Greenberg Traurig, PA - The Inside View

“I went with GT because I liked the firm’s Miami roots and international reach,” an associate told us, echoing the motivations of others. Miami is certainly a hot market in the US right now, with firms like Vedder Price, Kirkland, Sidley, and King & Spalding all opening up in the city of late. “Miami has grown and we’ve seen a big exodus in tech and finance entities from Silicon Valley and New York,” another junior explained. “There’s no state income tax either, so you can get paid a New York rate without the same income tax. A lot of people have moved here for that benefit – and the weather!” But it goes without saying that Greenberg Traurig is one of the OGs of Miami legal practice, with those we interviewed making in clear that they “wanted to be based in Miami, but not in a satellite office.” 

“Miami people are feeling pretty confident!” 

While New York is officially GT’s largest office, sources did feel that Miami was still the beating heart of the firm (though there is no official 'home' office) and housed a similar number of juniors to the Big Apple base. Florida also remains the hub of the firm’s strongest collection of Chambers USA accolades, with practices such as real estate, corporate, banking and finance, securities litigation, and white-collar crime and government investigations collecting tip-top praise. Real estate is a significant nationwide strength for GT, as are areas like retail, healthcare, leisure and hospitality, gaming and licensing, product liability, and privacy and data security. From its strongholds in Miami and New York, GT commands an office network consisting of a further 32 domestic bases and 10 international outposts. Despite its global reach, “it still feels like a small firm, which is a joke around the office,” a Miami-based associate told us.  

Strategy & Future 

“Miami is an interesting market,” a source observed. “The city’s had an influx of people from the north and the south, and recently a huge hedge fund moved here from Chicago. There may well be a recession on the horizon, but Miami people are feeling pretty confident!” Another interviewee told us that the focus will be on “organic growth – we recently had a meeting to discuss the potential recession and the takeaway is that we’re going to keep it lean and that we’re in a good position to weather the storm. We’re well established in Miami, which is growing like crazy! I think that’s because a lot of people moved here during COVID and ended up staying. I know a lot of people who moved from New York.” 

The Work  

Around a third of the associates on our list were in the corporate department, while a quarter were in litigation and just over a fifth called real estate home. There were 16 other practices represented – including areas like IP and labor & employment – but these only took on a handful each. We heard that work allocation depends on the group. Litigation was said to use a predominantly free market system: “When you first start they will tell you that a shareholder [GT’s term for ‘partner’] needs help, but you quickly reach out and build relationships to get work after that.” Corporate assignments were concentrated in specific subgroups, “so I get my work directly from a handful of senior associates and shareholders,” while real estate in the larger markets was described as having a more regimented “assignment system: there’s some free market work sprinkled in, but matters mostly come through the official channel. I like that there are assigning shareholders getting an idea of who’s busy and slow.” 

“They really care about what the client sees.” 

In corporate, “the work runs the gamut,” with sources pointing to a prominent M&A practice, as well as fund formation, venture capital, private equity, project finance, public-private partnership, and broad “debt and equity finance work, where we represent large creditors and institutional investors.” This interviewee noted that “we’re not a geographically limited practice and I haven’t done many local deals – they’ve taken place all over the country.” Others told us that they were able to do “the first redline of a contract with tracked changes and comments, as well as research exercises for clients, where, for example, they want to set up a new digital offering and the regulatory requirements will be different across states.” On the debt finance front, “we do the checklist and all the typical project management junior tasks, and get to be a part of all the meetings that take place.” Another was happy to tell us that they’d just “had my first experience of drafting the primary documents on a deal!” Associates didn’t have to worry too much about making mistakes, as “everything at GT gets reviewed two or three times, which is a good strategy! They really care about what the client sees.” 

Corporate clients: Wells Fargo Capital Finance, Treeline Real Estate Partners, Embark Consulting. Advised APi Group Corporation on its $3.1 billion acquisition of the Chubb Fire & Security Business from Carrier Global Corporation.  

Chambers USA heaps praise on GT’s real estate practice for its national coverage and expertise in areas like acquisitions, dispositions, development matters, land use issues, and cross-border deals. Essentially, if it falls in the real estate category, GT will have lawyers who can handle it, whether it’s related to commercial or residential properties and sites. “You have a swathe of junior tasks expected of you,” a source told us, “which include managing checklists and organizing due diligence, as well writing summaries and alerting shareholders to any red flags you find.” If associates impress, the shareholders will “try to level you up and provide you with more stretch assignments, like getting you to draft some comments and going through the ancillary loan documents throughout a deal.” 

“I was running my own depositions after six months.” 

Real estate clients: Mast Capital, Iguana Investments Florida, Rockpoint Group. Advising Related Group on around 50 real estate projects across the US and Latin America worth a combined value of over $8 billion. 

The litigation department “mostly does commercial litigation, but we also do some white-collar matters, international investigations, product liability, and complex arbitrations.” Sources did note that the work “is more cross-office and you’re told to take on a diverse set of cases.” We also heard of a few instances where “you’re really managing the case, writing all the briefs, doing the document production, and talking with opposing counsel.” Another interviewee confirmed that “at the most, there will be two associates on the case, but often it’s just one – I haven’t done that much doc review and I’ve been surprised by how little there is! I was running my own depositions after six months.” 

Litigation clients: Black Dragon Capital, Shenzhen Kinwong Electronic, ePayments Systems. Representing Amper SA and Desca Holdings as sellers in a post-M&A $12 million dispute against the buyers of several subsidiaries in Latin America. 

Hours & Compensation  

Billable hours: no official firm-wide target or requirement – expectations can vary by location

While there’s no official billing requirement or target, the consensus among our interviewees was that associates are “encouraged to meet 2,000 hours for bonus eligibility in some offices, which looks like billing seven and a half hours a day at a minimum of five days a week.” Associates can count up to 100 hours of pro bono, 50 hours of DE&I and 25 hours community service credit towards their billables. A few sources highlighted that compensation at GT is “a black box and there has been some grumbling, but I think it’s pretty fair and market if you hit your hours.” This source agreed and said “the black box system makes sense from a macroeconomic and firm perspective – if things get bad, you can make more adaptive decisions.” The official line on bonuses is that they are merit-based. 

“...we’ve got as much work as you can handle.” 

Hours-wise, “litigation is slammed, so we’ve got as much work as you can handle – it's unlikely you’ll be working less than 2,000 hours a year.” This meant that litigators were working around 50 to 55 hours a week, a source estimated. “They tend to keep us busy” over in real estate, with 2022 described as “a busy year for real estate, so I was working on 70% of my weekends to make sure I didn’t fall behind, but now we’re not so gangbusters, I’ve not worked weekends over the past couple of months.” In corporate, an interviewee told us: “I work around 8am to 8pm, but sometimes there’s nothing pressing and I’ll log off at 6pm and sometimes I’m working until midnight.” 

Pro Bono 

Interviewees were overwhelmingly positive about the firm’s approach to pro bono. “The rules,” explained one, “are that we do a mandatory minimum of 25 with a 100-hour billable credit a year. But I’m going to blow that 100 hours out of the water.” Sources told us that there was flexibility for those who go over 100. “I told the practice group chair I’d be over,” remembered one. “The decision took 20 seconds: they just said ‘We’ll count all your hours.’” Juniors could choose from “a wide range of options sent out by the firm,” or could even bring in their own pro bono projects. We heard about “firm-wide campaigns to assist the Ukraine and Afghanistan refugee crises, but there are homegrown matters we can work on.” GT also works on issues affecting the LGBTQ+ community, veterans matters, and criminal justice cases. “You get a crazy amount of responsibility,” a source enthused. “I’m not quite calling all the shots, but I’m working with a shareholder and we’re doing one civil and one criminal trial. It’s super-cool.” 

Pro bono hours 

• For all (US) attorneys: 39,164
• Average per (US) attorney: undisclosed

“I think we do well in terms of diverse associates and I appreciate the affinity groups.” 

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion 

DE&I was another area where associates felt the firm was doing well. GT ranked highly across those we surveyed for gender diversity and sources confirmed that “there’s significant diversity in terms of women shareholders.” This junior felt that “diversity is a priority, and we have a lot of affinity groups, including ones for Latino and African-American lawyers, as well as a new veterans’ group.” A lot of the praise we heard stemmed from the Miami office, where “there’s a lot of diversity and a large community of Latin American lawyers.” Feedback from the New York and Chicago offices indicated that more could be done to boost representation, but overall juniors were complimentary about the firm’s efforts, with one lateral explaining that diversity at GT was “part of the reason I moved from my old firm – I think we do well in terms of diverse associates and I appreciate the affinity groups.” 

Culture  

GT’s website emphasizes that it wants people who have an interest in collaboration and quality work. In fact, the firm is so determined to make sure new associates are a good fit, one lateral recalled doing a lot of interviews. How many? “I think it was around ten. They want you to meet everyone!” If prospective associates make the cut, then they can expect a culture that one source described as “small, tight-knit, nerdy and fun – for example, a bunch of us are getting together for a board game night!” This junior noted that “GT has this slogan ‘the GT family’ and it does feel like that,” while another said that “we work in each other’s offices if we’re feeling bored!” Overall, “it sounds so cliched to talk about community, but really it’s very down-to-earth and people are nice.” In fact, one person quipped: “If I had been at another firm, I would have left already to come here!”  

“They check in pretty frequently and they do a good job of developing us as people.” 

Career Development 

This junior was keen to tell us that at GT “hard work is rewarded: I’ve had some amazing opportunities with great clients that I wouldn’t have got at a big New York firm.” Those opportunities come from a pedagogy of “you learn the best by doing,” sources told us. “You’re expected to figure it out and learn quickly, which isn’t the type of environment that suits everyone.” However, associates did qualify that it’s more of a gentle thrown-in-at-the-deep-end approach. The consensus was that “you’re left a little bit to your own devices and the idea is that ‘if you want something, go and seek it out,’ which benefits certain personality types.” However, we did hear that the corporate groups in New York and Miami were “good at training – we have weekly meetings to discuss what’s important.” 

In addition to formal mentors, “we do have access to attorney development managers and they’re really helpful,” an interviewee noted. “They check in pretty frequently and they do a good job of developing us as people.”  

Get Hired

The first stage: recruitment on and off campus

OCI applicants interviewed: 658

Greenberg Traurig interviews at schools that are nationally ranked or well represented with alumni in the current attorney population. It also attends job fairs and hires judicial clerks. In 2022 it interviewed at 57 law schools.  

If students do not make the interview schedule because their school uses a random lottery system, “we encourage students to contact the recruiting manager for the office in which they are interested,” says co-president and global chair of professional development and integration Brad D. Kaufman. OCIs are conducted by shareholders (this is what Greenberg calls attorneys at a level similar to partner) and sometimes another attorney. Interviewers look for top academic performance, and a balance of interests in and out of law school. Kaufman adds: “We look at why the candidate is interested in our firm and ask them about practice area interests, because that will determine who the candidate should meet if there is a callback interview.”  

Top tips for this stage:  

“Share something you’re passionate about, whether that’s at law school or an extracurricular activity. We really want to find that extra interesting reason for what drives someone.” – a first-year junior associate  

“It is critical that they show that they know the firm, the local office and the attorneys who are interviewing them. Today, this is easier than ever.” – co-president and global chair of professional development and integration Brad D. Kaufman 

Callbacks 

Candidates meet shareholders and associates throughout the callback. Each interview is 20 to 30 minutes long. Kaufman tells us: “We focus on whether the candidate can thrive in our firm culture,” so candidates should expect questions about working in smaller teams and showing initiative.  

Top tips for this stage:  

“People who do well are people who are comfortable and capable of cracking a joke.” – a first-year junior associate  

“Make sure to read the biographies of the attorneys who will be interviewing you and try and show genuine interest in their practice.” – co-president and global chair of professional development and integration Brad D. Kaufman  

Summer program

Offers: N/A

Summer associates’ projects are usually assigned by an associate. These projects are based on the firm’s needs, so summers will likely get exposure to different areas of law. The exception is patent prosecution as the firm hires summers directly into this group. Kaufman says: “You should have a few projects on your plate at any given time, but do not volunteer for every project so it spreads you thin and affects the quality of your work.” Associates are given a shareholder and an associate mentor to help navigate the program.  

“They do the great activities – baseball games, cocktail events – where you meet all the practice groups,” a first-year associate recalled. “That’s really fun and can be just as grueling as the work!”  

The firm makes offers to specific practice areas.  

Top tips for this stage:  

“Take the time to learn from key professional staff, including legal assistants/secretaries, as they are often critical to the workflows of the practices.” – co-president and global chair of professional development and integration Brad D. Kaufman

And finally….  

Kaufman adds: “We value diversity and individuality, so be yourself!”