Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath, LLP - The Inside View

What is it that they say again? ‘Find yourself someone that can do both.’ As one junior associate at Faegre Drinker put it: “I knew I wanted to be in a small office of a large firm. To have both a tightknit community and all the resources of a large firm.” While law firms will obviously try their hardest to attract talent, “the people at Faegre were genuinely kind, in a way that you can’t fake for ten weeks over the summer.” But trust us when we say that BigLaw prowess is definitely there. Faegre is “one of the only Indianapolis firms with an international presence,” one commented. What’s more, associates at the firm were quick to highlight a “very good reputation in the Philadelphia area” as a big part of the draw too.  

“I knew I wanted to be in a small office of a large firm. To have both a tight-knit community and all the resources of a large firm.” 

Suffice to say, Faegre Drinker features pretty heavily in the Chambers USA guide, with the highest acknowledgements in areas like Native American law and government contracts. This comes alongside top ranked corporate M&A, intellectual property and general commercial litigation practices in the firm’s home State of Indiana, and top ranked real estate, antitrust, capital markets, construction, corporate M&A and general commercial litigation in Minnesota. Oh, and that’s not to mention first-class nods for the firm’s bankruptcy/restructuring work in New York, or environment in Colorado. Click here for a full breakdown of Faegre’s rankings office-by-office. 

Minneapolis is the firm’s largest office and HQ, and it’s where about a quarter of the associates on our list were based. The cities with the next largest cohorts were Chicago, Philadelphia and Indianapolis (split between the Indianapolis 96th street and downtown offices). The rest were split between the rest of Faegre's offices, including New York, Des Moines, Florham Park, Dallas, Fort Myers, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco and Denver. 

Strategy & Future 

In the time since the merger of Faegre Baker Daniels and Drinker Biddle & Reath in 2020, the firm has had a busy few years. In 2023, it opened a new office in Fort Myers, Florida. Then, in September 2024, the firm moved its design lab from Silicon Valley to Scottsdale, Arizona. This design lab is the firm’s first location in the Southwestern United States and exists to help the firm’s clients solve legal issues using visual design to improve communication. It seems all this growth and investment is paying off too: for the first time, Faegre Drinker recently reported making over $1 billion in revenue. Further demonstrating its commitment to innovation, the firm has launched its own generative AI program for internal use.   

Looking to the future, “we plan to grow in key sectors, including financial services, food & agribusiness, health and life sciences, manufacturing, and technology,” says chair Gina Kastel. Whether it’s over new developments or recent performance results, attorneys felt leadership “definitely keep you in the loop in a variety of different ways.” For instance, there are regular meetings where news is shared, “anyone in the firm can attend these quarterly all-firm or all-group meetings that update on firm finances and those sorts of things.”  

The Work 

About 30% of junior associates on our list were situated in the business litigation group, with sizeable cohorts in corporate and product liability and mass torts, a handful in intellectual property and the rest dotted across practice areas including finance & restructuring, labor and employment and insurance. When it came to getting assignments, “I have a lot of agency in terms of trying to find work that I want to do. I was definitely encouraged to make connections with people who did the kind of work I was interested in,” one associate explained. While this was representative of how our interviewees found work, there are “also resources you can use if you’re feeling light on work or figuring out what to do next, so you’re not totally out to sea by yourself choosing what to do.” This includes a central coordinator who monitors associates’ availability. 

“It’s like being undecided in college! You come to figure out what your major is after a few years.” 

Business litigation is “the catch-all litigation group” where attorneys have access to a “diverse mix of work, ranging from more negligence-style cases to stuff that touches on property law or contract disputes.” There’s also an antitrust team and plenty of work on trade secrets, restrictive covenant, privacy, franchising, white collar, torts, real estate, construction, financial services and we could keep going! Put simply, “if you like it, you can probably find it!” So how does that translate at the junior end? We heard that in “your first three or four years, you’re a jack of all trades and do whatever work comes to you. It’s like being undecided in college! You come to figure out what your major is after a few years.” So, “even if you decide you want to specialize in one particular subgroup, it doesn’t mean it’s all you’ll do.” For our sources, there was a combination of cross-office work and assignments for seniors in their home office. As for tasks, “it’s very typical for junior associates to be master of the facts,” one source told us; “we are super involved in discovery, so a lot of that is doc review and discovery responses.” Opportunities for drafting a variety of documents are also on the table, from written discovery and dispositive motions to summary judgments to motions to dismiss. Legal research was also a common task: “Faegre has an emphasis on showing you how it works, so it’s not a mystery and you can try to develop your client skills in a natural organic way instead of the more traditional going to networking events if that’s not your cup of tea.” 

Business litigation clients: UnitedHealth Group, Wells Fargo National Bank, Ferrellgas. Defended Patient Access Network Foundation (PANF), one of the largest charities in the US in a US Department of Justice criminal and civil investigation. 

While product liability and mass torts is one department, associates tend to work mostly on one side or the other. A fair chunk of Faegre’s clients are in the medical space and medical device manufacturers are particularly common among these. What’s more, “we’ve got a good reputation for food and agricultural business,” which have their own subgroups. Recently, the firm has been taking on more tech clients, including social media companies, and, as one source estimated, “that type of work is probably going to pick up more too as we see a trend towards clients who see product liability as a way to sue tech companies for their products – apps specifically.” While each office tends to serve the major industries in its region, it’s quite common for juniors to work with lawyers in other offices. In particular, the social media cases are staffed with attorneys from “almost every office.” 

Juniors typically prepare senior associates and partners for depositions, draft witness bulletins, pull exhibits and review documents. They can attend depositions where they “get a good amount of experience learning from senior partners who are taking those depositions,” take notes and create deposition summaries for their clients. They might also attend hearings. For one source, “drafting the deposition outlines has been the most beneficial learning experience so far because, no matter how big or small the case, there are always going to be depositions and learning to make a good outline is always going to be important.” 

Product liability & mass torts clients: Cook Medical, Johnson & Johnson, Boston Scientific Corporation. Lead counsel for Nissan North America in a multidistrict litigation economic loss suit related to the Takata airbag recall, the largest product recall in US history. 

Career Development 

Sources told us that most training sessions are targeted towards a specific career stage (junior, mid-level and senior): “I like the ones that are set up like that because it’s more targeted towards people around your age and stage of development.” There are also sessions for all associates which helps juniors and mid-levels “get a sense of what will be expected of us as we grow.” An assigned partner adviser is “with you for the whole ride,” and the scheme was very popular: “My mentor has been really invaluable for getting me acclimated to law firm life.” Juniors also receive an associate mentor who is “someone you can go to for silly questions” like which billing code to use for a client dinner, while the advisor “helps you with the bigger career questions.” 

“Armed with that info, I’m able to focus in among all those development opportunities…” 

These mentors also take juniors through the mid-year and end-of-year review process: “I’ve learned a lot from the prep for those and the reviews themselves. Armed with that info, I’m able to focus in among all those development opportunities” and choose the most relevant training sessions. “The focus really in your first couple years is just that work product that you’re putting out” and the question of partnership “seems like a discussion point that’ll happen later.” But several sources had been advised by their mentors to spend time networking to “build relationships, and they’ve mentioned that’s important for eventually making partnership.”  

Hours & Compensation 

Hours target: 1,900

Most juniors found their billing target “very manageable and achievable,” with associates free to count up to 100 hours of pro bono work. First-years can also count 50 apprenticeship hours; “those are hours you can spend shadowing, sitting in on hearings, really just learning hours” (those that you wouldn’t bill to the client).For one junior, “the most unique things that I’ve seen have been through that apprenticeship program!” Additional bonuses are up for grabs for every 50 hours billed over the target and a discretionary bonus for those “who’ve gone above and beyond in other ways,” but juniors reported wanting a clearer idea of the exact criteria for this discretionary bonus. Base pay is market rate for each office’s location: “I’m happy with it. When you add in all the other incentives like flexibility and working from home, I think it’s absolutely worth it.”  

“There are some firms where you have to be at your desk between 9am and 6pm or leave after partners leave. Faegre is not like that.” 

“There are some firms where you have to be at your desk between 9am and 6pm or leave after partners leave. Faegre is not like that.” Instead, “there’s a lot of flexibility on when you want to knock out those hours.” Faegre wants its associates in the office two days a week and the firm has “made it clear” that hybrid working is “not going away.” While work outside of standard hours was sometimes necessary in certain groups, we heard seniors try to help newbies maintain a work/life balance by rotating who is working at the weekend or making it clear that assignments they send in the evening can wait until the next day. And taking a vacation? “As long as you let people know as far ahead of time as you can, no one has a problem with it!” 

Culture & Inclusion

“I don’t have any family members who are attorneys, so a lot of my idea of what lawyers are like was TV-influenced,” joked one associate; “I felt really blessed at this firm because we do high-level work but the people are more grounded than they’re represented in the media.” Several interviewees put this down to the firm’s Midwest heritage. “The Midwest culture is present in all of the offices, in that everyone is very friendly and I’ve received nothing but support and encouragement,” even when reaching out to people in other offices for the first time.What’s more, “when I make mistake, it’s never been a penal conversation, it’s always a teaching moment. It seems very ingrained in the culture, it’s almost instinctual to take that extra step in terms of patience and kindness when working with each other.” Attorneys are encouraged to travel to other offices to meet their colleagues and the firm will even reimburse some of the costs of travel, which the firm views as “a business purpose to build connections in the firm.” 

Associates found the working environment to be inclusive, “regardless of whether you’re working as an attorney or on one of our other teams that makes the firm run, there’s a lot of emphasis on community and working together.”

Pro Bono 

Participation in pro bono is “optional but very strongly encouraged.” It’s possible to work on discrete tasks on pro bono matters others at the firm are handling, or to see a matter through from start to finish, meaning associates can give as little or as much time as they have. A dedicated team coordinates pro bono initiatives, and attorneys can “can reach out to them and say, 'I’m interested in x,' and they’ll help you do it.” They’re also open to people bringing in new projects. Some associates work in legal clinics in their local area, such as veterans’ benefits clinics, while others get involved in civil and human rights, asylum and immigration, family law, housing, IP and expungement matters. Anyone who completes 50 hours of pro bonois “put on the honor roll” for the firm’s pro bono award program and invited to a firm-wide celebration where they “talk about the projects everyone did and celebrate everyone dedicating their time.” 

Pro bono hours: 

• For all US attorneys: 45,067 
• Average per US attorney: 38

LATERAL PROFILE: Thinking of lateraling to Faegre Drinker? Here's all you need to know...