A&O Shearman - The Inside View

Everybody has their personal all-star, hall of fame favorite duos: peanut butter and jelly; Sundays and brunch; Chandler and Joey. All great picks, but nothing goes together quite like British-born Allen & Overy and American native Shearman & Sterling. After the headline-making merger in May 2024, A&O Shearman has cemented itself as a household name in the BigLaw cul-de-sac. Luckily, associates on both sides were happy to clear out the spare room to make some space for their new roomies: “The merger was an exciting time,” one reminisced, “it was a little weird at first – like, these people are moving into our house! – but I think it’s all gone smoothly.” Perhaps a slight understatement from our dear interviewee there – at least by our sister guide’s standards. The firm receives the highest honor in Chambers USA for its bankruptcy/restructuring and environment work in New York, while corporate crime and investigations and projects (agency financing and mining and metals) take the cake nationwide.

“…a seamless pairing of the two legacy groups.”

With any merger, “there’s a little bit of worry or trepidation going into it,” but with A&O Shearman: “It’s been a seamless pairing of the two legacy groups,” a junior beamed. Another nodded: “You can feel the excitement in the air. Things brightened up, it’s been happier, and there’s always something to look forward to.” They continued, quipping: “Now, I have triple the number of partners in my practice that can give me work!” That was a standout for a few of our insiders who emphasized that the cross-border marriage has “brought more opportunities to work on. We obviously had practice groups that were similar across firms, but they were complementary,” an interviewee explained; “what each firm specialized in pre-merger wasn’t the same, so we’re now building a lot of skills that can be applied across practices.”

Location breadth is another area where A&O Shearman excels. With ten offices stateside and a further 39 overseas, most of the associates on our list were based between New York and DC.

Strategy & Future

“We are a people business and what will differentiate us is the quality of our people and how engaged they are,” Dave Lewis, US co-managing partner, tells us. As a new industry leader with truly global capabilities, he continues: “The support from our clients has been truly exceptional and only reinforces the transformational nature of A&O Shearman. We are excited by the level of interest and immediate opportunities that they anticipate, especially among shared clients who welcome the idea of a ‘one-stop shop’ firm serving their legal needs.”

Solidifying the viewpoint from their associates, US co-managing partner Doreen Lilienfeld stresses that cross-border work will only continue to grow. “We’ve joined forces to create the law firm of the future, one where we anticipate client needs, rise to any challenge, and take a proactive stance… We listened to our clients and their requests for the highest quality advice to help them address their needs and to do so in a globally integrated and consistent manner.”

The Work

None of our interviewees could speak to newly merged A&O Shearman’s summer program (for obvious reasons!), but they were happy to explain the staffing system to us. There is a centralized staffing coordinator who oversees work assignments: “They pay attention and reach out with matters for you, but there are natural relationships that form. If you want to work with someone, you can always ask and get work that way,” a junior explained. This hybrid system was a hit with our sources: “There are partners who like working with me, so they keep asking for me to work with them! But as a junior coming in, it’s great to be able to find work quickly” through the staffing coordinator. Another agreed that, “it can be a little scary at first to feel like you’re relying on your relationships with people to get work, but I think it’s realistic for the practice – that’s what being a lawyer is like.” They continued, “It gives me a lot of agency and makes me feel like I’m developing good skills.”

In A&O Shearman’s litigation and investigations practice, “we do all kinds of litigation” including commercial, securities, and any broader investigations litigation. From CFTC to FCPA investigations, to the uninitiated, the litigation group’s work can look a little like alphabet soup; thankfully, one junior litigator helpfully explained: “It’s mostly government agencies looking into our clients, or our clients trying to preempt government agencies looking into them.” Typical responsibilities vary widely as “there are some things as a junior that you’ll just be doing,” like doc review and “a little more grunt work… Someone has to do it!” an interviewee laughed. This is balanced out with real substantive tasks as this source caveated, “You can be in charge of an entire work stream on some matters, take real ownership over your work, and be the one communicating with the client.” If this sounds daunting, don’t stress; it’s definitely not “a trial by fire,” another nodded, “you get so much support. It can be scary when you’ve got lots of responsibility, but you can always ask for help.”

“Anything where you have an international law touchpoint is something that we would certainly be able to help out with.”

Litigators can also be staffed in the international arbitration group where “there really is international arbitration in a very broad sense.” We heard of associates doing commercial arbitration, investor state arbitration, and plenty of work related to US foreign relations law, sovereign unity, and public international law. “Anything where you have an international law touchpoint is something that we would certainly be able to help out with,” a proud insider relayed. The clientele tends to be the types of multinationals involved in disputes of this kind, and in terms of responsibility, we were told that matters are staffed pretty leanly. “You’re pretty likely to get drafting experience pretty early on in your career,” a source noted. They went on to say, “My early development as an associate really benefited from that. You get a lot of opportunities early on – obviously with a strong dose of guidance and input from others.” There was also praise for the mid-level associate cohort in this practice “in terms of mentorship and the ability to run ideas, language, or any piece of work product past them and get feedback.”

Litigation clients: Bank of America, Chevron, Paramount. Secured a litigation victory for Uber in a Securities Exchange Act case in relation to an internal communications leak.

Speaking to those in energy, natural resources and infrastructure – fondly dubbed ‘ENRI’ – we were told that the group “basically does any project transaction deal within those three sectors.” Rather than segregating by deal type, “we’re more of an industry group,” an associate detailed, “we have people on our team who do real estate, IP, all kinds of stuff.” Clients here are banks and energy companies, as well as agencies of any variety: multinational, multilateral, US government, private sector – you name it, ENRI’s got it. Really, “it’s any company that wants to build a large-scale project – a battery storage facility, power plant, energy storage plant – and use project financing as its main source of funding,” a junior summarized. Better still, “some of what we’ve done has been in the news!”

“…the better you do, the more pie you get!”

Unlike their litigious counterparts, “I never felt like it was a total baptism by fire… but it was a little baptism by fire,” an amused associate confessed. They clarified: “No deal was going to crumble because of the level of responsibility I was given, but if I was handed an assignment and it didn’t go well, there would be some level of consequence.” The learning curve is steep, we heard, and “the speed with which everything moves is very fast,” an insider confirmed. With daily tasks like signature pages, setting up calls, completing issues lists, organizing workstreams, and due diligence – which was described as “inescapable because it’s the nature of project finance” – associates emphasized that “you hit the ground running” in ENRI. Continuing, this source said of the group’s fast-growing responsibilities: “Like everything else, it’s a pie-eating contest – the better you do, the more pie you get!”

ENRI clients: US Department of Energy, JERA Americas, Ørsted Onshore North America. Represented ECP ForeStar and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners as debt financing sources for the Williams biocarbon facility in California.

Juniors working in international capital markets at A&O Shearman do a split between deal work and advisory work. The former focuses on people wanting to access capital markets – debt or equity transactions – and the certain disclosure requirements to comply with once a public offering like that is done. The advisory component consists of helping clients with bond offerings and IPOs, with some issuer side company clients on the cards here. Of their role in the group, insiders said: “As a junior, you’re doing more low-skill, labor-intensive tasks” such as reviewing the documents in a data room, “but with that context, you’re able to build on that knowledge and do the tasks reserved for the more senior associates.” There is a decent amount of supervision, but sources were especially pleased with the autonomy the group provides. “If you show that you’re being smart, paying attention, and being thorough, I find that people do trust me, and I feel like I’m able to run with projects,” a rookie nodded.

Capital markets clients: CVS Health Corporation, BofA Securities, HSBC Bank. Advised Boston Scientific Corporation on a €2 billion registered offering by American Medical Systems Europe.

Career Development

“We’ve got trainings out the wazoo!” an enthusiastic ENRI junior laughed when we asked about A&O Shearman’s career development offerings, but we were told that this is largely group dependent. There has been a “post-merger push on the internal development side of things, rolling out a fresh push of meetings with mentors and making sure people are getting the feedback they need.” Speaking of feedback, the firm has recently implemented a tool called Compass, allowing juniors to “reach out to everyone you’ve worked with in the past few months and ask for feedback. You can tailor it a little bit and even give feedback to your supervisors!” This feedback is sent to the partner mentors that newbies are assigned upon joining the firm, and “then you schedule a meeting with them to walk through all the feedback, as well as the next steps in your career development process.” Another insider nodded, “It’s super helpful; it’s not always easy to make the time, but it’s taken very seriously and isn’t optional.” Though, for a number of our interviewees, informal mentorship was the real teaching tool: “There are other partners who will sit down with me, introduce me to clients, take me to dinners.” Overall, as one source summarized, “I’m definitely a better attorney at the merged firm, and they’ve helped facilitate that.”

Conversations around partnership do happen, but their frequency varied among our interviewees. Mostly, “the people I’ve spoken to about partnership have been super open and transparent,” and one insider even shared, “we had a training about the path to partnership where the partners all spoke about their very different paths. They’re happy to help you make a plan when the time is right.”

Hours & Compensation

Billable hours: 2,000 target

Juniors all agreed – albeit with some hesitation – that their billable hour target is achievable, though “you give up a lot to hit it. People who make the sacrifices to get there deserve the reward” of the lockstep bonus, as it involves “tons of work. It can be super tough because sometimes, your workflow’s not steady at all,” an interviewee confessed. This is market-dependent though, and associates get additional hours for activities such as business development, recruitment, mentorship, and pro bono to supplement this: “You will hit it, but you’ll have some insane months and then some very slow months,” a source laid out.

Survey respondents reported working an average of around 47 hours a week which corroborates the accounts from our interviewees who outlined getting into the office at around 9am and leaving around 6pm. “I do work weekends,” an insider admitted, and the expectation for associates is to come into the office three days a week. “There’s good flexibility on that, and I’m going in because I want to,” a source elaborated, adding excitedly, “We don’t just have a coffee machine; we have a coffee bar! And the lunch is good too – it’s subsidized pricing, so it’s cheap.”

Culture

With any merger, you’d expect more than a few growing pains, but not at A&O Shearman; here, blending ‘legacy A&O’ with ‘legacy Shearman’ attorneys has been “cool! It’s been very fun to see people integrating into the groups, and I’m surprised at how naturally friendly we all are,” an associate beamed, “we’re all really close to each other.” The new New York office makes socializing seamless as “you can always find someone in the café, and you can usually find people hanging out and having lunch together.” Another laughed, “I’m in the office three days a week, and sometimes I feel like I’m just running around saying hi to everyone!” It’s important to keep in mind that there are differences between offices: “New York and London are quite large; DC and Boston tend to be smaller, so your social experience might be a slightly different feel as a product of size.” That said, everyone we spoke to was pleased with the “organic interactions” that happen; between practice-specific happy hours and firm-wide events like the annual holiday party, “we’re still working on making sure the social avenues that co-existed at the legacy firms are being integrated. We’re re-launching those now – it’s good, but we’re still working on it!”

A&O Shearman is recognized as a Strong Performer for Quality of Life in our 2025 survey.

Pro Bono

At A&O Shearman, “everyone is encouraged to do pro bono… I don’t know anyone who doesn’t do it!” This can likely be attributed to the firm’s mandatory 25 pro bono hours for all associates: “It’s tied to our bonus,” a junior noted. We heard that the pro bono coordinator makes finding matters super accessible through regular email blasts which, associates noted, are “always varied enough that people find something they want to do.” Our sources largely spoke about working on immigration and voter rights.

There were a few grumbles about the pro bono cap – since that limit also includes time spent on mentorship, training, and recruitment – but ultimately, most of the juniors we spoke to were content with the policy. “It’s not difficult to get involved in, and folks aren’t doing it with the target in mind,” one shrugged, “they’re doing it because they’re genuinely excited about that kind of work.”

Pro bono hours

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

Inclusion

“The international aspect is something the firm really gets behind…”

“It’s definitely international,” one associate contemplated, “We get a ton of people who are just passing by for a period of time from Austria, Colombia, Mexico.” Of this global feeling, another commented, “The international aspect is something the firm really gets behind; when everyone is coming from a different country, the culture doesn’t feel monolithic. People feel free to be themselves here, and it’s not exclusionary at all.” The firm supplements this with over ten affinity groups which are open to everyone and currently having something of a revival post-merger. “I’ve seen an uptick in emails and invitations for events,” many noted, and the consensus was that the high levels of inclusivity are weaved into the fabric of A&O Shearman.

Coming soon...