The Legal Cheek View
Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) is arguably the most prestigious UK-headquartered law firm outside the Magic Circle. Its elite litigation and arbitration practice — which includes an in-house advocacy unit staffed by a host of KCs — is one of the best dispute resolution departments on the planet.
In truth, you’ll find top-tier lawyers and tip-top work just about everywhere at this full service firm, and all that top-ness is reflected in the firm’s ability to post an eleventh consecutive year of growth in its latest financials. Revenues enjoyed a substantial 10%, rising from £1.19 billion to £1.31 billion this financial year, whilst profit per equity partner (PEP) grew an even greater 12% to £1.32 million. Global CEO Justin d’Agostino credits HSF’s “twin-engines of transactional and contentious practice” for driving the business forward in a year where competitors have battled rising interest rates and market uncertainty.
The firm’s merger with Australasian powerhouse Freehills in 2012 is still widely considered to be one of the more successful in corporate law, and has succeeded in adding scale while for the most part not disrupting one of the nicer cultures in the legal market. The firm’s recent promotion round, which saw over half of its 27 newly made partners hail from the UK or Australia offices, is a signal of the completeness of the Freehills tie-up. In other global news, the firm recently shuttered its Malaysian office in Kuala Lumpur and will service clients there from a mix of its other seven offices in Southeast Asia, China and Japan — alongside the local alliances HSF has built up across the globe. In total, the firm has 24 offices worldwide and a further 10 HSF ‘groups’ through regional unions.
Juniors commended the high level of training and good quality work on offer throughout their training contract. You can expect “close monitoring from partners”, who are “always keen to answer questions and provide support”, insiders tell us. “Consistently excellent training and I am constantly encouraged to push myself out of my comfort zone!” raves one recruit. Another caveats that this can depend on who your supervisor is: “Some are really thoughtful and encouraging, looping you into exciting work and providing meaningful opportunities, others can be a little more aloof.” But overall the firm is said to make “a big effort to focus on training, whether it’s bespoke training sessions or ensuring that supervisors and associates are providing feedback and mentoring.”
You can also read all about the high calibre work you’ve been up to, claim insiders, who have been fortunate to do “lots of work ending up in newspapers”. But as one rookie reveals, “the market deals are exciting, and in disputes, it’s great to be working on some of the most complex cases. However, as a trainee, that can mean being stuck in endless document review and verification”.
This varies between departments, with finance and corporate tending to be more “administrative” and “process heavy”, whilst disputes offers an opportunity to get stuck into an array of “fascinating” and “cutting-edge” cases. One current disputes trainee told us, “I have always been afforded with the opportunity to produce a first draft of an email/letter, submissions, or share thoughts on strategy. There’s a real focus by partners on up-skilling trainees to get them operating at an associate level as early as possible.” On the whole, it’s “a good balance” and the firm makes “an effort to allocate work to me that matches my aspirations”. It’s perhaps little surprise, then, that trainees are eager to stick around upon qualification — HSF records consistently high retention rates, most recently keeping on 29 out of 30 trainees (97%).
“HSF undeniably has the best people” is a big claim, but it is evidenced, to a certain extent, by the firm’s consistently strong scores for peer support in the Legal Cheek Trainee and Junior Lawyer Survey down the years, with trainees reporting a nice vibe in this year’s cohort. Juniors are “keen to support” and are known to “arrange coffees before seat changes to discuss their seat experiences”. As one source puts it: “Always someone to have lunch with, get advice from on Teams, or just to go have a pint with.”
Higher up the firm, partners, for the most part, are “accessible and highly approachable”. One insider elaborates: “Like with trainees, there’s the odd partner who is perhaps not as approachable as the rest, but I think you’d get that anywhere. They’re really busy but are generally happy to take time out to speak to you. I’ve had a brilliant partner mentor who I’ve gone for coffee with a couple of times each seat, who’s been very open about her experiences at the firm, career progression, balancing work and home life etc. We all share an office with our supervisors and I’ve been able to have quite easy conversations with each one, discussing work but also what they’ve been up to at the weekend, what their kids are doing etc.” The firm itself is also praised for specifically selecting supervisors who are “friendly, approachable and want you to learn”.
Tech is on the rise at HSF with the recent launch of a new global digital legal delivery team designed to streamline all things computer-related across the firm. Rookies appreciate the “consistent upgrades to apps and new pieces of software” which the firm continues to roll-out and juniors now have access to Microsoft Copilot features as well as a private instance of ChatGPT — “great tools, increasingly used” in a nutshell.
Work/life balance at HSF is better than at most firms in its class, especially given NQ pay now sits at £135,000, year one pay at £56,000 and year two pay at £61,000. “The hours can be long, but a culture of communicating what is important to you (so that you can attend those events) certainly exists”, detailed one junior. The consensus is that work/life balance varies between departments but things like birthdays and sporting commitments are generally well-protected. “If it is busy, it is extremely busy but everyone recognises the need for down time which is respected. Some weeks it’s 70+ hours, but then it’ll be leaving at 4pm for a few nights after,” one insider told LC. In summary, “there is no expectation to stay if there’s non-urgent work, however, when things are urgent, your presence is appreciated and you get free dinner/taxi to compensate”.
Another offered this experience: “In my first two seats I regularly worked until 10-11pm, in my last two seats I usually finished between 5.30-7pm. Consistently though, people are respectful of special occasions and would encourage me to log off early on a birthday or if I have friends visiting etc, and no-one misses team Christmas or summer parties. Being asked to work on a weekend has only happened on a handful of occasions, very apologetically and the work has always been appreciated. Annual leave is respected, you are not expected to be monitoring emails.”
Work/life balance is also helped by working from home which is now commonplace with trainees only going into the office three days per week under the firm’s “pretty flexible” work from home policy. HSF provides their rookies with a new iPhone, Surface Pro laptop, Bluetooth mouse, headset and a £200 budget for anything else which renews every year. Though well appreciated, a number of those surveyed recognised that the spend limit for IT equipment is somewhat limited compared to peer firms, though the firm are said to be “looking to address this for trainees”.
When it comes to perks, the offering is very respectable. HSF recruits enjoy the subsidised canteen and café, free Deliveroo after 7pm, a mortgage broker, concierge service and a £750 wellbeing fund that can be used “on anything fitness related”. The automatic coffee machines on every floor and free fruit are also a plus, as is the ability to work from home anywhere abroad (subject to tax approval, of course) for up to 30 days a year!
Speaking of working abroad, trainees at HSF also enjoy the full benefit of the firm’s global spread with around one-fifth of trainees reporting international secondments to Hong Kong, Sydney and Tokyo this year. Secondees apparently receive lots of freebies, such as gratis language lessons, a generous accommodation allowance and even a firm apartment in some locations. There are also client secondments to the likes of Google, Invesco and BP. It’s also worth noting that the working hours are said to be often lower for secondees.
Back in London, the social life is apparently pretty good, with frequent drinks, table tennis tournaments, quizzes, annual Christmas parties and a yearly trainee ball at the top of the Gherkin which we’re told is “a real highlight”. One junior also boasted of a “team outing to watch the cricket!”
The firm is situated in one of the City’s more stylish offices — Exchange House, built in 1990, is a ‘building-bridge hybrid’ that sits above the trains coming in and out of Liverpool Street station. A recent refurb has straightened out some grumbles about discrepancies between floors with most now said to have “standing desks (be sure to check them out over on our TikTok page), large screens and a considerable share of offices with windows”. The canteen might be “nothing to write home about” but there’s always the subsidised membership to a very snazzy Virgin Active next door, complete with Molton Brown products, as well as lots of decent pubs and bars for a post-work drink.
HSF juniors also recognise that the firm is “big on sustainability” and provides “great environment training”, and this is supported by the firm’s commitment to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2030.