The Legal Cheek View
A chance encounter on the streets of Boston in 1912 between Harvard classmates Robert Eliot Goodwin and Joseph Osborne Procter Jr. led to the creation of the Boston law firm Goodwin.
The young American duo decided to take the plunge and agreed to put $500 each into the firm. Over a century later, Goodwin’s global revenue sits at over $2 billion, with a modest 2% rise this year taking the figure to $2.24 billion (£1.76 billion). Across the firm’s two UK offices, turnover skyrocketed 26% to $174 million (£137 million). Partners continue to cash in with an average profit share of $3.24 million (£2.5 million) — a 6% dip on the previous year but still comfortably above its Magic Circle counterparts. This decline was due, in large part, to Goodwin growing their equity partnership to a record number of 310 partners globally.
And it’s not just the equity tier that’s growing. New offices in Munich, Singapore and most recently, Philadelphia, have signified Goodwin’s ambitious strategy to strike early in markets where its blend of expertise in life sciences, private equity, real estate and tech is thriving. The firm counts 16 offices internationally with tech hotspots including Silicon Valley, Cambridge, San Francisco and Santa Monica. Goodwin’s top clients include the likes of Moderna, Slack and Meta, and the firm is hunting even more success from its 4,000+ emerging client companies in its specialist areas of tech and life sciences.
All this expansion has only spelt good news for trainees in London, who frequently get the opportunity to work on billion-dollar deals in cutting-edge industries. Most recently, the City team have been busy working with computing company OQC on the UK’s largest ever quantum computing Series B financing, whilst cross-office collaboration this year came in the form of investment advice for tech pioneers Raspberry Pi In the company’s attempts to democratise technology.
Since setting up shop in the City in 2008, Goodwin’s London office has expanded exponentially, growing from 12 to over 350 lawyers in the past ten years and quintupling its partner size in that time. The growth has been driven by a blend of internal promotions and lateral hires from US rivals such as White & Case and Debevoise, as well as top UK-based firms, including the recent poaching of two private equity partners from Travers Smith.
In fact, the London office has gotten so big that the firm has now outgrown its old digs in 100 Cheapside, upsizing to a new 90,000 square foot office space in the Sancroft Building offices on St Paul’s Paternoster Square. Apparently, the firm consulted an office-wide committee of all its London lawyers and operational employees when designing its new abode and we’ve got to say that, if so, Goodwin recruits sure have got some expensive taste. The three-tiered hub which has stunning views overlooking St Paul’s also includes a communal ground floor reception, break-out rooms, hybrid working spaces, a ‘sanctuary’ area equipped with prayer rooms, feeding rooms and a first aid office, access to a rooftop terrace kitted out with Love Island-esque sofas (where a partner might pull you for a chat), and — wait for it — an entire dance studio designed to host regular yoga and Pilates classes!
Not that rookies can’t afford to go elsewhere for their Zumba lessons — Goodwin recruits are some of the best paid in the City with the firm recently bumping NQ salaries to a staggering £175,000 as well as raising trainee salaries to £55,000 and £60,000 in years one and two respectively.
For this, you’ll pay with a “varied” work/life balance according to recruits. One hardworking trainee had this to say: “I get up on Monday and am either working or sleeping until Friday mostly, aside from 20 mins at the end of the day so I’m not dreaming about work”. Nor are weekends off-limits, especially if you want to go far. “It really depends on the team but generally you are expected to be on call 24/7 if you want people to like you,” claimed one trainee, whilst another added: “at least every three weeks I will be working over a weekend (I respond to emails over most weekends)”.
In terms of the work on offer, you can expect “a lot of responsibility and intellectually challenging work”, according to one rookie, with associates said to “give you more challenging work as you progress throughout the seat provided you have demonstrated you can do the more basic tasks.” Initiative lies firmly in the laps of new recruits at Goodwin as trainees report there is “very little formal structure” to the training, which is also highly team dependent. “You will be expected to learn new legal concepts late at night or over the weekend when you would rather have learnt this at the start of the seat” cautions one. The impact of this, one spy explains, is that “it generally all comes down to the associates and whether they have the time to explain things properly to you (which can be rare at times). You can make it work for you if you are proactive and keen to drive things forward, but it is not for everyone”. That being said, we hear the firm is introducing a more formal training programme this year to help those in the City learn the ropes.
Speaking of new, Goodwin now also offers a rolling client secondment option for one trainee at each seat rotation!
Higher-ups at Goodwin receive mixed reviews with some reporting that “associates and partners make time to ensure you understand the transaction and the documents involved” whilst another reports that, despite being “generally supportive (with some exceptions), superiors are “not particularly empathetic”. One rookie remarks that “some associates can monopolise you without understanding that you are also working for many other people”. That being said, partners are reported to be “always offering to chat or discuss anything” according to a trainee who has had the fortune to come across some less busy seniors.
Newcomers benefit from a supportive, close-knit trainee cohort, which received high praise in the Legal Cheek Trainee and Junior Lawyer Survey. However, some discontent has arisen due to the removal of “free cold drinks in the fridge” following the London office relocation.
The tech is “pretty decent”, though one rookie couldn’t ignore the irony that, despite the emphasis on working with tech start-ups, “we still spend hours rolling out documents from templates or compiling bibles”.
Perks include a gym allowance, access to wellbeing services and “good bonuses” on top of an already very impressive salary!