The Legal Cheek View
Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker was founded in 1951 in sunny Los Angeles. It opened the doors to its London office in 1997 and hasn’t looked back since, more than doubling its headcount and revenue in the City over the past five years. The rebrand to Paul Hastings came in 2011.
The firm’s London growth is symptomatic of its wider success, with revenue and profit per equity partner (PEP) up for the third year in a row, off the back of a record 2023. Global revenues now total $1.81 billion (£1.42 billion), up 8.9% from last year. Profit per equity partner (PEP) enjoyed an even bigger surge of 10.3%, taking the figure to an impressive $5.4 million (£4.2 million) — and this comes despite Hastings growing its equity partnership by 2% to 166 lawyers.
In fact, the firm might be suffering from its own success, as PH’s UK headquarters has grown so much over the past few years, it has had to take even more office space in the flashy City 100 Bishopsgate skyscraper. Rookies now roam the top three floors, where we’re told that the “views are incredible”!
As you might’ve guessed, London is the firm’s largest non-US office, playing host to more than 30 partners and over 100 lawyers, and it doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon. Over 15 partners have been hired in the big smoke over the past 12 months, with many of these being poached from top competitors in the City such as Latham & Watkins, Sidley Austin and Akin..
Restructuring, energy infrastructure projects and IP litigation fuelled growth in a year where transactional markets staggered, but PH has a strong financial flair – insiders revealed that leveraged finance and credit funds are popular seat choices. In fact, trainees can skip litigious work altogether by completing a separate litigation course instead of a practice area seat. That being said, there are a range of practice areas to choose from, from real estate to financial services to employment or tax, and rookies have full control of the reigns after their first seat.
Cutting edge work is the norm at Paul Hastings and the M&A team in London have been particularly busy working on deals with clients such as AI company G42 on a billion dollar investment by Microsoft. Another regular client is Goldman Sachs, whom the firm recently advised on their billion dollar acquisition of UK-based AI cybersecurity company Darktrace. Although AI hasn’t quite made it onto the frontlines for PH’s lawyers, LC insiders inform us that tech “generally works” around the office.
A small intake of around twelve trainees annually means that it’s not unheard of for rookies to get involved in these types of deals early on with the high-flying US firm touting its expertise in complex cross-jurisdictional work. New recruits are given “good quality of work, if you are trusted” but it can sometimes be “very repetitive and process-heavy”, warns one LC mole.
The training programme also follows the orthodox US hands-off approach to learning on the job. Some seats, such as leveraged finance and corporate, do provide targeted training sessions, and we’re told that some practice groups have “very hands on” associates and partners, but overall, this firm is better suited to those who learn by doing and enjoy being thrown in at the deep end: “My supervisor is excellent but we’re so time pressured for work that there isn’t time for any formal training, or even for me to try out new tasks” one source divulges.
Slightly longer working hours reflect the top-end salary of £55,000 trainees take home in year one, which rises to £60,000 in the second year of the training contract. NQs currently take home an impressive dollar-pegged salary of around £172,000. The usual suspects of corporate and transactional seats provide a more erratic work life balance, according to insiders, while those looking to smooth the peaks and troughs should look towards litigation or tax. The overall perception however, is positive, and trainees were keen to tell us that the balance is better than expected – even if busy periods do require a few late nights!
Culture at US firms often gets a bad name, but trainees at Paul Hastings insist that this is where the firm breaks the mould. The graduate recruitment team are praised for their judicial hiring process of only friendly people (who won’t try to screw you over when it comes to qualification) and juniors are quick to rave about the “very supportive” cohort. Whilst this does inevitably vary by department, the office generally operates a flat hierarchy with superiors said to be “busy but always willing to discuss or explain things” — and don’t be surprised to see a few partners tagging along to monthly team drinks!
Trainees are expected to attend the office at least three days a week and equipment is provided for rookies working from home (though there are some grumbles around the lack of desks and chairs!).
Despite the firm having 23 offices across the US, Europe and Asia (with a new addition in Boston), there were no reports of international secondments. Client secondments to asset management and private equity funds, however, were enjoyed by a few juniors.
The perks do receive praise. Alongside a generous monthly allowance for a work phone, trainees also receive the standard BigLaw package of a fitness and wellbeing allowance, private healthcare, and life insurance. On top of this, PH also pays for your dinner and taxi home if you’re working late!
