Which firms are "global law firms" Forum

[Anonymous User]

Which firms are known to value international experience/international background and interests?

Linklaters, clifford chance, what else? What about a firm like mayer brown that has offices around the world, does that necessarily mean they would value an SA in their nyc city office having international interests?

thanks a lot

[letsdoit]

freshfields
white & case

[Anonymous User]

freshfields
white & case

what makes them global law firms over the firms that say they are "international law firms" (many big law firms when they have 15+ offices outside the states)? thanks

[letsdoit]

freshfields
white & case

what makes them global law firms over the firms that say they are "international law firms" (many big law firms when they have 15+ offices outside the states)? thanks

they strongly value foreign language proficiency and foreign experience. just look at some attorney profiles.

[letsdoit]

...although every firm loves to be a "global law firm" so you're right to question those claims.

[Anonymous User]

links
freshfields
clifford chance
cleary
allen and overy

shearman

dla piper
baker mckenzie

white and case is still very very ny-centric.
in terms of traveling opportunities and inter-office integration, links and other magic circle firms are your best bet. maybe cleary among ny firms. others may have tons of offices everywhere (e.g. dla and baker mckenzie and the likes), but you are expected to just work in your assigned office for the most part.

[Anonymous User]

bump.
how did you guys manage to remember all these names?
any firms that particularly love Chinese-speaking (native level) candidates?

[Pokemon]

Hogan also maybe?

[Anonymous User]

bump.
how did you guys manage to remember all these names?
any firms that particularly love Chinese-speaking (native level) candidates?

you should apply to every magic circle firm.

[Anonymous User]

bump.
how did you guys manage to remember all these names?
any firms that particularly love Chinese-speaking (native level) candidates?

you should apply to every magic circle firm.

forgive my ignorance , but aren't magic circle firms all British firms? with the current economy in England, are they still hiring? also i heard US firms pay much more to junior associates than the Brits do.

[helpfuluser]

bump.
how did you guys manage to remember all these names?
any firms that particularly love Chinese-speaking (native level) candidates?

you should apply to every magic circle firm.

forgive my ignorance , but aren't magic circle firms all British firms? with the current economy in England, are they still hiring? also i heard US firms pay much more to junior associates than the Brits do.

I would assume the poster meant the NY offices of said firms.

[Anonymous User]

Jones Day is very global

[Anonymous User]

K&L Gates has a significant presence overseas.

[Anonymous User]

nvm

[ilovesf]

I'm happy everyone is giving these insights anonymously.

[Anonymous User]

I'm happy everyone is giving these insights anonymously.

What difference does it make to you?

[Anonymous User]

Someone asked about Mayer Brown.

The offices work together quite seamlessly and its constant. They definitely value language and travel experience- a summer this year in the Chicago office did half the summer in the Hong Kong office and that isn't abnormal. You don't need to do a British firm to have an international experience.

[Anonymous User]

Someone asked about Mayer Brown.

The offices work together quite seamlessly and its constant. They definitely value language and travel experience- a summer this year in the Chicago office did half the summer in the Hong Kong office and that isn't abnormal. You don't need to do a British firm to have an international experience.

I'm just going to talk about Linklaters, because I can't speak for other firms. Less than 1/3 of the summer class worked the entire summer in New York. Other SAs (over 2/3) either worked in London or Hong Kong for half of the summer. Some worked exclusively in London. And I believe that in the past, some have worked exclusively in Hong Kong as well. This is clearly different from having one summer out of the whole summer class split his time between two offices. I believe CC, A&O, and Freshfields have similar arrangements.

Applying for Magic Circle firms is not necessary to get international experience, for sure. But I am under the impression that not a lot of U.S. firms push the "international experience" to the extent that Magic Circle firms do. Let me know if I am mistaken. I'd really like to know which U.S. firms are as committed (for my future references).

[Anonymous User]

Someone asked about Mayer Brown.

The offices work together quite seamlessly and its constant. They definitely value language and travel experience- a summer this year in the Chicago office did half the summer in the Hong Kong office and that isn't abnormal. You don't need to do a British firm to have an international experience.

I'm just going to talk about Linklaters, because I can't speak for other firms. Less than 1/3 of the summer class worked the entire summer in New York. Other SAs (over 2/3) either worked in London or Hong Kong for half of the summer. Some worked exclusively in London. And I believe that in the past, some have worked exclusively in Hong Kong as well. This is clearly different from having one summer out of the whole summer class split his time between two offices. I believe CC, A&O, and Freshfields have similar arrangements.

Applying for Magic Circle firms is not necessary to get international experience, for sure. But I am under the impression that not a lot of U.S. firms push the "international experience" to the extent that Magic Circle firms do. Let me know if I am mistaken. I'd really like to know which U.S. firms are as committed (for my future references).

very helpful info, thank you. just to clarify: less than 1/3 of the summer class based in NYC stayed there for the entirety of the summer? or are you just saying less than 1/3 of their entire summer associate program which consists of london, nyc, and hong kong, was based in NYC?

if the former, how do they deal with this/ ask this in the interview?
Interviewer: which city are you interested in being based in for the summer?
me: NYC
Interviewer: okay, for the entirety of the summer? or would you like to spend half of it in hong kong or london?
me: (how do i answer?) (i am totally fine with any arrangement, as long as I get an offer - does it seem they prefer people based in the NYC office to split their summer abroad? and if so, must you have ties to london or hong kong (i do not, but I have an extensively international background and interest))

thanks a ton

[Anonymous User]

at links, all u.s. summers are hired through the ny office (london and hong kong do not hire u.s. summers directly on their own), but their summers have opportunities to go abroad if you indicate your preference and can bring some value to london or hong kong (hong kong more so). some people choose to stay in ny for the whole summer; some choose to split between ny and either london or hong kong; some choose to work in london or hong kong exclusively. i think in most years, people do take advantage of this opportunity to work abroad because, quite frankly, it's a free trip abroad (flight and housing are provided). this year, some 2/3 of the u.s. summer class (20+ people, all hired through the ny office) spent time working abroad.

btw, u.s. associates at magic circle firms still make ny $. you don't have to worry about getting paid less.

[Anonymous User]

at links, all u.s. summers are hired through the ny office (london and hong kong do not hire u.s. summers directly on their own), but their summers have opportunities to go abroad if you indicate your preference and can bring some value to london or hong kong (hong kong more so). some people choose to stay in ny for the whole summer; some choose to split between ny and either london or hong kong; some choose to work in london or hong kong exclusively. i think in most years, people do take advantage of this opportunity to work abroad because, quite frankly, it's a free trip abroad (flight and housing are provided). this year, some 2/3 of the u.s. summer class (20+ people, all hired through the ny office) spent time working abroad.

btw, u.s. associates at magic circle firms still make ny $. you don't have to worry about getting paid less.

Thanks for the insight. Does expressing your particular interests in the Asian market during OCI interviews or call back interviews hurt yor chances of getting an offer from the ny office?

[Anonymous User]

bump.
how did you guys manage to remember all these names?
any firms that particularly love Chinese-speaking (native level) candidates?

you should apply to every magic circle firm.

forgive my ignorance , but aren't magic circle firms all British firms? with the current economy in England, are they still hiring? also i heard US firms pay much more to junior associates than the Brits do.

The Magic Circle firms are definitely not doing as well as American firms, generally, but some of them have been expanding their US branches more recently. Also, they hire American lawyers at American market rates, even in their London offices (and also overseas, e.g., in China, as well as in the U.S.).

[Anonymous User]

at links, all u.s. summers are hired through the ny office (london and hong kong do not hire u.s. summers directly on their own), but their summers have opportunities to go abroad if you indicate your preference and can bring some value to london or hong kong (hong kong more so). some people choose to stay in ny for the whole summer; some choose to split between ny and either london or hong kong; some choose to work in london or hong kong exclusively. i think in most years, people do take advantage of this opportunity to work abroad because, quite frankly, it's a free trip abroad (flight and housing are provided). this year, some 2/3 of the u.s. summer class (20+ people, all hired through the ny office) spent time working abroad.

btw, u.s. associates at magic circle firms still make ny $. you don't have to worry about getting paid less.

Thanks for the insight. Does expressing your particular interests in the Asian market during OCI interviews or call back interviews hurt yor chances of getting an offer from the ny office?

not at all. it actually HELPS you if you can convincingly tie together your interest in asian market + your language skills + your internatioal experience + desire to work in ny office. a lot of u.s. associates with asian language skills still choose to work in ny but they get to work on deals involving asia-based clients. the same goes for spanish/portuguese speaking associates. You can work in ny and still utilize your language skills in deals involving lat am clients.