen, but insiders report Just Eat credits for lunch on Thursdays and every other Monday, with food regularly brought in from local restaurants. The arrangement clearly goes down well, with lawyers calling it “arguably better than a canteen.”

Finally, the perks. “Cannot complain about the perks!” one trainee told us, and with a £500 gym allowance, “great healthcare,” meals past 8pm and taxis home after 9pm, firm events at “very swanky venues,” “an insane summer party every year” and a subsidised ski trip, it’s hard to argue. According to insiders, the “best perk is the all-expenses paid bi-annual European retreat. All the European offices get together for a long weekend somewhere in Europe which is organised by the firm.” Add in monthly informal drinks and a packed social calendar that makes “it very easy to meet people in the firm and inform [my] decisions of where I would like to spend a seat,” plus an “excellent discretionary bonus structure,” and the picture is rosy indeed. Caffeine addicts are well looked after too, as one (no doubt fast-talking) insider enthused, with “tons of coffee machines and fridges stocked with free fizzy and other soft drinks.”