A&O Shearman

In the meantime, the two in-house bars and roof terrace means lots of great firm socials with the merged firm said to have had “a number of summer drinks parties and departmental events, including an arts exhibition, sports gatherings for football fans and an event with guest speaker Gok Wan, who spoke to the firm about the importance of belonging in the corporate world.” There’s also a healthy dose of social clubs and gym classes for junior lawyers to get involved in and team drinks on a Thursday night are said to be a regular occurrence. That’s not to mention the more formal firmwide Christmas and summer parties which are hosted each year, alongside a sprinkling of spontaneous events such as theatre productions and DEI socials which are thrown in here and there.

When working from home, AOS rookies can expect to receive all the comforts of the office — well, apart from the masseuse, sauna and nutritionist of course — as the firm provides exactly the same equipment as you have in-office, including two monitors, an ergonomic keyboard, mouse, headset and an allowance for a chair or desk.

On top of all that, those that stay on to qualify at the firm can expect a base salary of £150,000, with the potential for bonuses on top.

There is a price for all of this, of course: billing targets are set at a chunky 1,750 hours annually which can take its toll on any work/life balance. “The firm does not believe my life exists outside the office,” one LC spy told us… Another groaned they had “no life in the week (but what plans can you really have when you get home at 9pm and don’t want to be completely knackered)” but went on to say that “weekends are generally protected, as are Friday evenings.” But trainees don’t enter a global Magic Circle firm unaware of this reality: “It’s what is expected of a Magic Circle / Elite Global firm! The highs are high but after intense deal closings and lead ups to signing, you generally have a slump and recovery time; it ebbs and flows which makes it more manageable and sustainable.” There’s also said to be “no facetime culture” and “no all nighters” (at least in corporate, in this trainee’s experience).

Another A&O insider offered this well-rounded response, “Work life balance can really fluctuate — depending on who your trainer is or how busy your department is you can go through exceptionally busy periods but also eerily quiet patches as well. This is particularly the case in transactional seats — overall the balance equals out. My experience has generally been that better work/life balance is found in corporate compared to banking where there is more pressure (even if not explicitly) to be available to the client or your team at all times.”

The good news is that those seeking a break from the London grind have a good chance of bagging an international secondment in their final seat. The merger has opened up a smorgasbord of travel destinations for recruits including Tokyo, New York, Singapore, Abu Dhabi, Frankfurt, Paris, Rome, Amsterdam, Brussels and Hong Kong. Blue-chip client secondments are also on the plate, with clients like UBS and AI lab Google Deepmind on the list. Trainees even have the opportunity to second to A&O Shearman’s own legal tech start-up incubator ‘Fuse’ which has been performing some very exciting work alongside international tech providers such as Hunit — which turns agreements into self-executing smart contracts.

Working with top-end clientele is just part of the day-to-day at any level of business in A&O Shearman — whether that’s a £3 billion loan refinancing for Asda or an unprecedented dollar debt restructuring under UAE bankruptcy law in the Middle East, big name deals are synonymous with AOS.

This translates all the way down to rookie level, where junior lawyers have high praise for the tasks which are on offer: “The work often entails first-of-their kind transactions in various parts of the world, so there is always something new to learn about. Supervisors encourage trainees to be proactive, taking the first shot at drafting the key documents and then coaching juniors through their work product. The work is also rewarding when you are working on projects in remote areas of the world such as a solar power project, which then pumps electricity to schools and hospitals or where you are working on large public deals with high profile clients,” one source explains. Another recruit added that the work is “specifically interesting in banking where trainees are working with the biggest banks / PE funds and can run deals on their own”. There are inevitably “more mundane expected trainee tasks” but the inside tip is that “if you show interest (and prove ability by earning trust and doing the small things well) you are given more stimulating work and allowed to be more proactive and independent with your workstreams all while still being supported appropriately”.

You might be excused for thinking that the training programme at a white-shoes US firm, combined with that of a domineering Magic Circle member would mix like oil and water, but not so according to the trainees we spoke to. The “exceptional” training on offer at AOS is a perfect blend of “formal training via a mixture of case studies, seminars and interactive workshops” married with “on the job real time feedback and supervisors who take a natural coaching approach to their juniors”. New recruits can look forward to two weeks of department specific training at the beginning of each seat, as well as in-depth training sessions throughout the seat and regular feedback sessions with associates. As one insider puts it “there’s a wealth of knowledge resources, past precedents, and associates and partners who are very happy to explain work — very much not left to drown.” Aside from some niggles over the timing of some of the training, and the occasional unhelpful supervisor, the trainees that we spoke to were very pleased with the training and development on offer at AOS.

There is also “a culture of openness and friendliness” at A&O Shearman, which extends to even the most senior partners. “All my trainers have been excellent. Very knowledgeable, considerate and kind. I have been very fortunate and would recommend them all!” beamed one rookie. “Partners and senior associates are always friendly and available to have a chat or run through initial questions — the firm is quite relaxed and the people are chatty and keen to share stories with each other,” praised another. Of course, there are a few “frosty characters mixed in”. But on the whole, trainees rate their superiors well — and, if in doubt, the corporate team are said to be a particularly friendly bunch!

At the end of the day though, A&O Shearman trainees are always there to help each other out. “The trainee intake are friendly, funny and keen to share knowledge with one another. Since the merger, the legacy A&O trainees and legacy S&S trainees have got coffee together and been buddied up with members of their new teams,” says one sociable rookie. Another added, “We’re very lucky to not have a ‘swimming with sharks’ culture — my peers in my team and across all trainee cohorts look out for me and each other, and we actively look for opportunities to support each other.” Rookies also have a trainee mental health and wellbeing committee for support so, in the words of one recruit, “you always have someone to complain to”.

A&O Shearman enjoys a reputation as one of the City’s most innovative firms, so expect some slick legal tech. “It’s fair to say that we are the leading firm globally for legal tech” noted one particularly humble trainee. The firm’s roll-out of ChatGPT-style software ‘Harvey’, designed to save lawyers from the tedious tasks of contract analysis and due diligence, makes them the first and only firm with a firmwide licence to use legal AI. And trainees cannot get enough of it: “Love. Love. Love. Love Harvey. It helps every time I need to learn about a topic I have never had to learn about and helps provide first drafts of short paragraphs… it’s just great.” Insiders also speak highly of programmes like Avokka, Legatics and ContractExpress which “have been game changers and have made trainee work so much more efficient” according to one happy member. Trainees are said to be “actively encouraged to look at deploying legal tech on matters and to trial new solutions” and, in fact, the only complaint we’ve heard in this department is that trainees wish clients would let them use more of it!

In summary, long hours, good remuneration, excellent perks, it’s a Magic Circle law firm with a twist.