Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP - The Inside View

Contrary to the commonly held view that rankings, revenue, and locations are the pivotal selling points for a firm, the associates we spoke to chose Weil for one other core reason. Of course, this firm does have all that: last year its revenue surpassed $2 billion; it now has ten US offices and six international locations; and reams of top rankings across our sister guides. Bankruptcy/restructuring, corporate governance, product liability & mass torts, and securities regulation are all marked in the top band nationwide in Chambers USA, and the firm also has two top Chambers Global rankings in private equity and – as expected – restructuring.

“They didn’t just look at you as a resume.”

Accolades aside, though, “what stood out with Weil was that the people I spoke with were really respectful to candidates – they didn’t just look at you as a resume, but they looked at your life before law school,” one source detailed.

With a network of ten offices stateside, the large majority of associates join the New York office, followed by Dallas, Washington DC, Silicon Valley, Boston, Houston, Miami, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. The firm also has an office in Austin, and a further six offices internationally.

Strategy & Future

“We’re going through management change because Barry is coming up to retirement,” one associate headlined on the movement of Barry Wolf from the executive partner position at Weil, though sources were keen to couch that they felt “comfortable that whoever comes after will make the same progress.”

On the whole, interviewees felt confident in their understanding of the firm and their practice’s strategy for the future, with particular commentary highlighting the strides made towards integrating AI tools like ChatGPT Enterprise, and it’s hiring of a Chief AI and Innovation Officer.

Insiders also underscored the “big push” the firm is making to develop the Los Angeles and San Francisco offices, which opened a few years ago. “We’ve hired a lot of partners in LA, so we’re definitely trying to grow California,” a source noted, particularly with white-collar and complex commercial litigation in the region.

We heard that building a more government-facing litigation practice will be a focus in the coming years as well: “I know we’ve been building up antitrust in DC for a while. One partner also mentioned they’d like to see more Weil attorneys exiting the firm to government and maybe coming back…”

Summer Program

In typical fashion, juniors had glowing reviews of the “great” summer program. Socially, sources explained “there are summer events at partners’ homes with fantastic attorneys,” and the summer program itself “is designed well.” Associates rotate through different practice groups across the ten-week program and are able to shadow attorneys and work across different assignments.

After the summer is over, associates rank the four groups they worked across in order of where they’d most like to be placed upon joining the firm.

The Work

Juniors are staffed on matters through a centralized staffing system, which was a big draw for interviewees. Associates can reach out to partners to source extra assignments – something which is particularly helpful for finding business development opportunities – but for the most part, the consensus was, “You don’t want to have to be fishing for work alongside all the other things you have to do!” Each department has designated assignment partners who primarily assign work based on availability, though we heard they do try to take associates’ interests into account.

M&A and private equity are among the firm’s largest corporate groups. Public company work “is our specialty,” a source explained, but the M&A group generally covers a spectrum of matters including shareholder activism defense and dividend recapitalization.

For juniors, “you’ll always be in the weeds doing diligence,” but “the better your work product, the more responsibility you get, so you get more drafting opportunities as you get more senior,” insiders explained. Our sources stressed that “you’re not just relegated to checklists and board decks, you’re taking the pen on ancillaries and, even as a first-year, I was already drafting public filings.”

“Weil is known for restructuring and bankruptcy.”

“Weil is known for restructuring and bankruptcy,” and as a result “that bleeds into a lot of practice groups,” an insider explained. Therefore, associates here also play a significant role in fulfilling a lot of the ancillary functions of restructuring across the group’s numerous departments which include private funds, public company advisory, real estate, banking and finance, capital markets, structured finance, and regulatory.

Corporate clients: L’Oreal, Home Depot, Eli Lilly. Advising Goldman Sachs in relation to the $2.7 billion take-private of Soho House.

Structured finance is “mostly domestic,” one junior explained of their experience. “90% of my work comes from the New York office, with maybe 10% coming from London and other offices around the world; I have worked with offices everywhere from South Korea and Europe to California!” they added. Sources told us that over the last year there have been fewer IP deals, but that oil and gas deals have been all the rage, and the firm consistently has “a lot of vehicle or auto-related matters.”

The work for juniors on the daily really “depends on the kind of deal; where the offering memorandum and transaction documents are standardized, you’ll typically manage the deal, put everything together, contact the client and opposing counsel and ensure the deal closes,” an insider explained. While in these cases there are sometimes one or two provisions to renegotiate – “where we’ll contact the client or partner saying what they’re proposing” – in other, “newer deals with more nuance, we’ll have less responsibility on negotiating,” we heard.

Structured finance clients: Blackstone, JP Morgan Asset Management, Morgan Stanley. Advised Wheels Topco in connection with the issuance of $1 billion in 144A notes.

Focused on debtor claims, the restructuring practice has associates working on large and small deals, the latter of which have more “concentrated teams,” allowing juniors to take on more responsibility. Insiders felt that the variety of work gave them “lots of exposure with a range of industry,” with associates working with people from Houston – “we file a lot of our cases there” – to counterparts in London and Germany. Juniors are typically responsible for the drafting of standard form pleadings like notices, but there are also “tons of opportunities to get involved in substantive briefs for confirmation hearings on specific issues.” Moving into second year, juniors still take on a fair share of admin tasks, “making sure everything is organized,” but they also help draft committee and board meetings, so “it can be really variable.”

Restructuring clients: Scandinavian Airlines System, AMC Entertainment, Avon Products. Representing Fossil Group, fashion design and manufacturing company, in a series of financial restructuring transactions.

Commercial litigation is the largest litigious practice at the firm. The practice covers a range of industries with “everything from IP and bankruptcy, to run-of-the-mill contracts,” a source explained.

In typical fashion newbies are tasked with doc review and research across different groups in the practice, but while juniors might not be taking the pen on briefs, we heard from several insiders that they got the opportunity to go to trial and assist with direct and cross-examinations. “I got to second chair depositions, which was surprising!” one interviewee exclaimed, so while juniors get deeply involved in discovery and various research assignments “you get insight into more senior processes.”

Commercial litigation clients: PepsiCo, Saks Fifth Avenue, ExxonMobil. Represents Paramount Global/CBS Studios in relation to the distribution rights of “Wheel of Fortune” and “Jeopardy!”.

Career Development

Our interviewees were very positive about the firm’s approach to training for juniors, which includes 10-15 CLEs every year – “they cover the basics of what we do on a day-to-day basis” – and restructuring trainings by class year. Other practices also have tailor-made trainings. “We do a good job making sure training covers practical skills and outside content,” one associate told us, explaining that “people come in, advisors we work with, and we do updates to explain what is going on with different deals.”

“You get tons of facetime with partners daily.”

Formal mentoring programs and informal alike play a part in associates’ positive perceptions of career development. Upon joining, newbies are formally assigned an associate mentor and a partner mentor and are placed in a mentorship circle. The firm also allocates a budget for associate mentorship activities. Informal mentoring in particular was given high praise. Once a quarter associates sit down with partners to talk about what kind of work they want, and beyond that “you get tons of facetime with partners daily; they’ll bring you in on calls, give you practical tips, and get you thinking about the future.”

Sources stressed that as a junior “there isn’t an emphasis placed on making you figure out your path early, but there is an understanding that at some point the numbers game happens.” Associates felt that the firm is “excited to place people in places that interest them, which provides a win-win” so “we often have seniors go on secondment, whether to come back or be placed there.” The firm even has an alumni app to help keep people connected, so “there is intent to help people find a good landing.”

Hours & Compensation

Billable hours: no requirement

The most consistent praise for Weil which every associate we spoke with mentioned was the lack of a billable target. “When you put hours in a threshold, it puts a lot of pressure on associates when hours are down,” a source explained. As a result of the staffing system, juniors told us they never had issues getting on matters – “there is plenty of work to go around” – but similarly, “I’ve never felt totally overwhelmed; I’ve had times I haven’t had an active matter but I’ve never been wanting for work – and if I went out asking for work, I’d probably find it.”

Weil’s compensation also left associates feeling satisfied, with a lockstep model that follows the market rate. “So long as you are performing you get a bonus,” one insider explained, adding, “I’ve never had pushback on vacation, but when it’s busy the expectation is you pick up the phone.” Associates are also expected to be in the office four days a week but have twelve extra days remote working allowance that are typically used around certain periods including the stretch between Christmas and New Year; the end of summer; and around Thanksgiving.

Culture

“Respectful” and “supportive” were the two words most used to describe Weil’s culture, one that’s supported by the fact that “there isn’t that eat-what-you-kill, bill more than your neighbor, hyper-competitive environment; we’re all in the same boat so we try and make the most of it!” It goes without saying that “the expectation is that you are a high-performing individual, so you do have to perform at the pace of a BigLaw office in New York,” but there was the general feeling people like being in the office together.

“We like to celebrate big wins.”

“Work hard, play hard?” one associate mused “… yeah, that’s probably fair – we like to celebrate big wins.” Culture can vary slightly across offices though – as is typical with BigLaw firms. For example, New York was described as “really nice, but probably more corporate.” On the other side of the spectrum, a partner in the Dallas office recently bought a giant Pac-Man machine.

Across the firm offices hold the traditional holiday parties where “they invite everyone from the janitorial staff, to the secretarial staff to the partners, and that stood out to me.” To help build connections “Weil does a good job providing opportunities to talk with partners,” including organizing brown-bag lunches for juniors to talk to partners in an informal setting which “makes it much easier to converse with people when walking along the halls!”

Pro Bono

Associates are required to complete at least 50 hours of pro bono work. Beyond that, there’s no limit to the number of hours they can undertake. As a testament to the firm’s commitment to pro bono work, we spoke to a number of juniors who told us they had done hundreds of hours: “it’s the most fun, most emotional stuff – there are almost too many opportunities to be honest!”

Associates work across both contentious and transactional matters, with the former including things like creating non-profits and selling public benefit companies – “a chance to do M&A without the pressure of a bigshot deal.” On the litigious side we found that immigration matters were quite common, particularly in Texas, and many associates also work on the Innocence Project.

Pro bono hours

• For all US attorneys: 56,955
• Average per US attorney: 69

Get Hired 

Recruitment on and off campus: 

OCI applicants interviewed: undisclosed

Interviewees outside OCI: undisclosed

Weil interviews at several law schools and job fairs, and participates in resume collection programs at many additional law schools throughout the U.S. and Canada. Candidates are also encouraged to apply directly via the firm’s career site.  

“We’re looking to get to know the candidate and ascertain whether they have an interest in what we do. A key trait of a successful Weil associate is having a level of intellectual curiosity about what we do,” our hiring source at the firm tells us.  

Candidates interview with two partners and two associates. “Overall, the goal is to get a sense of each candidate’s motivations and professional interests,” our hiring source tells us. 

Questions are geared toward gauging candidates’ “readiness to commit to, and qualifications for, a career that is both demanding and rewarding.”  

There is no one “type” of Weil lawyer, our hiring source explains: “We’ve found that both introverts and extroverts can excel at the firm (and in interviews). When people are sincerely interested in a legal career at a top-notch firm, those interviews generally end up being fantastic.”  

Top tips for interviews:  

“The best interviews tend to be conversational. We want candidates to be prepared and ready to discuss their background, unique and informative experiences, and motivation for the future, as well as to ask questions that exhibit their interest in the industry and our firm in particular.” – Weil hiring source

“If you’re a well-rounded candidate, you’ll do great. If you’re prepared and serious about wanting to be a good lawyer, you’ll do well here.” – a junior associate 

“The most outstanding interviews tend to be with candidates who are comfortable with themselves and their resumes–those that come across as sincere, interested, and engaged.” – Weil hiring source

Summer program  

Offers: undisclosed

Acceptances: undisclosed

Our hiring source tells us that Weil’s summer program “gives summers a good sense of what life as a lawyer looks like here, and is a great introduction to networking and developing relationships that can last throughout a legal career.”  

Summer associates do “real work for clients in real-time, working closely with associates and partners throughout the firm. They get a sense of being on a team and being in the trenches on a matter.”  

Weil provides numerous opportunities to explore the firm’s culture through day-to-day interactions, casual lunches/dinners and planned social activities. There are shadowing engagements as well, where the summer is assigned to a partner in order to observe their routine on calls and in meetings: “The program gives our participants substantive experience, like what they would get as a first year associate at Weil.”  

Top tips for the program:  

“Summer associates succeed most when they do not have preconceived notions about their summer experience. Those who are ‘all-in,’ those who proactively explore many areas of the firm by working and interacting with our attorneys, and those who become part of a team that shares the common goal of client service and a sense of community do well here.” – Weil hiring source

And finally…  

Our hiring source tells us that in the end “talented individuals who want a seat at the table and an opportunity to tackle complex, challenging matters on behalf of world-class companies will find ample opportunities to shine.”