Arnold & Porter LLP: Law Firm Profile, Practice Areas, Offices, Careers and Hiring

^{Last Updated: September 2026}

Arnold & Porter LLP is an international law firm with more than 1,000 lawyers in 16 offices and a practice mix that is particularly relevant to students and attorneys interested in sophisticated regulatory, litigation, and transactional work. The firm is closely associated with Washington, D.C., where its regulatory and government-facing practices are especially prominent, but it also has substantial practices in New York, California, Chicago, Houston, Boston, Seattle, Europe, and Asia. Its recognized strengths include antitrust, government contracts, life sciences and healthcare, product liability, complex litigation, white-collar matters, intellectual property, corporate and finance work, and other highly regulated industries.

Read more about this law firm on BCG Attorney Search: Arnold & Porter LLP

Firm Overview

Arnold & Porter traces its principal Washington roots to Arnold & Porter, founded in 1946, and its New York heritage to Kaye Scholer, founded in 1917. The two firms combined on January 1, 2017, creating Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP; the firm now markets itself primarily as Arnold & Porter. Chambers USA's 2026 firm profile reports 1,000 lawyers and 16 offices, while Arnold & Porter's own current materials describe the firm as having more than 1,000 lawyers across 16 offices and more than 40 practice areas.

The firm's current office network consists of 11 U.S. offices — Boston, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Newark, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Silicon Valley, and Washington, D.C. — and five international offices in Amsterdam, Brussels, London, Seoul, and Shanghai. Washington, D.C. is identified by Chambers as the firm's U.S. head office and remains central to its regulatory, government contracts, antitrust, public policy, investigations, and complex litigation work.

For readers comparing Arnold & Porter's scale and competitive position with other major U.S. firms, BCG Attorney Search's Top U.S. Law Firms — Sortable by Size, PPP, Revenue & Growth provides a broader market-comparison tool. Top-Law-Schools.com readers can also use the Top Law Firm Profiles directory to compare Arnold & Porter with other legal employers.

History and Development

Arnold & Porter's institutional identity was shaped by its Washington, D.C. origins and a long history of work involving government, regulated industries, major litigation, and public service. The firm is also known for its role in Gideon v. Wainwright, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case establishing a right to counsel for indigent criminal defendants in state felony cases.

The 2017 combination with Kaye Scholer significantly expanded the firm's New York presence and added depth in corporate, finance, litigation, life sciences, intellectual property, real estate, and other business practices. More recently, Arnold & Porter has continued to expand selectively. It opened an Amsterdam office in 2022 with a life sciences regulatory focus, launched a Boston office in 2023 centered on life sciences, healthcare, and technology, and opened a Seattle office in 2025 as part of broader West Coast growth. In 2026, the firm also relocated its San Francisco and Chicago offices while continuing to add lawyers in several U.S. markets.

Offices and Geographic Reach

Washington, D.C.

Washington is one of Arnold & Porter's oldest and largest offices and includes lawyers from across the firm's major practice areas. The office is especially important for regulatory work, antitrust, government contracts, public policy, investigations, life sciences and healthcare regulation, appellate matters, white-collar defense, and litigation involving federal agencies. Candidates interested in careers at the intersection of business and government should examine the Washington office closely, including the backgrounds of former agency officials and other government-experienced lawyers in their target practices.

New York

Arnold & Porter's New York office is a major business-law center. The firm's current office materials describe approximately 350 attorneys working across nearly all of its practice areas. Important areas include complex litigation, corporate and finance, financial services, intellectual property, life sciences, product liability, real estate, and antitrust. Students and laterals should not assume that the New York office mirrors Washington: practice demand, staffing patterns, and hiring needs can differ significantly by office.

California

The firm's California platform includes Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Silicon Valley. Los Angeles has substantial litigation capabilities, including product liability, consumer protection, mass tort, environmental, intellectual property, life sciences, antitrust, and investigations work. San Francisco combines litigation, antitrust, intellectual property, corporate and securities, environmental, international arbitration, investment management, employment, and tax capabilities. Silicon Valley is particularly relevant to technology and life sciences work, including intellectual property, corporate transactions, emerging companies, and securities matters.

Chicago, Houston, Boston, Denver, Newark, and Seattle

Chicago handles a mix of litigation, regulatory, and transactional matters, including corporate and M&A, private equity, finance, financial services, bankruptcy, real estate, healthcare, life sciences, environmental, antitrust, and IP work. Houston is relevant to energy, aviation, financial services, manufacturing, technology, transportation, complex disputes, investigations, and arbitration. Boston has been developed around the region's life sciences, healthcare, and technology sectors. Denver has a broad litigation and business practice, while Newark connects the firm to the New Jersey market. Seattle, opened in 2025, has been growing in litigation, corporate and finance, labor and employment, real estate, healthcare, and technology-related work.

Europe and Asia

Arnold & Porter's London, Brussels, and Amsterdam offices are particularly important for cross-border regulatory, competition, life sciences, product liability, investigations, and transactional work. The firm also maintains offices in Seoul and Shanghai, supporting clients with matters involving Asian markets and cross-border legal issues. Students and laterals seeking international work should research the relevant office and practice rather than assuming that international opportunities are equally distributed throughout the firm.

Major Practice Areas

Antitrust and Competition

Antitrust is one of Arnold & Porter's most visible practices. The work includes merger review, government investigations, cartel matters, civil litigation, counseling, and cross-border competition issues. Chambers USA 2026 ranks the firm's Washington, D.C. antitrust practice in Band 1 and notes its work on major merger-clearance matters, civil disputes, and investigations. For law students, the practice can appeal to candidates interested in economics, regulatory policy, investigations, litigation, and high-stakes transactions. Laterals may be especially relevant where they bring agency experience, merger-control work, complex litigation experience, or a strong competition-law specialty.

Life Sciences and Healthcare

Life sciences is a major cross-border strength. The firm has a substantial multidisciplinary platform involving FDA and other regulatory work, healthcare regulation, investigations, product liability, patent disputes, corporate transactions, licensing, privacy, and compliance. Chambers Global 2026 ranks the firm in Band 2 for global multi-jurisdictional life sciences work and Band 1 for Europe-wide life sciences; Chambers USA also recognizes several U.S. life sciences and healthcare practices. Candidates with scientific, technical, healthcare, regulatory, or industry backgrounds may find these groups especially relevant.

Government Contracts, Public Policy, and Regulatory Work

Arnold & Porter's Washington heritage is reflected in its government contracts and regulatory practices. Clients include companies operating in heavily regulated sectors and organizations that interact regularly with federal agencies. The firm's lawyers include former government officials, which can be important in matters involving procurement, enforcement, policy, investigations, and regulatory strategy. Chambers USA 2026 places the firm's nationwide Government Contracts practice in its top tier.

Complex Litigation and Product Liability

The firm's litigation platform includes complex commercial disputes, product liability and mass torts, appellate litigation, securities disputes, white-collar investigations, environmental matters, and other high-stakes cases. Chambers USA 2026 places Arnold & Porter in Band 1 for nationwide Product Liability & Mass Torts: The Elite. Litigation associates may encounter large team matters, but the firm also describes opportunities for research, drafting, witness work, client exposure, hearings, and courtroom shadowing as experience develops.

White-Collar Defense and Investigations

The firm handles criminal and civil investigations, internal investigations, enforcement matters, and related litigation before U.S. and international authorities. Chambers USA 2026 ranks the firm's Washington white-collar and government investigations practice in Band 2. Government experience, investigative work, trial experience, and subject-matter knowledge in regulated industries can be particularly useful credentials for lateral candidates.

Corporate, M&A, Finance, and Private Equity

Arnold & Porter's corporate and finance practices cover M&A, capital markets, private equity, finance, investment funds, venture capital and emerging companies, and technology and life sciences transactions. These practices are particularly significant in New York, Chicago, California, and other business centers. Chambers Associate's 2026 profile describes a broad corporate and finance department in which junior lawyers can work on purchase agreements, ancillary documents, due diligence, deal checklists, closings, and negotiations as they become more senior.

Intellectual Property and Technology

The firm's IP and technology work includes patent litigation and prosecution, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, technology transactions, and IP-related counseling. The current 2027 summer-associate recruiting page includes a dedicated IP application track in Chicago, Denver, and Houston, illustrating that technical or scientific backgrounds can matter for certain openings. Candidates should review each posting carefully because the firm does not hire all summer associates directly into permanent practice groups.

Other Significant Practices

Additional practices include bankruptcy and restructuring, environmental law, energy and infrastructure, labor and employment, real estate, tax, international arbitration, international trade, privacy and data security, financial services, and telecommunications. The relevance of each practice varies by office and market.

Industries and Clients

Arnold & Porter's public materials emphasize work for clients in life sciences, healthcare, financial services, technology, consumer products, energy, government contracting, transportation, manufacturing, real estate, and other regulated industries. The firm states that it serves more than half of the Fortune 100, but applicants should focus less on the breadth of the client roster than on the type of matters handled by the particular office and practice group they are considering.

For career planning, industry concentration matters because it can shape an attorney's long-term marketability. A regulatory lawyer working with pharmaceutical companies, for example, may develop a different career path from a general commercial litigator or a corporate associate focused on private equity transactions. The Top-Law-Schools.com law school and legal career resources can help students think through practice-area selection and early-career choices alongside firm research.

Reputation and Legal Market Position

Chambers USA's 2026 Arnold & Porter profile lists 75 ranked departments and 141 ranked individuals. Among the firm's notable 2026 rankings are Band 1 for District of Columbia antitrust, Band 1 for nationwide Government Contracts: The Elite, Band 1 for nationwide Product Liability & Mass Torts: The Elite, and Band 1 for Healthcare: Highly Regarded. Chambers Global 2026 also recognizes the firm's cross-border life sciences capabilities.

Vault's 2027 rankings place Arnold & Porter at No. 32 in the Vault Law 100, No. 3 for Environmental Law, No. 6 for Products Liability, No. 9 for Government Relations, and No. 10 for Antitrust. Arnold & Porter's own website reports that The American Lawyer ranked the firm among the top 10 on its 2026 A-List. These rankings measure different things and should not be treated as interchangeable; students and laterals should look at the methodology and, more importantly, the practice and office most relevant to them.

For a broader comparison of major firms by size and business metrics, use BCG Attorney Search's Top U.S. Law Firms — Sortable by Size, PPP, Revenue & Growth.

Law Student Recruiting

Arnold & Porter recruits through school-sponsored programs, direct applications, networking, and current-opportunity postings. Recruiting practices are not identical every year or in every office. The firm's current interview-schedule page states that details for the 2027 summer-associate process will be shared as available, while a current 2027 IP summer-associate posting is open for Chicago, Denver, and Houston.

In the 2026 recruiting cycle, Arnold & Porter said it intended to participate in school-sponsored interview programs at a broad group of schools, including Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, Howard, Northwestern, NYU, Penn, Stanford, Texas, Berkeley, UCLA, Chicago, Michigan, Virginia, USC, Yale, and several strong regional schools. That list should be treated as a dated example rather than a permanent OCI roster.

The archived 2026 program required a resume, law school transcript, undergraduate transcript, and cover letter and stated that the firm would not make hiring decisions until it had a full year of law school grades. The firm also used rolling interviews, anticipated virtual screeners and callbacks, and invited candidates with offers to visit the relevant office. Future cycles may differ.

Students comparing recruiting processes can also consult the Top-Law-Schools.com Legal Jobs resource and LawCrossing's Inside BigLaw Summer Programs: Comprehensive Review Database for questions to ask about staffing, evaluations, training, and office-specific program structure.

Summer Associate Program

Arnold & Porter describes its summer associate program as its primary source of associate hiring. The current program begins with an in-person firmwide orientation in Washington, D.C. called “Launch Your Success.” Summer associates then work on actual commercial and pro bono matters, conduct research and writing, and may shadow lawyers in client meetings or hearings.

The firm states that there is no formal rotation system. Instead, summer associates are encouraged to try work across multiple practice groups. They are paired with mentors at different seniority levels and receive training through practice presentations and interactive programs. The program also includes an in-person Summer Associate Training Forum in New York featuring negotiation and oral-presentation training, as well as social and networking events.

A current 2027 IP summer-associate posting explains that candidates apply through practice-oriented tracks but are not hired directly into a permanent practice group. Summers who receive full-time offers are later asked to rank practice-group preferences. This distinction is important for students who want flexibility during the summer but have a strong long-term interest in a specific practice.

What the Firm May Look for in Candidates

Arnold & Porter's current career materials state that outstanding law school performance is a major factor in hiring decisions, while work experience is also considered. Its 2027 IP summer-associate posting describes the firm as seeking intellectually curious, driven, collegial, and collaborative candidates with strong academic credentials and interpersonal skills. The posting also says the firm considers professionally related experience and activities, references, law review or journal participation, and clinical legal work.

Candidates should therefore be prepared to show more than grades alone. Relevant considerations may include:

Strong legal research and writing ability.
Evidence of sound judgment and professionalism.
A credible interest in the particular office and its work.
A clear reason for the practice areas being discussed.
Prior work, government, scientific, technical, financial, or industry experience when relevant.
Team orientation and the ability to communicate clearly with lawyers and clients.
Activities that demonstrate sustained interest rather than a last-minute attempt to match the firm's profile.

None of these factors guarantees an interview or offer, and hiring needs can change by office, practice, and recruiting cycle.

Interview and Callback Preparation

Arnold & Porter's own recruiting contacts page encourages candidates to learn about the firm's people, work, and environment and to approach interviews with enough information to ask useful questions. A strong interview strategy should therefore be office- and practice-specific rather than built around generic statements about “prestige” or “BigLaw.”

Before an interview, candidates should review attorney biographies, recent matters, Chambers-ranked practices, the summer program, office-specific capabilities, and any current opportunity posting that applies to them. For lateral candidates, BCG Attorney Search's How Large Law Firms Process Lateral Applications: The Definitive Guide to BigLaw Hiring and How Law Firms Evaluate Lateral Associates by Experience Level provide useful context on how large firms assess experience, class year, practice fit, and hiring needs.

Realistic interview questions to prepare for include:

Why Arnold & Porter rather than another large law firm?
Why are you interested in this specific office?
Which of the firm's practices are most relevant to your interests, and why?
Tell me about a legal research or writing assignment that required you to work through ambiguity.
Describe a time you received difficult feedback and how you responded.
How does your prior academic, industry, government, technical, or work experience connect to the practice you are considering?
What have you learned about the firm's regulatory, litigation, transactional, or pro bono work that you would like to explore further?
For laterals: why are you considering a move now, and how would your existing experience fit the needs of this practice group?

Attorney Career Opportunities

Arnold & Porter hires lateral associates and also recruits at counsel and partner levels. Its lateral-attorney page says many new lawyers join after experience in government or at other law firms and that an important part of the hiring process is assessing how a candidate's existing experience fits the firm's practices and professional-development opportunities.

For junior and midlevel laterals, specialized experience is often more useful than a broad claim of being a “generalist.” A life sciences regulatory lawyer, government contracts attorney, antitrust associate, patent litigator, product liability lawyer, or transactional attorney with a clearly defined deal background can be easier for a practice group to evaluate against a concrete need. Senior lawyers should also expect closer attention to leadership, client relationships, business-development potential, and how their practice fits the firm's existing platform.

Candidates should investigate the exact office and practice group rather than assuming that an opening in one market reflects firmwide demand. LawCrossing's 2026–2027 Lateral Attorney Move Playbook offers a useful framework for evaluating timing, platform, compensation, and long-term fit before changing firms.

Career Development and Training

Arnold & Porter's current “Your Career” materials describe a structured approach to integration and development. New and lateral associates participate in orientation programs covering the firm, office, and practice group. New lawyers also have a sponsored lunch program designed to help them build relationships during their first months.

Formal training includes Arnold & Porter University, practice-specific programs, deposition training, Trial School, retreats, professional-development programming, business-development education, and other skill-building resources. The firm also says it has in-house career coaches, formal mentoring, annual evaluations, and career-development meetings.

Work assignment is coordinated through partners and practice managers rather than being entirely dependent on individual associates finding work for themselves. The firm also describes an associate shadowing program that can provide up to 100 hours per calendar year for approved learning experiences. Chambers Associate's 2026 profile similarly reports that practice managers help distribute work and that associates often work on cross-office teams.

Partnership and Advancement

Arnold & Porter's partnership structure changed recently. Reporting in 2026 by The American Lawyer and Chambers Associate states that the firm created an income or non-equity partner tier in 2025. The firm told The American Lawyer that internally promoted lawyers generally begin as income partners before becoming eligible for the equity tier.

That structure means candidates should distinguish among senior associate, counsel, income partner, and equity partner roles when evaluating advancement. The relevant questions include how promotion decisions are made, what performance and business-development expectations apply at each level, how long lawyers commonly remain in each role, and whether a particular practice group has a realistic need for additional senior lawyers. Public sources do not provide reliable partnership “odds,” and candidates should not infer individual outcomes from firmwide titles alone.

Compensation and Benefits

Compensation is a time-sensitive topic. Chambers Associate's 2026 profile lists a $225,000 first-year salary and $235,000 second-year salary, while Vault's current Arnold & Porter profile likewise lists a $225,000 first-year base. A current 2027 IP summer-associate posting lists a weekly salary of $4,327. Because the large-firm associate market changed during 2026 and public reporting on individual firms can lag internal decisions, candidates should verify the current class-year and office-specific scale directly during recruiting rather than relying on an older chart.

Chambers Associate's 2026 profile describes a 2,000-hour overall target for bonus eligibility, with up to 200 hours of qualifying business development, recruiting, diversity and inclusion activities, and pro bono work counting toward that target. Candidates should confirm the current policy, what categories count, and whether requirements differ by position or office.

Arnold & Porter's public benefits materials describe medical, dental and vision coverage, life and disability insurance, flexible spending and health savings arrangements, retirement benefits, paid time off, mental-health resources, and other support programs. Benefits and eligibility vary by role and location.

Work Environment and Culture

Culture is inherently subjective and can vary by office, practice, partner, and workload. Arnold & Porter describes its environment as collaborative, inclusive, and flexible, and says it emphasizes professional development and balance. Chambers Associate's 2026 interviews also report generally positive perceptions of collaboration, access to senior lawyers, work allocation, and career development.

Chambers Associate reports that, as of its 2026 research, associates were expected to spend 60% of workdays in the office, with Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday serving as anchor days. Hybrid policies can change, so applicants should ask the relevant office what the current expectation is rather than relying on a prior-year rule.

A useful way to evaluate culture is to ask concrete questions: how work is assigned, whether junior lawyers receive substantive feedback, how teams handle urgent weekend work, whether attorneys can pursue cross-office matters, how much partner contact juniors receive, and whether mentoring relationships are active in the practice you would actually join.

Pro Bono and Community Involvement

Pro bono is a longstanding part of Arnold & Porter's identity. The firm's current pro bono page reports more than 107,000 total pro bono hours in 2025 and traces the firm's public-service tradition to work including Gideon v. Wainwright. Its pro bono matters span impact litigation, individual representation, regulatory and public-policy advocacy, nonprofit counseling, immigration, civil rights, criminal matters, and other areas.

Summer associates can work on pro bono matters, and Chambers Associate's 2026 profile reports that pro bono time can count toward the firm's overall hours target within specified limits. Students interested in public service should ask how pro bono assignments are staffed in their target office and whether junior lawyers can obtain stand-up, client-contact, or writing experience through those matters.

The firm also runs community-service initiatives in the cities where it has offices. Its culture page states that employees receive one paid day per year for a pre-approved community-service activity.

Diversity and Inclusion

Arnold & Porter's current materials describe diversity and inclusion as part of its recruiting, retention, advancement, engagement, and service strategy. The firm has a Diversity & Inclusion Committee and affinity groups including AIDE, APCares, ACCORD, BLAC, First Gen, Jewish Professionals, Muslim Professionals, Pride, VALOR, WISE, and others.

The firm also states that it conducts mock interviews for first-year law students, participates in bar-association career fairs, conducts outreach to law student groups, and provides scholarships and fellowships to rising second-year students. Candidates should review current program eligibility and deadlines because individual fellowships and recruiting initiatives can change from year to year.

Who May Want to Evaluate Arnold & Porter Closely?

Arnold & Porter may warrant especially close review from candidates interested in:

Regulatory work involving federal agencies or highly regulated industries.
Antitrust, government contracts, life sciences, healthcare, product liability, white-collar matters, and complex litigation.
Cross-disciplinary matters that combine regulatory, transactional, and litigation issues.
Washington, D.C. practice with meaningful government-facing work.
New York corporate, litigation, financial services, life sciences, or real estate work.
Technology and life sciences work in California or Boston.
A firm with significant formal training, mentoring, and pro bono infrastructure.
Cross-office or international matters involving Europe or Asia.

Those factors do not mean the firm will be the right environment for every candidate. A student or lateral should still investigate staffing, partner access, workload, office-specific practice depth, hybrid expectations, advancement, and whether the desired practice actually has room for new lawyers.

Questions to Ask Before Joining

How is work assigned in this office and practice group?
How much control do junior associates have over the types of matters they work on?
When are associates expected to specialize, and can they move among related practices?
What does effective mentoring look like in this group beyond the formal mentor assignment?
How often do junior lawyers receive direct client contact, deposition, hearing, negotiation, or drafting opportunities?
What is the current hours target, and which pro bono, recruiting, business-development, or other activities count toward it?
What is the current hybrid or in-office expectation for this office?
How are performance reviews conducted, and how frequently do lawyers receive feedback between formal review cycles?
How does the new income-partner tier interact with counsel and equity-partner advancement?
For laterals, how does the firm integrate incoming associates into existing client teams and relationships?
How much cross-office staffing occurs in the practice group I am considering?
What has caused successful associates in this group to stay and advance?

Key Takeaways for Law Students

Prospective law school applicants: Arnold & Porter's recruiting footprint illustrates why law school outcomes matter beyond overall rankings. Applicants interested in firms like Arnold & Porter should evaluate which schools consistently place students into major law firms and into the geographic markets and practices that interest them.

1Ls: Build a strong academic record, legal writing foundation, and a credible practice narrative. The firm's own recruiting materials indicate that grades matter, but related experience, journals, clinics, and other professional activities can also strengthen an application.

2Ls: Treat each office as a separate recruiting market. Research the office's actual practice strengths, prepare for both “why this firm?” and “why this office?” questions, and apply early when the firm uses rolling interviews.

3Ls: Direct entry-level openings are more limited than the summer pipeline because Arnold & Porter describes the summer program as its primary source of associate hiring. Monitor current opportunities and be prepared to explain why an office or practice has a specific reason to consider a 3L application.

Summer associate candidates: Use the program to test practice areas, mentors, work-allocation systems, and office culture. Because there is no formal rotation system, be proactive about seeking a useful mix of assignments while still producing reliable work for each team.

Key Takeaways for Attorneys

Junior associates: Focus on the quality and relevance of your training, not simply your class year. A move is more credible when your experience connects directly to an Arnold & Porter practice need.

Midlevel associates: This is often the stage at which matter ownership, specialized skills, drafting experience, client exposure, and ability to work with less supervision become central to lateral hiring.

Senior associates: Investigate the advancement structure carefully, including the role of the income-partner tier, counsel positions, practice-group economics, and expectations for leadership and business development.

Counsel: Clarify whether the opportunity is a long-term counsel role, a transition toward income or equity partnership, or a specialist position tied to a particular client or regulatory need.

Partner-level candidates: Platform fit, conflicts, client portability, rate structure, team integration, and practice synergies become increasingly important. Senior candidates should evaluate the specific office and practice leadership rather than relying on firmwide reputation alone.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Arnold & Porter LLP known for?

Arnold & Porter is particularly known for regulatory, litigation, and transactional work involving highly regulated industries. Current Chambers rankings highlight antitrust, government contracts, life sciences and healthcare, product liability, and several other practices, while the firm also has significant corporate, finance, IP, white-collar, environmental, real estate, and international capabilities.

How large is Arnold & Porter LLP?

Arnold & Porter and Chambers USA currently describe the firm as having more than 1,000 lawyers in 16 offices. Because law-firm headcount changes during the year, candidates should treat that as a current approximate scale rather than a permanent number.

Where does Arnold & Porter have offices?

The firm has U.S. offices in Boston, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Newark, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Silicon Valley, and Washington, D.C., plus international offices in Amsterdam, Brussels, London, Seoul, and Shanghai.

What practice areas is Arnold & Porter known for?

Notable practices include antitrust, government contracts, life sciences and healthcare, product liability, complex litigation, white-collar investigations, intellectual property, environmental law, corporate and finance, real estate, tax, and other regulatory practices. The strength of each practice varies by office.

Does Arnold & Porter hire summer associates?

Yes. The firm describes its summer associate program as its primary source of associate hiring. The program includes firmwide orientation, commercial and pro bono assignments, mentoring, training, practice exposure, and social events. Current openings depend on the office, practice track, and recruiting cycle.

How does Arnold & Porter recruit law students?

The firm uses school-sponsored interview programs, direct applications, recruiting events, networking, and online current-opportunity postings. Recent cycles have used rolling interviews and virtual screeners and callbacks, but candidates should check the current recruiting page because the process and participating offices can change each year.

What should I know before interviewing with Arnold & Porter?

Know why you are interested in the particular office and practice, not just the firm generally. Review lawyer biographies, recent matters, the office's practice mix, current recruiting materials, and relevant Chambers rankings. Be prepared to discuss your writing, teamwork, judgment, academic record, prior experience, and reasons for choosing the practice area.

Does Arnold & Porter hire lateral attorneys?

Yes. The firm hires lawyers from other firms and from government and evaluates how their experience fits existing practice needs. Lateral opportunities vary by office, seniority, and practice, so candidates should review current openings and investigate the group rather than assuming demand is firmwide.

Read more about this law firm on BCG Attorney Search: Arnold & Porter LLP

Relevant Top-Law-Schools.com Forum Discussions

The TLS forums are user-generated and many firm-specific threads are historical, so they are best used for anecdotal context rather than as a source for current compensation, recruiting policy, or firm statistics.

Wilmer (DC) v. A&P (DC) v. OMM (DC) — discussion comparing Washington, D.C. firms for litigation-oriented candidates.
Arnold & Porter NY Offers — historical discussion of New York callback-to-offer timing.
Willkie vs. Fried Frank vs. A&P — historical discussion comparing New York firms and practice breadth.
A Guide to the Mechanics of OCI, Callbacks, and Recruiting — broader TLS discussion of OCI and callback mechanics.
2022 Summer Associate Thread — broad summer-associate questions and experiences.
Callbacks Generally — discussion of callback-stage considerations.

Sources/Research Notes

The following sources were reviewed to verify important factual information before publication. Current recruiting, compensation, office, and policy information should be rechecked periodically because it can change during a recruiting cycle.

Official Arnold & Porter sources:

Independent legal-industry sources:

BCG Attorney Search resources:

LawCrossing resources:

Top-Law-Schools.com resources: