WilmerHale - The Inside View

If you keep on top of the news, chances are you’ve seen a case handled by WilmerHale making the headlines. With the likes of Meta, Visa and Apple as regulars, it’s easy to see how. But WH’s reputation came in two distinct parts for associates joining the ranks. Firstly, for some it was the strong ties to government. In fact, it would be difficult to find a firm with more links to the government than this DC and Boston headquartered outfit. So much so, that when associates leave the firm, it’s usually to take up roles within the government. Likewise, don’t be too shocked to see ex-government officials making a return to the office, as it’s common for attorneys to leave and return to the firm after a stint in the Capitol.

“When I first started researching firms, I didn’t know who the top of my list would be. It soon became clear it was going to be WilmerHale.”

Others were drawn in by the firm’s stellar IP litigation bench: “They're a leader in IP, their hybrid structure to intellectual property work allowed me to work in litigation, counselling, acquisitions, and prosecution which is rare among top firms.” But the firm’s expertise doesn’t stop there. In Chambers USA, WilmerHale excels on the national stage in areas like antitrust: cartel, financial services regulation, life sciences, native American law, securities regulation and enforcement, and of course, government relations and IP – and that’s just scratching the surface. This was not lost on our interviewees, one of whom stated: “When I first started researching firms, I didn’t know who the top of my list would be. But it soon became clear it was going to be WilmerHale.”

WH has long since expanded from its DC&Boston roots to boast 12 offices across the US and Europe. The New York office has become just as important as the HQ, and associates see this reflected in the quality of the work they receive in this office, and partner star power.

Strategy & Future

Our interviewees were confident that the firm will keep investing in its associates and their development. One junior stated: “Part of the business strategy is that we pick up and throw work at associates. We specifically work in smaller teams here, so you get ownership over things and can choose your matters and practice. If you are looking for a firm that will let you write and litigate, this is one of them.”

The Work

Most of the associates are based in DC, Boston and New York, with the California and Denver locations housing the rest. Unsurprisingly, litigation is the largest recruiter of juniors, followed by transactional, regulatory & government affairs, then IP.

If you join as a litigator, WH allows associates to take a generalist approach at first to get a sense of what interests them before choosing a specific practice group. The firm uses a centralized staffing system, and associates have a practice group manager to help assign their workload. We were assured that the system works pretty well as “Wilmer does a good job of identifying your strengths and skills, which is nice because people can see what you’re good at and what you want to do, then give you more of it.” This means that once relationships develop, associates can take control of their practice. We also heard there is plenty of collaboration between offices, as one associate quipped “no one thinks twice about staffing between offices.”

“Wilmer does a good job of identifying your strengths and skills, which is nice because people can see what you’re good at and what you want to do, then give you more of it.”

Litigators begin life at WH as a generalist. When associates hit their fourth year, they can formally choose a specialty from a vast spread of practices such as white-collar and government investigations, general commercial, appellate, IP and more.

The connection WilmerHale has to the government really impressed the juniors we spoke to, especially the chance to work on cases involving the government — whether prosecuting or defending. “I have been blown away by how substantive my time at the firm has been,” admitted one junior litigator. Another added: “With some other firms you hear a lot of people say they do menial and unstimulating tasks, I picked Wilmer because I got the sense there was important work early on.”

Our interviewees mentioned that juniors can expect to handle a lot of the written work for motions to dismiss, summary judgments, appeal briefs and deposition outlines. Some juniors even reported being sent to court to get more experience.

Litigation clients: Walmart, Meta, T-Mobile USA, Inc. Represented the Special Committee of Board of Directors of OpenAI to conduct a review events following the removal of Sam Altman and Greg Brockman from the Board of Directors and Altman’s termination as CEO.

Over in regulatory and government affairs, subgroups consist of anything from cybersecurity and privacy, energy, environment and natural resources, to trade, and investigations. This practice group really deals with “anything involving regulatory problems.” For example, in trade, this team can deal with “problems arising with cross-border flows of goods, services, people, or capital, as well as sanctions and export control work.” In practice, this can involve things like advising companies on how to comply with US law or internal investigations to help them do so.

Associates reported getting involved with the management of the case, document review, and drafting letters to regulators. They also spent time responding to requests for information, draft talking points to regulators and research assignments. Due to the smaller team sizes, there is plenty of client contact, and a large perk of this practice group is that “the firm doesn’t believe in hierarchy. Therefore, even if there is a senior associate on the team, doesn’t mean they are the default for substantive work.”

Regulatory and Government Affairs clients: The Boeing Company, Visa, UK Department for Business and Trade. Advised Intel Corporation on a $9 billion transaction involving semiconductor memory technology.

Work in the securities and financial services group is split across financial institutions, securities litigation and enforcement work. So, associates could be found working across the likes of the DoJ and the SEC. “I have had a really substantive experience,” reflected one interviewee; “instead of being one of 40 associates going through documents, I have been able to manage data collection, document review and take the lead on identifying witnesses.”

Associates are also entrusted to take the first pass on most on documents, manage schedules and even write motions. One of the most interesting aspects of the work, according to interviewees, is the enforcement work: “It gives you a chance to work directly with the SEC in robust subject matters and it is an interesting way to see what they are thinking of doing next.” 

Securities and Financial Services clients: Citibank, UBS Financial Services, Barclays Financial Corp. Representing PricewaterhouseCoopers AG in a putative securities class action arising from its audits of Credit Suisse Group AG.

“The firm doesn’t believe in hierarchy. Therefore, even if there is a senior associate on the team, it doesn’t mean they are the default for substantive work.”

Career Development

At WilmerHale, “transparency” is the name of the game. “There is a total acknowledgement of the fact you might not be at the firm forever,” said one associate. In fact, according to our interviewees, this is what makes the firm so supportive your career development, no matter the path you choose.

As one insider explained: “There is a strong sense of valuing public service and the importance of working in the government at some point.” Because of this, the promotion path is a little different than other firms. The overall idea is to spend some time in government and maybe come back. “If you look around at partners many of them started here as juniors, gone in and out, then come back.”

Though, the firm has introduced a new two-tier partnership track with the aim of retaining talent. “The thought process is that it will open up opportunities into partnership,” shared one insider. Interviewees were currently unsure of how this would pan out but mentioned that the firm has provided plenty of information on it since it was announced.

“Everyone here cares about your development, so there really is a sense you can go to anyone for help.”

The firm has a formal mentoring program that includes both peer and CAP (Career Advancement Program) mentors. The CAP mentors were hailed as particularly useful because they are partners that don’t directly supervise you, meaning they “can be used as a sounding board.” On top of this, it sounded like there were a lot of opportunities to develop informal mentors as well. “Everyone here cares about your development, so there really is a sense you can go to anyone for help.”

Pro Bono

Even when joining the firm as a summer associate, usually “you are given two matters right off the bat — one pro bono and the other is billable.” Interviewees all stressed how much the firm values pro bono work. There is no cap on the amount you can do, and it even counts towards your billable hours target. In fact, we heard of some instances of associates logging up to 300 hours of pro bono in a year!

“It is actually crazy how supportive they are of it,” said one enthusiastic junior; “they understand it is really great experience for us to get, as well as an opportunity to better the world.” This type of work was also seen as a great chance to gain early experience with things like your first oral argument or deposition. The firm also encourages juniors to bring in their own pro bono work if they have something specific in mind. Alternatively, there is an email list which circulates opportunities to each office, so associates can tailor their own pro bono practice too.

Pro bono hours

• For all (US) attorneys: 148,243
• Average per (US) attorney: 133

Hours & Compensation

Billable Hours: 2,000 for full bonus

“There is a feeling we are in it together..."

To earn the full bonus, associates need to hit the target of 2,000 billable hours, which includes pro bono and ‘bonus eligible consideration’ hours. This was described by our sources “as totally achievable” and none of our interviewees had any concerns about hitting this.

Both the bonus and salaries follow the market and operate under a lockstep system. When the hours get tough, one junior remarked: “There is a feeling we are in it together. Plus, senior attorneys are really receptive if you say you need something moved off you because you’re underwater.” An added perk is that there is a practice manager that juniors can lean on. They tend to be used more by first year associates, but it is still a good option since “the practice manager can say ‘no thank you’ to work on your behalf.”

Juniors emphasized that the firm isn’t expecting associates to go to extremes with work: “2,000 is not the minimum, it’s just what they want people to hit, they don’t want people at 2,500 etc.” The firm now operates a four-day in-office policy.

Culture

Our interviewees described the firm as having a “very encouraging and academic environment.” The people were a huge draw for many, one junior shared; “I am really not sugarcoating it, everyone here is a truly lovely human being; everyone here treats me like a colleague and someone they want to solve legal problems with. People not only respect your ideas and intellectual capacity, but also your time.” 

Another highlighted: “They really respect that you have a life. Although this may sound like all the cliches, it is actually true!” Speaking of time, associates were happy to report they were rarely asked to work weekends “unless it was an emergency,” didn’t face “unreasonable deadlines that make your life more difficult.” In fact, we were reassured that “the lawyers here are the sort of people I would be really keen to grab a beer or a nice glass of wine with.” Which is perfect, considering offices such as Denver have a weekly happy hour!

Get Hired

The first stage: recruitment on and off campus

OCI applicants interviewed: Roughly 1000

Interviewees outside OCI: Approximately 350

WilmerHale spreads its wings across the country to recruit candidates from 26 law school OCI programs and recruited at four job fairs last year. 2024 saw members of the hiring committee and alumni conduct around 1,000 screening interviews OCIs. The firm searches for candidates who know what they like about WilmerHale and can see themselves fitting into the bigger picture. Beyond a strong academic record and relevant prior experience, the hiring team is looking for candidates who work well in teams and build relationships. Those with strong leadership, problem-solving and analytical skills will thrive at the firm, as will excellent writers and oral communicators. Applicants should be prepared to talk confidently about everything on their resume, including any awards or journal contributions.  

Callbacks

Applicants invited to second stage: Roughly 430

Successful candidates are called back to the offices (or remotely) to meet a mix of associates and partners for between two and two and a half hours. These attorneys will also range in practice area specialties depending on the candidate’s interests voiced upon the scheduling of their interview. The firm provides applicants with an interview schedule so that they have the chance to research the interviewers in advance and learn about their practices. WilmerHale advises that candidates review firm news and look at recent press releases as interviewers expect applicants to be reasonably well educated about the firm’s basics. Aside from that, it’s always a good idea to be yourself during the interview process as finding the right fit is as important as finding top talent.  

Summer program

Offers: Roughly 200

Acceptances: Approximately 100

The structured summer program at WilmerHale will not only allow summer associates to undertake intellectually stimulating assignments from a range of practice areas, but they will also accompany lawyers to depositions, hearings, trials, client meetings, negotiations and closings. Case teams will split the summers up to witness various litigation, investigations and deals, as well as encourage them to participate in existing pro bono opportunities. The firm treats its summers as fully fledged junior associates by having a training program in place to assist in their professional development and to give them a sample of the training and development provided to attorneys.  

The training topics include research, negotiation, deposition, presentation skills, legal writing, case studies and mock trials and departmental panels and meetings. Formal mid-summer reviews with co-chairs are in place to account for the progress.  

Work aside, a partner/counsel and an associate will be assigned as advisers to each summer to mentor them through the firm. There’ll also be plenty of opportunities for summers to join in at office-wide meetings and lunches. Summer associates who typically stand out are team players who take initiative and ownership of their work. The firm also advises summers to treat the experience as a real job, show enthusiasm, demonstrate attention to detail, ask for feedback and understand how to solicit and incorporate that feedback into their work.  

Top tips:     

“It would be helpful to understand the kind of work Wilmer does, but also read into the public interest work and figure out the spirit of the place.” –a third-year associate.    

Lateral Hiring

Lateralling to WilmerHale is a possibility if there’s a practice need. The firm generally hires 50 to 60 attorneys laterally in a calendar year, from a variety of firms. Lateral hires are chosen based on specific practice area expertise or geographic location, so WilmerHale routinely considers candidates from government agencies for its regulatory and contested matters practices. We’re told that the corporate/transactional, intellectual property and intellectual property litigation, investigations and regulatory spaces are the ones to keep an eye on for lateral hiring.