Alston & Bird LLP - The Inside View

With a legacy dating back well over 100 years in Atlanta, it should come as no surprise that “when you talk with people in the city and mention Alston & Bird, most people have heard of the firm.” Fast forward 132 years and, while Atlanta remains Alston & Bird’s largest office hosting the majority of associates, the firm’s reach now spans both coasts and (almost) everything in between, with bases in New York, Charlotte, Raleigh, DC, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Century City, Chicago, and Dallas. The firm’s network also branches outside the states, with two overseas offices in London and Brussels. 

Bringing it back to the firm’s roots, an insider noted, “Having that connection to Atlanta is so good for business in the area.” Indeed, Alston & Bird works with a number of local household names, including the likes of Home Depot and Chick-fil-A. And, given the firm’s prowess, it’s only right that such big-name clients flock to the firm. Chambers USA in particular highlights Alston & Bird’s Georgian antitrust, banking and finance, construction, corporate/M&A, employee benefits and executive compensation, healthcare, labor and employment, general commercial litigation, securities litigation, white-collar crime and government investigations, real estate and tax practices as top notch in the state. Of course, the firm’s long since branched out from its home nest; nationwide, the firm’s capital markets securitization, government contracts and international trade (export controls and economic sanctions) expertise receives top medals.  

“…demonstrates the possibility of longevity here.” 

Despite all this fanfare, our interviewees were adamant that their reasons for joining weren’t solely based on the firm’s accolades. “Everyone says Alston folks are the friendliest,” one junior beamed, “the firm has a reputation for having a very friendly work culture, and it’s certainly something I saw very early on in the recruitment events.” The culture is so strong so that “people have stuck around. That demonstrates the possibility of longevity here,” noted a source. 

Alston & Bird is recognized as a Strong Performer for Associate Satisfaction and two other categories in our 2025 survey.

Strategy & Future 

Managing partner Richard Hays tells us that despite having had good growth in their practices over the past year, the firm approaches their strategy with the philosophy that they are “never content.”  Last September, Alston had 72 associates joining from 34 different law schools at a time when many firms have been slimming down their summer programs or hiring less, demonstrating the firm’s push for growth. It has also meant, Hays remarks, that “we have to remain committed to our core training in those early years. We’ve put an emphasis on mentoring and training, opening up opportunities for success, and we’re having an open dialogue about having training in the right areas.” Commercially, the focus lies on the “premium areas of work that require an intense understanding of the legal world,”  Hays emphasizes. These include financial services, healthcare, environmental, IP and patent litigation teams, alongside real estate, food and beverage, cyber security and data groups as areas the firm is looking to bolster.

Interviewees at Alston generally had a good view of the firm’s strategy, particularly in direct relation to their associated practice. Groups hold weekly information sharing days and, on a firmwide front: “they do a good job keeping everyone in the loop with a yearly meeting updating us on things like hours and expansions,” an associate explained, “we just opened in Chicago and are expending our Dallas office, so I know they are doing a good job there.”  

The Work 

Alston & Bird operates a “completely open market” system for work allocation; associates are also able to fill in a work survey every week to give indications to seniors of their capacity. “Every now and then they’ll send out short term assignments to all the associates,” but for the most part you reach out if you need work. “Sometimes you don’t hear back and that can be a bit frustrating,” one insider griped, but this was more of an issue for immediate newcomers to the firm as “when you get more established, partners will reach out to you so it becomes more organic.” Each practice group has its own workflow coordinator, "so when attorneys want to work on a deal, they’ll reach out to them first to see if they have the capacity.” 

Primarily working with US banks, trusts and other financial institutions, Alston’s  finance  group operates across corporate debt, corporate trust, agency and asset servicing, distressed debt and structured and warehouse finance. While the majority of the work tends to be national, but the firm does also work with international counterparts. As such, for juniors, the significance and scale of the matters means “you’re certainly not negotiating the terms of the deal,” but newbies do get to sit in on calls to learn, and “as your knowledge increases you interact with the clients more and more.” Much of the day to day for juniors also consists of collecting client comments and document management. Structured finance assignments also see juniors carrying out client communication, drafting offering memorandums, assessing risk factors and in time, delegating work to those more junior and managing deal checklists. Though there is drafting work to be taken on, “it’s a lot of deal management more than anything,” an insider explained of their responsibilities. 

Finance clients: Bank of America, Capital One, The Home Depot. Represented Americold Realty Trust on its first public offering of debt securities, valued at $500 million.  

“We work on multibillion dollar funds registered with the SEC…” 

The  investment funds group is split with around 50% of the team’s work coming from registered fund products and the other 50% focusing on private funds work.On the former, “We work on multibillion dollar funds registered with the SEC that still need to be registered with each individual state,” an associate explained, “so with big private credit funds going through the State Blue Sky registration process.” Part of the private funds work is with international entities trading in jurisdictions like Australia and Europe, so there’s “a lot of regulatory research when the EU changes its rules, for example.” The group also helps with restructuring fund entities, which involves “doing literally everything for them from investor onboarding.” Juniors are also able to assist big-name financial institution clients with internal quarterly updates. “In these cases, they’ve asked us to work with the funds to get all their quarterly due diligence done, including any changes to the board structure and anything reported in public filings,” one associate explained of the assignments. All this variety of work means that juniors are working on a range of tasks, drafting documentsincluding registration, coordinating filings, collating exhibits and regulatory research. “It’s a combination of checking things up and then making sure we’re on top of filings,” one junior summarized.  

Investment funds clients: UBS Financial Services, Morgan Stanley, Principal Street Partners. Represented UBS Financial Services in relation to billions of dollars of investments in retail alternative investment funds. 

Pro Bono 

“Pro bono is definitely encouraged here,”  juniors told us, supported by the fact that the firm allows associates to put up to 150 hours of pro bono towards their billable target. “I don’t think there’s a mandated minimum,” one insider outlined, “but they strongly encourage attorneys to work a certain amount.” This encouragement comes in the form of frequent emails that highlight how much pro bono you’ve done in the year, and emails on pro bono opportunities that attorneys can hop onto. Associates can also get involved in a fair share of housing rights support work and immigration-related matters. Sources also noted the firm’s work in relation to the Hague Convention’s international child abduction measures as a highlight. 

Pro bono hours 

• For all (US) attorneys: 55,870 
• Average per (US) attorney: 61

Career Development 

Associates were overwhelmingly positive about Alston’s approach to career development. “It was something they all hammered as part of the culture at interview – those formal and informal mentoring relationships,” one noted.Straight out the gate, newbies are assigned a partner and an associate as mentors. “You’re also given a budget to go out to dinner with them!” sources enthused. Once associates hit their fourth year, they’re assigned a career coach. “Whatever you want out of your career you can pursue that here with the firm’s support,” an insider noted, “even those who want to pursue other professional opportunities.” We heard that training is also prioritized, typically taking the shape of large practice-level training, including regular semi-monthly seminars and tabletop exercises for transactional associates, and partner-led trial training for litigators. 

“We have a small budget for entertaining clients.” 

While juniors aren’t yet at the stage to be bringing on their own clients, insiders noted the firm’s efforts to teach newbies different business development skills. “You’re invited to a few client events,” sources noted, “and we have a small budget for entertaining clients.” Overall, associates gave us the impression that the firm is pretty transparent about career progression, both inside and outside the firm. Insiders spoke highly of Alston’s alumni program which helps connect associates to in-house and government roles. “It’s the kind of mentality which makes people more comfortable speaking about what they want out of their careers,” said an interviewee. When it comes to the path to partnership, mid-levels are able to attend a firm-hosted retreat which covers all they need to know to make partner at the firm. 

Alston & Bird is recognized as an Excellent Performer for Career Development and Associate Retention in our 2025 survey.

Culture 

“It wasn’t the experience I was expecting from BigLaw!” associates proclaimed. First and foremost, “there’s a, quote,  ‘no assholes’  policy,”  insiders made clear. What’s more, “everyone understands you’re a whole human being, not just a cog in the machine.”  Of course, weekend work can be part and parcel with BigLaw, but at Alston, interviewees noted that “people are respectful of your weekend time.” Associates spoke particularly highly of Alston’s “great” parental leave policy, and members of the firm also have access to firm-sponsored childcare and an in-office daycare in Atlanta! Associates felt that this again showed the firm’s understanding of individuals’ unique situations. 

On the social side of things, all of our interviewees gave the impression that “there’s definitely an emphasis” on getting associates together. LA and Atlanta seemed particularly active in this department, and many hold weekly social hours where “all attorneys are encouraged to come down to get food and drinks,” we heard. “We also have a birthday celebration for people who have a birthday that month!” one junior in the LA office also told us, “and at least once a month there’s a happy hour or lunch event taking place in the collaboration space.”  

Associates generally go into the office at least three days a week, depending on the practice, though we heard the firm encourages attorneys to be in more often than not. “They consider in-office attendance for people looking at partnership,” one junior explained. 

Hours & Compensation 

Billable hours: 2,000 target 

The firm has an official target of 2,000 hours for bonus eligibility. To hit this, the majority of interviewees described working roughly eight-to-ten-hour days. “I can count on two hands the number of days I’ve had to put in 14-hour shifts,” said one. Though there is a short ramp up period when newbies first join, it soon becomes “pretty consistent, so on average, you’re working 40-to-50-hour weeks.” Weekend work is also far and few between: “It’s exceeded my expectations,” noted one junior, “there are measures in place where it’s clear the firm’s leadership is trying to make your life easier.” Overall, “there can be urgent deadlines, but when there aren’t, they’re quite flexible,” we heard – particularly with parents who may need to hop offline to do the school run and the like. “My tenure has been a little longer because of it,” noted one parent. 

As far as base compensation is concerned, sources explained, “I’m pretty satisfied with it, especially now that it’s consistent across all offices.” Bonuses also received a thumbs up, with associates noting, “they increase steeply!”

Get Hired  

LATERAL PROFILE: Thinking of lateraling to Alston & Bird? Here's all you need to know...

The first stage: recruitment on and off campus  

OCI applicants interviewed: undisclosed  

Interviewees outside OCI: undisclosed  

Alston & Bird recruits through direct applications submitted on its website, resume collections, and job fairs. Its online job portal opens to 2L candidates no later than May 1. The firm takes a “one-firm approach” to law school recruitment, which Chief Legal Talent Partner, Holly Hawkins Saporito, tells us “permits students to express interest in any of our offices when interviewing.” At each job fair, the firm will interview between 18 to 40 candidates depending on the number of schedules for which they have registered. Interviews are conducted by teams of “enthusiastic” lawyers – usually one partner and one associate.  

Interviews focus on “four key factors – preferred office location, skills and behaviours, integrity and character, and a genuine interest in Alston & Bird” says Saporito. Interviewers also note that while they are interested in an interviewee’s practice area interest, they understand that not everyone knows exactly what they want to practice so early in their career. “We do, however, want to make sure that a particular candidate is a good cultural fit, and we want to get to know them as a person” explained Saporito.  

Top tips for this stage:  

“Make your office preference clear and show why you are interested in starting your career at Alston & Bird.” –Chief Legal Talent Partner, Holly Hawkins Saporito. 

Callbacks  

Applicants invited to second stage interview: undisclosed  

Each office handles the callback process differently. Some offices conduct interviews over lunch or dinner, others may conduct them in pairs with interviewers. Saporito tells us that “however, in each instance, all candidates receive their schedules in advance of their interview.” There is opportunity to meet with a variety of attorneys from various practice groups, levels of seniority and firm committees. 

Saporito tells us that the callback “helps us get to know candidates and assist them in learning about the firm and whether they want to begin their career at the firm.” For that reason, the firm ensures they interview candidates with open dialogue and two-way conversations. This is to “encourage them to provide us with examples of their past experiences and achievements.”  

Top tips for this stage:  

“Being prepared and be confident. Come armed with questions for each interviewer. Beyond this, know that our interviewing team wants to get to know ‘you’ behind the resume. Be yourself and do not shy away from sharing your personality.” – Chief Legal Talent Partner, Holly Hawkins Saporito. 

“When I interviewed here I got this feeling that everyone really cared about me and was actually nice. There were no fake interactions.” –a junior associate  

Summer program  

Historically, Alston & Bird has a nine-week summer program that’s designed to “maximise the interaction between summer associates with attorneys and various practice groups,”  Saporito explains. Some smaller offices hire summer associates to fill specific practice group needs, but all offices encourage “flexible work assignments and do not require formal rotation.”  The firm also provides “a variety of training opportunities,” including a firmwide retreat in Atlanta, for “team building, hands-on training, presentations, and lots of fun.”  

Almost all summer associates return to the firm as first-year associates, while some decide to pursue a judicial clerkship. During the summer, work is assigned “flexibly based on one’s interests, which allows our summer associates to explore a variety of practice groups during their time with us.” At the end of the program, summer associates flag their practice group preferences, and group-specific offers are subsequently determined with this information in mind.  

Top tips for this stage:  

“I always encourage our summer associates to take advantage of the many opportunities provided by the firm, whether it’s a project in an unfamiliar practice area, coffee with lawyers they haven’t met yet, the opportunity to attend a hearing, deposition, client meeting or negotiation, or a fun social activity.” – a junior associate  

“Remember that while you should enjoy your time with the firm, the summer program is a nine-week mutual interview. Take advantage of doing projects in the various practice groups you are interested in, and get to know as many attorneys as possible so you can see for yourself why Alston & Bird is so highly regarded for its firm culture.” – Chief Legal Talent Partner, Holly Hawkins Saporito.