The Legal Cheek View
Baker McKenzie’s founder, Russell Baker, was so poor that he rode for days in the cattle carriages on trains in order to enrol at the University of Chicago; he then worked as a boxer to fund his tuition there. Over 100 years on, his firm is among the largest in the world, with an annual turnover of $3.3 billion (£2.5 billion), rivalling that of fellow behemoths DLA Piper and Dentons. Profit per equity partner (PEP) sits at around $2 million (£1.5 million), according to the most recently available financial results.
Its roots may be in the US, but Bakers sees itself very much as an international firm, with 74 offices across 45 different countries. Recent global moves include an alliance in Korea with corporate and disputes firm KL Partners; significant expansion of the LA office with a 26-lawyer raid on compatriot Munger Tolles & Olson, and a new UK-Japan legal and business forum aimed at connecting people, culture and business across Japan and the UK.
The firm’s largest office is London, rather than Chicago, and if City trainees needed to feel any more special, they need only look as far as the recent pay rises for newly qualified solicitors. The latest increase has taken rates up to a very healthy £140,000. Rookies have also been handed a boost, with year one trainees now taking home £56,000, rising to £61,000 in year two. And SQE students aren’t forgotten about either, receiving £17,000 and £16,000 maintenance grants, for non-law and law students respectively. The grant is supplemented by a further £4,000 ‘Baker Boost’ payment and a £750 tech grant for those experiencing financial difficulties during their studies.
If that wasn’t impressive enough, Legal Cheek understands that a decent proportion of Bakers’ London trainees and junior lawyers get the chance to do a stint overseas, with Sydney, New York, Spain, Dubai, Melbourne, Singapore and Johannesburg among the most popular getaways. “You can go anywhere,” we’re told, “as long as you can make a decent case for it”. In the past, London rookies are known to have seen both Washington DC and Hong Kong during the course of their TC, for example.
There are some excellent client secondment opportunities too. Classic corporate locations include Shell, Standard Chartered and Macquarie. More leftfield examples include The Guardian, TikTok, British Red Cross, and the Royal Courts of Justice as a judicial assistant, or pro bono secondments. And if you’re really lucky you might get to do a placement at Google’s Silicon Valley head office.
That being said, we bet Google doesn’t have floors made of chocolate like Baker McKenzie does. That’s right, the firm’s new digs at 280 Bishopsgate have floors literally made from chocolate. Not really, they’re 99% linseed and 1% cacao but still it’s a nice selling point which is part of the firm’s larger efforts to make its living space as sustainable as possible. All electricity is also said to come from renewable sources. And sustainable flooring isn’t the only thing impressing recruits. “Great communal spaces on all floors” and “standing desks” in every office has left trainees very happy with their new abode, which also boasts a new deal suite, client lounge, “quiet corners”, collaboration desks and a top floor roof terrace with “great views across the City”. The space was designed to encourage employees to hot-desk and have “spontaneous collisions” with people who they wouldn’t usually interact with, according to recently re-elected London managing partner Ed Poulton. Teams are split up into ‘neighbourhoods’ which act as a sort of headquarters, but workers are encouraged to avoid frequenting assigned areas. Sounds exciting, but not all are sold on the scheme, with one recruit grumbling that “the open plan layout is very noisy” — maybe they just haven’t found the quiet corner yet!
One apparent sore point of the move has been a downgrade on the canteen, which BM veterans have said is “far more expensive, with smaller portions and poorer selection” than their cafe at 100 New Bridge Street. One silver lining is the frequent “pop ups” which are said to be “much better value” but otherwise trainees take advantage of their new location just off Spitalfields market to try the variety of international cuisine on offer.
Whether you’re hot-desking, sitting in the quiet corner, brooding in the canteen or lounging on the rooftop, there’s always some high-quality work to get stuck into at BM. A “great range of work”, “exciting clients” and “exposure from the get-go” is what you can expect according to the trainees we spoke to, with one insider telling us, “I was treated as an NQ for most of the training contract.” Another echoed this sentiment, telling Legal Cheek that they often find themselves “dealing with associates and senior associates on the other sides of deals (especially where the other side is a Magic Circle firm)”. Recent highlights from the London office include working with Walgreen Boots on a £4.8 billion buy-in transaction of Boots Pension Scheme, and advising the Turkish Sovereign Wealth Fund on its debut $7 billion benchmark Eurobond.
“A real emphasis on training and up-skilling trainees” is what you’ll get from a Baker McKenzie training contract, which appears to translate mostly into informal training from supervisors — better hope you get a good one! Luckily, most trainees seem to, and another spy reassures Legal Cheek that there are also lots of “extra resources available through the BakerWorld intranet” to complement your learning. There are a few murmurs that “extra feedback” would be welcomed in some seats but generally most report of “excellent training and support”. This insider has a particularly nice story to tell about their supervisor’s training: “My supervisor — who despite being the global head of one of the practice areas — has met with me every week to go through what I am working on and consistently includes me in his deals.”
Before you get too excited, don’t think this all means you’ll avoid your mandatory trainee admin — BM rookies are certainly still expected to do “a fair amount of due diligence and admin” tasks. That being said, this can sometimes act as a welcomed breather from the stress of being given more responsibility. One rookie reminisces about a recent brush with the stress of the job: “I found myself basically running a closing when the associate on the matter was on holiday, it was a little stressful to deal with as a first seat trainee but I think it was good for my overall professional development.” We bet they needed a holiday after that!
With more responsibility comes more work, and longer hours. In fact, you’re likely to be in the office until around 8pm on average according to LC sources. It’s hard to be too precise though — the proximity of nose to grindstone will depend a lot on the seat and what work comes in, leading to some grumbles that “it’s hard to have a predictable routine”. Work/life balance apparently ranges from “very up and down” in transactional seats to “more balanced” on the advisory side. “Some weeks I’ve been working in the taxi home at 2:00 AM, waking up in the morning and not having any time to shower or change before starting it all over again! However, some weeks I’ve had very little on so I’ve mainly worked on pro bono matters and administrative tasks, which are encouraged by the partners. Generally people are understanding even in busy periods as long as you are communicative, being super responsive goes a long way,” shares one insider.
In corporate departments, BM is said to show more of its true red white and blue colours, with at least one recruit there feeling that the increased “messaging surrounding hours targets” isn’t what they signed up for — “the work life balance is non-existent where you may as well be at a big American firm”. Fortunately, “work providers are generally very good at flagging where work can be done the next day”, and overall work/life balance at the firm is described as being “better than expected”. “There is some evening work and I know other trainees have worked on the weekends, but the impression I get from my team is that they respect our time and want to avoid us working late where possible,” shared one junior lawyer.
Working from home has apparently helped with the work/life balance conundrum. One rookie described their experience like this: “As time is not spent on travel I feel like I can log on earlier/work where I would otherwise be travelling. I can multitask when dialling into calls — whether that’s work or exercise, I incorporate walking meetings into my week. I find I am efficient at home.” The Firm has recently updated its agile working policy from their previous pattern of two days from home, two days from the office and one from either location, to a system that will see most attend the office for the majority of the week (minimum of three days) starting from October 2024. Trainees note that the firm’s support when it comes to a WFH set-up could be better. Expect a keyboard, mouse and a single monitor, but nothing more. Oh, except “many computer issues”.
Other tech-related complaints included “dropping of the internet in the office during townhall meetings” and having “small iPhones that still don’t have face ID”. Rookies do appreciate the firm’s uptake of AI software, such as a recent collaboration with SparkBeyond to implement the roll out of AI for helping with multi-jurisdictional advice, but so far this seems to be a slowburner. IT generally is not the firm’s strong point, but if that’s the worst thing the trainees can complain about, we don’t think that’s bad going for a firm the size of BM.
Luckily it is an altogether happier story when it comes to company in the workplace. There’s reportedly a “sense of camaraderie among trainees”, and generally “everyone is incredibly friendly and supportive”. One rookie enthuses: “Everyone in my intake is super nice, but they’re all also ambitious, smart, switched on. In casual conversations we often flip between discussing current events and market trends to just having a laugh.” Other standout events include the biannual Fluency Cup, which sees BM offices from all over the world compete for the coveted football bragging rights, with the tournament being hosted in Amsterdam this year. Trainee socials don’t come in thick and fast but our spies at Bakers seem to prize quality over quantity as the socials that do take place are said to be “well organised and generally quite well stocked with food and alcohol.”
Partners are “very kind, approachable and happy to answer questions”. The firm is said to place a “big cultural emphasis on coaching and mentorship” and rookies report being able to “work directly with very senior members of the team from early on in my training contract and they have been friendly and open to going over questions with me.” While there will always be the odd occasion where a superior is caught at a bad moment, this is described as “nothing horrendous and consistent with my friends in other firms”. Another insider adds: “You can approach partners here to discuss work issues, but also to talk about plans for the weekend or last night’s football match. It’s an office run by very down to earth and likeable people in the main.”
There’s some fairly decent perks on offer, with a very good gym subsidy of £40 per month, a biweekly onsite GP and cashback/discounts through certain discount sites. It’s not quite “all bells and whistles” but there is also free food and taxis home after a certain (seemingly secret) time, if only trainees can figure out when they’re exactly allowed to start their Deliveroo order!