Linklaters

And away from the headline work, there is plenty to keep lawyers happy closer to home. The swish new office (more on which shortly) provides rookies with their own fitness centre, yoga and spin studios, as well as onsite doctor, physio and dental services. On top of that, the firm offers welfare allowances and healthcare cover, alongside free taxis and food for those working late. New joiners are also offered a loan to help finance their burgeoning careers. The firm runs a popular scheme allowing workers to swap out up to three bank holidays for another day in the calendar year. And then there are always the numerous “office trips and team away days.” So just a few perks, then!

It’s not just the perks that keep people around, though. The culture plays its part too. Most insiders tell us it’s “amazing,” with “supportive colleagues” cited as a key reason for staying on at the firm: “there is no competitive atmosphere in the firm and trainees are encouraged to work together and help each other,” one rookie explains.

Many of these friendships are formed even before trainees officially start, during their legal studies, where working through an intensive SQE programme together can help build strong bonds. This also helps prepare trainees for life at a Magic Circle firm, and those relationships can prove particularly valuable during busy periods: “I’ve had chunky late evening work requests where a fellow trainee has volunteered to split the work with me of their own volition, knowing that I will return the favour when they are under the cosh.”

The praise continues when the trainees are questioned about how approachable their superiors are. While many use terms such as “most” and “on the whole,” for an office as big as Linklaters’ London HQ, this is to be expected. “You get the odd associate/partner who doesn’t seem to have much time for you,” one spy reveals, “but once you put yourself in their shoes and realise how busy they are you realise it’s nothing personal. The vast majority are great.” Insiders also mention that “there is definitely an open door policy / work culture” with most feeling “very comfortable approaching more senior members of the team, including partners.” Senior colleagues are also known to “arrange celebrations once significant transactions are closed and trainee development organises trainee/principal nights out.”

The party doesn’t stop there either, with social life at the firm said to be “very good despite the hours.” Expect impromptu group lunches and after work drinks, as well as the more formal team retreats and summer bashes.

The culture clearly translates into a positive learning environment for the junior lawyers. “Training is top-class and enables you to do well,” one rookie enthuses. Another gives this detailed breakdown: “The training here is fantastic, there are weekly training seminars on a variety of topics and each session is recorded for anyone to watch at a later date. The precedents are excellent and always include detailed drafting notes or annexures, as well as extensive memos on a variety of precedents, clauses, issues and legal concepts. Trainees and associates are encouraged to complete pieces of knowhow alongside their chargeable work, so the internal resources are constantly being updated. The associates and partners are very approachable and always prepared to answer questions and sit down and run through documents with you. We are also given training on non-legal topics such as D&I, which are fantastic.”

Of course, as with anything, the level of training will differ between teams, as will the type of work afforded to the newbies. However, the latter invokes slightly less praise from the trainees than the former: “A lot of trainee work isn’t brain surgery,” says one mole, “but I have found that deal teams in the groups I’ve sat in, all finance-related, are usually happy to give you as high level work as you show you are able to handle.” Beyond finance, trainees report that the work they “undertake on a day-to-day basis is technically challenging and interesting,” though insiders do admit that “not every piece of work is lifechanging and some things simply have to get done.”

But whether you’re “researching (and occasionally presenting) advice on a complex and untested legal issue which could influence the outcome of a multi-billion-pound matter” or “amending billing narratives,” you may as well do it with a view. And this is now the case for the Linklaters crew, who have finally bedded into their new swish digs on Ropemaker Street. The firm occupies 17 floors of the striking 27-storey City development, which has been designed with Linklaters’ values of “high performance and teamwork” in mind. State-of-the-art amenities abound, from collaborative workspaces and events spaces to a fitness centre complete with yoga and spin studios. And for those well-earned breaks, there’s a terrace café dishing up what insiders tell us is top-notch grub, along with sweeping City views, plus not one, but two, roof terraces and balconies to soak it all in.

If you’re looking to spend some of your TC in a different office while on secondment, then the stats look possible. International secondments to Tokyo, Stockholm, Hong Kong, Paris, Johannesburg, Seoul, Dubai, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Singapore and Madrid are all on the cards. With 30 offices across 20 countries, there’s certainly a lot of choice. Client secondments are less common, but several rookies had the opportunity to cut their teeth at corporate giants such as Nestle and Credit Suisse in the past.

In terms of Links’ approach to agile working, we are told that trainees are allowed to work from home one day a week, though there’s some flexibility in this if you need it. Linklaters also offers a flexible working model for those looking to leave private practice, or reduce their hours, in the form of Re:link. The collaborative platform connects lawyers with clients, providing fixed-term work, and has recently been rolled out in the Middle East.

The tech in the office also receives top reviews. “We have a lot of innovation and AI products, such as Create IQ and Laila, our own AI tool,” noted one. On the innovation front, the firm has also rolled out Legora’s AI platform across all of its offices as part of a broader push that includes recruiting and training a dedicated team of AI lawyers. These lawyers are embedded in practice groups around the world, where they help develop prompts, workflows and other tech-driven processes designed to sharpen client delivery.

As with many elite City law firms, work/life balance can be challenging at Linklaters, particularly during busy periods. Given the demands of high-end work and an NQ salary of £150k, trainees are realistic about the trade-offs involved. As one mole puts it, “it’s the price you pay for working at a Magic Circle firm.” “Unpredictable” is a term used by a number of rookies when describing their workload, with one trainee noting that differing working patterns among senior lawyers can sometimes mean being available later into the evening. That said, experiences vary between teams, and “where you flag that you have plans in advance, people generally try to respect that.” As one newbie explains, “if you’re looking for a 9 to 5, Linklaters is not for you.” Another trainee puts it like this: “It really depends on the matters you are on and the time of year, but generally I would say that you are always working past 5/6pm. Informal target hours are 7.5 billable a day however the firm culture is good and I have always been able to make prior commitments.”