Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP - The Inside View

Nowadays, it seems like every firm on Earth calls itself international – it can be hard to know which ones are all talk and no action. Here’s the difference with this New Yorker: an ever-widening network of 12 overseas offices that “are properly integrated” across the firm and elite nationwide recognition in Chambers Global for areas like antitrust, derivatives, and tax more than proves that Cleary is Clear(l)y who it says it is. Many of the associates we spoke to noted their attraction to the firm’s strong international presence, too. “Everyone’s got an office in Dubai these days!” one interviewee laughed. “But you have to ask: are the overseas offices deeply embedded within the firm’s culture, and do you as an associate actually get to regularly work with them?” Our sources spoke of no such doubts. “Roughly 80% of my work touches the international realm somehow!” enthused one junior, whether that’s through working closely with overseas offices or the firm’s vast array of global clients. Cleary’s Latin American focus was also a real source of pride, with a specialist LatAm corporate practice and an office in Sao Paulo. What’s more, insiders also spoke of experiences working abroad in locations such as Paris and Tokyo. It makes sense then that “lots of our associates speak foreign languages.”

“Roughly 80% of my work touches the international realm somehow!”

Growth remains a priority much closer to home too, with “newish” offices in the Bay Area of San Francisco representatives of Cleary’s strategic West Coast expansion. But despite careful consideration of the firm’s future, in the here and now, most junior associates are recruited into the firm’s flagship New York office, but the DC abode also hosts a handful of newbies each year. Given top marks for real estate, employee benefits & executive compensation, litigation, and white-collar crime & government investigations in New York by Chambers USA too, it’s crystal Clear(y) where the firm’s market position lies.

Strategy & Future

With the firm historically operating more towards the East Coast, Cleary is looking towards the market on the sunnier side of the country. “We’ve just opened the California office, while growth overseas – particularly in London and the EU – has also been a priority,” confirmed one source. Partner Kyle Harris explains Cleary’s thinking behind this Bay Area expansion: We’ve done transactions and disputes and had significant clients in California for a long time.” Harris elaborates, “but we thought it was important to have an on-the-ground presence there.” Associates also said that this forms the firm’s plan to “expand in markets where we don’t have a presence, or to increase in practice areas we currently don’t have” – predominantly through lateral hires of which there have been a few recently. Seeking to remain ahead of the curve with the challenges the legal industry presents, sources felt that “Cleary is very on top of changes in technology, trying to get ahead, and experimenting with new tools to make things more efficient.” So much so that Harris spoke of the development of ClearyX, a platform which is comprised of a “team of people who use AI tools” which “allows us to be more thoughtful about how we integrate the associate experience with these new tools.”

Read more from Kyle Harris under the 'Get Hired' tab

The Work

When it comes to selecting your practice area, associates explained that firstly, as a summer, “you can indicate what you think sounds interesting and they’ll give you some assignments based on that,” but you can also alter your preferences “at any point during the summer.” Then, when you start as an associate, “you can state your interests and they try to match you based on those. They’re very good at continually checking on people’s preferences.” On top of this, work allocation is mostly a centralized affair at Cleary, with a central staffer to ensure work is distributed fairly. That said, associates are also free to seek their own work through relationships with partners too, but the extent to which this is common practice amongst juniors is heavily reliant on their practice group.

Cleary’s corporate group covers the likes of capital markets, real estate, M&A, and tax. Associates spoke largely of their work consisting of “private deals, bonds, IPOs, debt finance restructuring,” and more M&A specific work relating to sovereign wealth funds. On the latter, one interviewee elaborated, “We work closely with the offices in Abu Dhabi and London on things like hedge funds focused predominantly on the private equity side.” Real estate followed a similar theme with capital markets work, joint ventures, and “equity side investments within a real estate context,” whereas those on structured finance told us that they work on “agency backed mortgage securities deals with the likes of Fannie Mae.”

“Anything I do as a mid-level a junior would also do.”

Even though juniors are usually tasked with your run-of-the-mill research, doc review, and email drafting, “we move pretty fast in terms of development, and we’re pushing people to get more responsibility faster,” one source shared. They continued, “Juniors get heavy supervision from mid-levels, but anything I do as a mid-level, a junior would also do. The juniors take the first shot at looking at the rules and seeing how everything fits, but they do their own analysis and research – they’ll do everything a full-blown senior will do.” This was the consensus amongst interviewees who were more than pleased with the amount of trust they get as juniors, with one associate even admitting that “I was negotiating a deal, and it was just me on the call. It was a little bit scary when I first joined, but it’s very flexible here – you’re given lots more responsibility.”

Corporate clients: Goldman Sachs, T-Mobile, OpenText. Represented Takeda Pharmaceuticals on the $6 billion acquisition of NDI-034858, an allosteric TYK2 inhibitor, from Nimbus Therapeutics.

In litigation, the team “work in the enforcement, financial tech, and crypto space.” Although clients include startups and Fortune 500 companies, associates pointed out that the group is “definitely more than financial institutions.” We heard that juniors worked on SEC investigations and the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, with a healthy dose of antitrust work sprinkled in there too. “We typically work for defendants,” said one of our sources, “although we do some plaintiff side work too.” As such, “our clients tend to be huge companies like Google, and we’ve done several litigations that have gone to trial.” One explained, “I’m involved in investigation, antitrust conduct, compliance, counselling, and HSR (Hart-Scott-Rodino Act) rulemaking,” and “plenty of cartel work comes our way too!”

“I’ve gotten to second chair depositions on the defense side, even as a first-year associate!”

Generally, the duties of litigation associates lay firmly within the realm of “general research, writing memos and first drafts, filing information, drafting sponsors, and doc review.” Others pointed out that seniors will sometimes "push substantive work down to take the burden off of them,” which is helpful if you’re looking to get your feet wet early on.So, despite the daily tasks mainly consisting of what you might expect as a BigLaw litigation newbie, like the corporate group, associates confirmed that “they give you as much responsibility as you ask for.” Case in point: “I’ve prepared client for depositions, and I’ve gotten to second-chair depositions on the defense side, even as a first-year associate!”

Litigation clients: HSBC, BNP Paribas, Citibank. Represented The Republic of Argentina in multiple lawsuits defending the Republic’s interests across various US jurisdictions.

Career Development

Inside the firm’s Attorney Development group, associates are invited to discuss any issues they feel they’d like support on. Such formal mentorship includes “monthly meetings” offering additional support for work-related issues, career guidance, and counselling. We did hear that only a few associates didn’t get their desired practice group straightaway, but the firm will get you there the end, as “they’re flexible and are willing to fight to get you where you want to be.”

“…the partners are good at knowing when you’re ready for the next challenge – even before I knew!”

One thing that did receive resounding praise though was the level of responsibility afforded to engage in substantive work. “They’re really good with this,” stated one insider. “They’re always pushing people to take on more responsibility,” they added, before another provided a bit of reassurance: “It can be nerve-wracking, but it’s better for you to get this exposure early on.” So much so that one associate recalled, “I feel like the partners are good at knowing when you’re ready for the next challenge – even before I knew! The partners would check in and say, ‘you’re going to lead this call,’ and I thought ‘I’m not ready!’” Overcoming that fear can be challenging, so luckily, “partners are really there to support you and to make sure that you’re growing and getting the work you want.”

Culture

“Associates tend to be quirkier and geekier!”

“The associate culture is so good!” declared one interviewee. “We’re all friends with each other and we hang out after work.” Seconded by a colleague, “everyone is very kind and friendly; we have stimulating conversations, and everyone is totally transparent when it comes to asking and answering questions.” The culture specifically was an attractive part of the firm for our sources, who referenced the sense of “comfort” in speaking to everyone and “approachability” of partners. When interviewing before officially joining, one associate noticed how the general ambience seemed “less stuffy” than at other places: “Everyone was really friendly and acknowledged each other in the hallways – that was a departure from the other interviews I did!” Another agreed that “during the recruitment process, Cleary really focused on culture, fit, and what would make an attorney succeed here.” So then, who exactly would succeed here? “Associates tend to be quirkier and geekier!” one insider laughed. “But the main thing is to be an intellectually curious attorney who wants to do the best work possible.”

Hours and Compensation

Billable hours: no requirement

Although the firm doesn’t have a billing requirement, associates are encouraged to aim for within the range of 1,950 and 2,150. “That’s the range they’d like you to stay in,” explained one source, with another stating that “people can do what they want with those numbers in mind.” Don’t worry if you think that’s a daunting target; you can rest assured knowing that pro bono and any time spent mentoring juniors also count towards the overall target, and the number of hours you do bill “is not connected to bonuses” in accordance with the lockstep bonus system. To provide further relief, another added, “They’ve very much emphasized that it’s merely a target range. In fact, I knew before the end of the year that I wasn’t going to hit it, and nobody was scolding me!”

A fellow associate agreed that the target range is “just for transparency purposes” in terms of where they’d like you to be, particularly as some practice areas are busier than others. Associates are largely “free to structure their own days,” which our interviewees loved because “we’re not micromanaged.” That said, as a junior, “it’s more rigid – you need to respond to emails whether you’re at your desk or a coffee shop!” As you become more experienced, “it’s very flexible, and I think this is something the firm handles really well.” Speaking of flexibility, Cleary encourages associates to be in the office three days a week including Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.

Pro Bono

In true New York fashion, pro bono is clearly a big deal at the firm. “Cleary has a really good pro bono program run by a great attorney who really advocates for it,” elucidated one associate. Another described the “pretty solid infrastructure” at Cleary when it comes to pro bono, whereby associates receive weekly or biweekly emails highlighting some of the new work coming in. “You can really do what you want with it,” stated one, while all of our sources reveled in the fact that “there’s no cap on how much you do, and it all counts as billable.” Of course, “if you’re doing like 90% pro bono work, then somebody might understandably be like, ‘hey, what’s going on?’ But I haven’t heard of an instance where people have been told they’re doing too much.” Pro bono is also a great opportunity for juniors to engage in “very satisfying work” and, in some cases, work with the firm’s “long-term pro bono clients.” As for what they’re working on, we heard that associates at every level are known to have grappled with human rights, immigration, environmentalism, housing, and reproductive rights work.

Pro bono hours

• For all (US) attorneys: 58,016
• Average per (US) attorney: 96

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

When it came to racial, ethnic, and gender diversity at Cleary, associates really appreciated the firm’s efforts within the space. “I think Cleary has made a huge effort to recruit from under-represented groups,” highlighted one source, with another adding that “it’s definitely something front of mind.” The firm’s commitment to DEI is best represented by its affinity groups for First Generation lawyers, in addition to those from the Black, Asian, Latinx, and LGBTQ+ communities. One associate supplemented that “I feel we also do a really good job of recruiting people with physical disabilities and those who are neurodiverse,” and things are looking good on the gender front too, with some female-only teams and at least as many women partners as men. “But the harder part is translating all that to more senior roles,” noted one insider, and although this is an industry-wide issue, “in terms of ethnic diversity at the partner level, things could be better.”

Get Hired

The first stage: recruitment on and off campus   

CIP applicants interviewed: 176 

OCI applicants interviewed: 472 

“We recruit at a wide range of schools across the country in search of academically strong and intellectually curious candidates who are enthusiastic about practicing law,” hiring partner Kyle Harris tells us. There are several avenues for candidates to apply to the firm’s summer program. In addition to continued partnerships with school-hosted on-campus and resume collection programs, the firm solicits applications through its Cleary Interview Program (CIP), an early interview program that provides candidates with an opportunity to interview directly with the firm and expands Cleary’s reach to law schools across the country.  

First round interviews are conducted by senior lawyers at the firm and are typically virtual and 20 to 30 minutes in length. “Candidates can expect to be asked about their interests as well as academic and work experiences.” Harris adds, “knowing information about the firm’s practice and/or clients is key.”  

Callbacks  

Applicants invited to second stage interview: 478 

Candidates will have the option to select either an in-person or virtual callback interview and can expect to meet up to four or five attorneys during their callback interview. Harris points out that “we seek to tailor each candidate’s schedule to their interests, so candidates can select whom they would like to meet with, whether it be people from a particular practice area, gender, race, sexual orientation, etc.” Harris outlines four skills the firm is looking to identify in candidates, including “leadership, client service orientation, determination, and intellectual ability.”  

Top tips for this stage:  

"Enjoy the process! This is an awesome chance to meet with a large number of lawyers to expand your network.” - hiring partner Kyle Harris  

Summer Program  

Offers: 226 

Summer associates are free to sample work from multiple practice areas, including Cleary’s pool of pro bono projects. “We seek to assign work based on practice area preference, balancing firm needs. Since there are no formal rotations, summer associates may explore different practices without being required to move between prescribed groups.” Harris expands, “We have a strong focus on intensive training programs throughout the summer. In addition to lunches hosted by different practice groups, summer associates will attend a corporate training seminar that provides an understanding of transactional practice areas, and a litigation training that provides a foundation in key advocacy skills, discovery skills, and substantive areas of law that are central to the practice.”   

And finally…   

Summer associates have the opportunity to spend four weeks at one of Cleary’s overseas offices (subject to office capacity and, in some cases, applicable language ability), which offers “a unique opportunity to experience first-hand the worldwide Cleary culture and global reach of our firm.”   

Interview with Kyle Harris, Partner

Commercial strategy, market position and trends

Chambers Associate: How would you define your firm’s current position and identity in the legal market? What differentiates your firm from your peer firms in the market?

Kyle Harris: I think we have been known for a long time as a pioneer in globalizing the legal profession, as one of the leaders of international practice in the US, and known for our cross-border work. But I also think that something important to us and has always been true, is the fact that within each of the jurisdictions where we sit, especially in the US, we spend a lot of time doing transactions and disputes and matters in that jurisdiction. For all the time we spend on cross-border transactions, for example, we spend just as much time on domestic transactions, and I think we pride ourselves as being thought of as a firm where you can bring highly complex transactions and receive excellent, collaborative and thought-leading service.

CA: Have there been any developments at the firm over the past year that you’d like law students to know about?

Harris: Sure, there have been several things. One thing I’d point out to you is our expanding presence in the Bay Area in California. We’ve done transactions and disputes and had significant clients in California for a long time, but we thought it was important to have an on-the-ground presence there as well. That presence has grown rapidly, and it’s been very successful. We just represented Synopsys for example on the announced acquisition of Ansys, one of the largest M&A deals announced. That office was also instrumental in securing the regulatory clearance for the Broadcom/VMware transaction. They’ve been doing a lot of really high-profile interesting work and it’s been a great success so we’re really proud of that. I would say another thing that has been a developing initiative at the firm over the last couple years is the integration of AI into our processes in a thoughtful way, and thinking about how we can equip associates to be lawyers of the future. And I don’t think AI is at this stage anywhere close to being able to do what we do, but it’s certainly a component. And one of the things we’ve developed is this platform called ClearyX – which is a team of people who use AI tools in the service of our clients in a variety of ways. We’ve been developing this in-house, which allows us to be more thoughtful about how we integrate the associate experience with those new tools.

CA: Are there any domestic or international events/trends that are affecting any of the firm’s practices at the moment? Are there any trends that you think are affecting the business of law firms more generally, and how is that playing out with your firm?

Harris: I think the biggest factor other than some of the things we’ve already touched on is just the changing nature of the law firm and the legal practice generally. We’ve seen huge upheaval in terms of partners and associates lateralling between firms in a way that never used to happen in large firms like ours, and that can also create a great deal of challenge in terms of preserving the culture of a firm. We’ve also seen a significant change in the way that clients relate to their law firms. It used to be the case that they had an institutional counsel, that was their go-to firm for everything. Clients will increasingly pick and choose law firms for different tasks, and working with a panel of different law firms—all of these things increase the competition in the legal market both for talent and for clients. That’s been a pretty significant sea change over the last 10 years I would say.

CA: What is your firm’s commercial strategy focusing on, and how do you expect the next year to unfold?

Harris: I would say that our strategy is really to focus on being the go-to firm for clients and their highest value company transactions and disputes. That includes a real focus on our key regulatory practices, in particular antitrust, which is a world-leading practice, obviously incredibly important in the current environment, as well as our key corporate practices. In particular corporate M&A, capital markets, private funds, and then our significant white-collar offering which I think is a leading enforcement practice in the US and it’s also complemented by a leading commercial disputes practice both in the US and internationally. I think those areas are really our focus and we look to provide all our clients with a full suite of services and we’re proud of all our practice groups. Being the go-to counsel for our clients in those big-ticket transactions and disputes is a big focus of our strategy and where we think the most exciting matters are for us to be working on.

Inside the Firm

CA: How is the firm evolving to accommodate the needs/expectations of the next generation of lawyers?

Harris: I would say first of all, just going back to the prior answer about changes to the legal landscape and changes within law firms, one thing that has been quite unusual about Cleary is the degree to which we have not experienced that level of turnover within our firm, and that most of our lawyers are people who have been homegrown at Cleary. I think that creates a consistency in terms of our culture of excellence and standards that we set for ourselves, and provides some advantages when it comes to training the next generation of associates. Training and mentorship and giving associates the opportunity to distinguish themselves and to be involved in substantive matters early on is something we place a lot of emphasis on. At the same time, we’re also focused on providing the flexibility that associates need in order to do their jobs in the current environment. And that also involves a fair amount of flexibility when it comes to hybrid work for example. We do believe that the in-office experience is important for associates, but we also want to provide the flexibility that allows them to be the best they can be in the way that works best for them. So, we have a 3-2 hybrid model, where we’re in the office 3 days a week, and we have 2 flexible days. We’re focused on the needs of our associates from a holistic perspective, and that includes well-being initiatives. I think the firm is a leader in terms of developing and rolling out to our associates a variety of initiatives that allow people to balance the demands of the profession with their other goals, aspirations, and demands of their life.

CA: What’s the firm’s approach to bolstering diversity, equity, and inclusion?

Harris: I think a key pillar of that is ensuring the quality of access to opportunity within the firm, and ensuring all of our associates are receiving the opportunity to be developed and be mentored and to learn as lawyers and have the chance to contribute to high-value matters and flourish in their career. That requires constant attention and we’re constantly monitoring and looking at our systems to make sure that we’re providing this quality of access. That requires a consistency in mentorship, training, work opportunities, and we have a lot of systems both in terms of formal staffing and mentoring mechanisms as well as informal staffing and mentoring mechanisms that we deploy to try to make sure everyone is getting those opportunities, so that we’re not only hiring, but retaining, developing, and promoting a diverse associate population. We have had success on that score, and I think we’re proud to have received a number of commendations in the last few years for our efforts on DE&I. These include the Diversity & Inclusion Champion Award from the New York City Bar Association; just this last year we received the Bronze DEI leadership Award from the State Bar of California, and so on from a number of other organizations, but it’s a job that is ongoing. It’s not something where you can just set it and forget it, you can’t just make some changes to try and improve DE&I and then move on. It’s obviously a constant effort to make sure we’re living up to our ideals, and it’s not something we’ll ever be satisfied with, we’re always looking to do that even better.

The Legal Profession

CA: How do you predict the rise in AI will affect the ways in which lawyers work? How will it affect the services law firms provide?

Harris: I think it will change how we work in significant ways. I think it’ll be increasingly important, as I just said, I think AI is nowhere near being able to do what we do on its own and it probably never will. There will always need to be a human lawyer and tech integration in delivering services to clients. I think it will also put some pressure on the traditional billable hour model of a law firm, causing firms to have to think about how they are delivering value, and how people are remunerated for the value they deliver. AI can facilitate delivering great value on a transaction, which again comes from not just AI itself, but the way humans can take advantage of AI to provide thoughtful solutions, and it can change how firms should be thinking about remuneration for their services. I think that will be a change, it will also change the types of things associates are doing. It used to be for example if you’re a junior litigator you’d be spending a lot of time in the document collection process and review for large litigation matters. If you’re a junior transactional lawyer, you were doing similar things for due diligence, and increasingly that will be less of a junior lawyer’s calendar. They will still need to be trained to understand those processes, because they’re going to need to be a bridge between whatever technology is used and the client and they’ll need to interpret it for the client and explain it to the client. In the time they are not so involved in some of those traditional tasks, their time will be freed up to provide value in other ways. So it’s critical that firms train them to be more involved in thought leadership, in identifying substantive legal issues, in providing tailored work product to a specific client need at an earlier stage in their career, and so in a lot of ways I think it provides a lot of opportunity for the next generation of associates as long as firms are focused on helping them navigate that.

The Fun Bit

CA: Is there any advice you’d give to your younger self starting out your career?

Harris: I think what we look for, and what most of our peers look for in associates is attitude above all. Skills are things that we train for, and that’s our job. We’re going to provide you with the skills you need to succeed. But I think it’s important for associates to be open to different experiences, to be intellectually curious, to be engaged with their teams and with leaders in their practice groups, and to seek out ways that they can be more involved in the firm earlier on. And I think associates who do that will experience a great deal of success, so I think in my mind that’s the key.