Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP - The Inside View

Speak to anyone in the know about life as a junior associate and you’ll come across the old expression ‘learning by osmosis’ pretty quickly. But it’s with good reason. Especially as an attorney, the best way to learn is to surround yourself with people that know what they are talking about, and for juniors at Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton (or just Cleary to its friends), there was no better resource on offer than the expertise around them: “It seemed to be a very mature, thoughtful and sensitive work environment,” one associate told us, “there were really smart people, and I wanted to be like them!” So, what would looking like a Cleary lawyer actually, well, look like? For one thing, the firm’s strength in cross-border transactions means that being quick to build connections with people all over the world is a must, and consequently, there are plenty of language skills knocking around. While Cleary associates are split between four US offices, the firm has a further twelve overseas, including particular strength in Latin America. 

“…there were really smart people, and I wanted to be like them!”

Around three quarters of Cleary’s junior associates were located in their New York HQ, with the next largest cohort in DC. Antitrust & competition, capital markets, litigation and M&A generally take on the most associates, with litigation the largest by some way. It’s broadly reflective of the firm’s areas of strength too, with top-ranked antitrust, derivatives, international trade, securities regulation, and corporate tax practices nationwide in Chambers USA, alongside a top-tier antitrust ranking in DC.

Strategy & Future

Coming soon...

The Work

Cleary’s junior associates had positive things to say about the firm’s summer program, given the opportunities to get a taste of both the transactional and litigious sides of the coin. We heard work assignment comes via attorney development managers, who were described as “basically talent managers for attorneys. Their goal is to keep everyone around the same range, so it’s all divided up as equally as possible and all through the staffer.” It’s also possible for junior associates to approach the attorney development managers to request the sorts of work, development opportunities and experiences they are interested in.

“It ranges from tech to mining and minerals, machines and semiconductors, and even office retail supplies!”

The corporate practice at the firm encompasses sub teams in M&A, capital markets, debt finance, and structured finance. The M&A practice covers all three of “public, private and strategic M&A,” one junior told us, “and all associates are staffed on these things intentionally, so they get to work with a variety of partners.” Over in capital markets,the bread and butter is deal work, bond offerings, IPOs, equity offerings, and some corporate governance work too: “Cleary’s clients are pretty diverse, and they are often international. It ranges from tech to mining and minerals, machines and semiconductors, and even office retail supplies! The range is really wide, so it’s always fun to get a new client.” Regardless of the sub team, “juniors are doing traditional junior tasks but there’s also genuinely room to level up. On a good team it doesn’t feel like you’re somebody’s assistant. You feel like what you’re doing has an impact on the transactions.” While typical tasks include taking notes in meetings, scheduling calls and incorporating comments, juniors were also “often taking the first pass at drafting documents of all sorts, answering client questions, and reviewing SEC filings.”

Corporate clients: American Express, T-Mobile, GSK. Represented Roquette in its $2.85 billion acquisition of the Pharma Solutions segment of IFF.

Litigation was home to the largest number of juniors, who told us that they were working on everything from civil litigation and bankruptcy matters to overseas litigation and litigation in the crypto-currency space. Enforcement matters play a big part of life in the seat, and junior associates were well-versed in SEC and DOJ investigations, sharing that their clients were typically financial institutions and fortune 100 companies. “Some matters are very leanly staffed, so the work you’re doing is probably more typical for a mid-level than a junior,” one associate told us. Of course, “others are really large, so you’re doing more standard things like legal research or preparing the first draft of a client email.” Where juniors had got lucky, “I’ve been able to second chair an arbitration or write the cross-examination outline for key witnesses.” The quality and complexity of the drafting exercises becomes greater with time too: “First, it’s part of a brief or a section of a letter, but as you move up you’ll get full control over first drafts of briefs. From there, it builds out and your work hopefully starts getting less critiqued!”

Litigation clients: The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, The Republic of Argentina, Howmet Aerospace. Represented clients including HSBC, Citibank, Credit Agricole, BNP Paribas and BNYM in matters arising from the bankruptcy of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities and the Madoff fraud. 

Cleary’s antitrust & competition practice works as a single, integrated team internationally, with multiple lawyers having switched between offices in the US, Asia and Europe. Juniors working out of the US were mostly positioned in the firm’s DC office, and shared that they had been involved in mergers for private equity companies, conducted advisory work for tech companies, and jumped on every kind of government investigation you can think of – even playing a part in cartel investigations. The team at Cleary boasts several former senior officials from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), and the European Commission’s directorate-general for competition. As in corporate and litigation, “obviously there’s the typical junior tasks like document review,” explained an associate, “but you also get a first crack at drafting some documents, preparing materials that go in front of the agencies, and a little bit of client management and client contact too.”

Antitrust clients: Korean Airlines, Figma, Medtronic. Defended IQVIA in lawsuits brought against it by the Federal Trade Commission in federal court regarding the antitrust aspects of its abandoned acquisition of DeepIntent.

Career Development

Juniors told us that they felt support from their summer program onwards, as “even from the outset they have discussions about the partner promotion process and what the alumni networking and support office looks like.” Associates shared that “there’s a lot of interest in making sure you’re growing and developing,” through both formal and informal mentorship opportunities. As one source told us, “I’ve been lucky enough to work with a number of senior lawyers that I think are invested in developing me as an associate. They’re giving me opportunities and helpful feedback, and I think that’s helped me grow as an attorney.” The attorney development managers were also mentioned during discussions about career development, as juniors told us that they meet with them once a month to discuss how things are going. These conversations cover workload and next steps, whether these are short, medium or long-term goals.

Pro Bono

“There’s a very vibrant and active pro bono practice here at the firm,”  one source beamed. Juniors can count all of their pro bono work towards their billable hours target, and appreciated that “when you’re tied up and can’t do work for a billable matter because you’re at a trial for your pro bono matter, that’s never held against you.” Of course, one of the major benefits is that it gives associates room to build on client experience by taking the lead on these kinds of cases. Previous matters included the likes of immigration and asylum work, work with the Innocence Project, and work on corporate matters for non-profit organizations.

Pro bono hours

• For all (US) attorneys: 45,277
• Average per (US) attorney: 74

Culture

“…everyone has their own niche interests but they’re all part of the team.”

“Cleary likes to hire curious, sometimes quirky people, which I love,” one junior explained, “everyone has their own niche interests but they’re all part of the team.” The general consensus too was that the environment that this kind of approach creates is one in which “you feel comfortable trying new things, and they know you’re not going to get it right every time.” Sources shared that they were regularly working with colleagues across the firm’s offices, but also had frequent opportunities to meet and socialize with those in their own bases too: “The firm has a weekly wine and cheese thing, a holiday party, and other whole-firm events over the course of the year,” detailed a junior, “and we do informal networking things within the group too.”

Hours & Compensation

Billable hours: 1,950 target

Junior associates at Cleary are required to hit a billable hours target of 1,950, but “there’s no issue if you don’t hit that. It doesn’t affect your bonus or anything, but it is a target.” Despite how unpredictable the world of BigLaw is, we heard that a steady day across most practice groups involved working from about 9am to 7pm, “and then of course it can be lower than that, but not terribly often.” A junior litigator told us that when hours do get crazy, “the whole team is there together, eating dinner in the conference room and working to get everything finished. If someone finishes early, they’ll go and help others so we can all go home earlier.” In short, “it’s very much a collaborative mentality, and the partners are there too.”

Get Hired

The first stage: recruitment on and off campus   

CIP applicants interviewed: 300 

OCI applicants interviewed: 162

Preview Programs applicants interviewed: 112 

“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: 411

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, including attorneys from a particular practice area.” 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: 203 

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.”