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A Law Student’s Guide to Understanding US Law Firms

When I tell people I have a training contract with a US law firm, I am met with a mixture of horror and concern, excitement and intrigue, all based around rumours, misinformation, or information that would have been true 10 or so years ago. Or, if based in fact, these are facts that do not apply to Shearman & Sterling but to other US law firms.

Before accepting my training contract offer at Shearman & Sterling I researched many types of law firms and experienced a number of vacation schemes at Magic Circle and US law firms.

In order to give you a clearer picture of what it actually means to be a US law firm and more specifically what it means to be going to Shearman & Sterling I am going to try and answer some of the standard questions people ask me.

The hours at US firms are awful – are you ever going to leave the office?

This is the first question everyone asks (or the suggestion that everyone makes!) It has to be admitted that there is some truth to the rumours that there will be times where you work late hours, but equally, this is the same for every law firm in the City. In fact, in a recent Legal Cheek study into average daily hours, 4 of the 5 Magic Circle firms had longer average hours than Shearman, alongside 4 Silver Circle firms.

The culture of Shearman & Sterling is that if you have work to do then you have to be there, but equally if you finish at 5.30 then there is no stigma or ‘face time’ culture that means you cannot leave at this time. You are not left in the office, doing admin style tasks as your seniors go off to enjoy themselves. When you are putting in the longer hours, it is to get a groundbreaking deal over the line. These hours are also spent alongside a team of colleagues and friends, with your own responsibilities and a role to play, which in turn makes it easier to stay later.

It must also be said, in the interests of honesty, that the remuneration is also a motivating factor. Shearman & Sterling pay considerably more than every UK firm. This is a common taking point in the Magic Circle v US big law discussion.

You have a tiny intake – is this not too much exposure?

Yes, compared to most Magic Circle and Silver Circle firms the intake is small, 16 in my intake, compared to around 50 every 6 months in some of the bigger Magic Circle firms. However, there are US law firms that have intakes as low as 4. With an intake of 16, already on the LPC we have become close as a group, with everyone getting on incredibly well.

It seems this intake size manages to offer the best balance between a support network I can reach out to and count on, whilst all still having enough space and individual responsibility. This is in comparison to the intake you will find in some other US law firms that, in my opinion, is far too small and as such inward facing which leads to a sharp-elbowed and competitive culture amongst trainees.

The other main advantage to a smaller intake is that you can really shape your training contract to your interests. You are not trainee number 121 on a spreadsheet, but a person with real interests. This in turn allows you to avoid the real seat selection lottery that is the case in bigger intakes. This means you are able to take the necessary steps early in your career to shape it the way you want it, through seat choices and through secondments.

So yes, it is a small intake, but with all the advantages outlined above, there is a reason Shearman & Sterling has a track record of 100% trainee retention.

UK Firms have offices with huge headcounts – how do Shearman & Sterling and other US law firms compete and compare?

As with the trainee intake size, bigger is not always better, with Shearman & Sterling having around 200 lawyers in the London office and 850 globally. This results in you knowing, at least by sight but often a lot better, everyone you will be working with.

On Vacation Schemes at other firms I found it very strange that lawyers from the same firm had to introduce themselves to each other on conference calls, as they have never met, yet are in the same office, working on the same deal. Comparatively, Shearman & Sterling’s small size can only be good for team cohesiveness and for providing the highest standards of work for clients, all whilst enjoying yourself and making the occasional late finish bearable. This small size, as you can see in my answer below, also allows trainees to take on a lot more responsibility from day one, instead of being part of a big deal factory.

US law firms do not provide any real training – is it sink or swim?

Whilst this can ring true for some of the newer US firms in London it is definitely not the case with Shearman & Sterling. Some newly established US law firms with mainly US qualified lawyers filling the office do not understand the concept of a trainee (the US associate path is very different), resulting in undertrained and overworked trainees. Shearman & Sterling are well established in London, having been here for over 40 years. They understand the role of the trainee and how best to support them.

Equally, the smaller intake and smaller office size means you will have a lot more responsibility as a trainee, you are not just a small cog repeating the same, often menial tasks in the deal factories you find in bigger firms. You are actually engaging with your work, but within a supportive framework.

This does not suit everyone, but for people who want to work hard and be pushed it is an ideal model. It can almost be likened to that of being thrown into the deep end, but with armbands of your support network, compared to the other firms leading you from the shallow end hand in hand, only allowing you to progress as you get a year more senior. This allows you to learn quickly and be a better lawyer at the end of your two years training.

Shearman & Sterling also does provide training! There’s a dedicated team who design a tailored induction and regular training sessions (at least once a week!) throughout the Training Contract and beyond.

Magic Circle v US Law Firms: Do the Magic Circle firms not have a better reputation?

Not at all. Whilst the Magic Circle firms are great firms doing great work, seeing them as more prestigious is out-dated. When I was a student starting my research into law firms, ‘Magic Circle’ and ‘Silver Circle’ were ubiquitous terms students would use to categorise law firms. Now I understand that these terms are largely irrelevant to the people that matter – clients. Clients do not choose to work with law firms based on legacy definitions.

Shearman & Sterling has a great global reputation, not just in London but worldwide. The model of starting your career in the Magic Circle and moving across later on is no longer the best approach for a lot of people, as can be seen in the answer above about training.

Equally, it says a lot about the quality and reputation of the firm that it has managed to break into the London market whereas no Magic Circle firm has come close to doing that in the US. It is this global reputation that is a great draw to Shearman & Sterling, as they maintain their place as one of the truly elite global law firms.

During my Vacation Scheme at Shearman & Sterling it was clear that the people enjoyed working there – that really stood out to me. Like most people I read the legal news and noticed that Shearman & Sterling always did well in the RollonFriday Law Firm of the Year Survey, finishing 1st in 2015 and 2016.

What kind of work do you do – are you just an outpost of New York?

Unlike a lot of other American law firms in London, Shearman & Sterling’s London office, having been established for 40 years, generates the vast majority of its work itself and has a full service offering. There is no way it can be called an outpost of New York. This does not mean that you will not work with New York. In fact, the nature of the work is that it is incredibly international with every deal having multi-jurisdictional aspects which in turn means you will be working closely with every one of Sherman’s 19 overseas offices.

In terms of the work done, it goes without saying that you will be working on headline deals, be it advising investors of Deliveroo or the establishment of the Abu Dhabi Global Market. What is different to other firms is the fact the departments are more generalist instead of being highly specific. There is not a division between Banking Finance, Debt Finance, Structured Finance departments but instead just a Finance practice. This means as a trainee and a junior associate you will have access to a wide range of different experiences within the department before choosing the right path to specialise in down the line, which can only help with your enjoyment and development.

Are you excited to start?

I am very excited to start at Shearman & Sterling. It is a great US law firm doing great work and a great place to train. It is even more exciting when I know I am joining the team and will be experiencing it all alongside my intake, who over this year have also become good friends.

by Michael Poolton

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