Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP - The Inside View

Naturally occurring rarities, like pearls or the aurora borealis, sure are hard to come by – usually not for lack of trying, though. These things are highly sought after, much like a “tight-knit environment where people who care about your development personally and professionally encourage you to work on sophisticated matters” is in BigLaw. It’s no wonder then that associates at Fried Frank felt like they’d struck gold.

“I really want to stress the culture piece,” an insider emphasized, “We do complicated work with really interesting and kind people.” Juniors were convinced they had landed somewhere special as they “consistently feel supported and like we’re part of the team. It doesn’t feel like you’re a cog in a machine.”

“Some people will come in knowing Fried Frank is big in real estate, but I want them to understand that not only do we do a bunch of other things, we excel in those areas too.”

The firm is well known for its real estate practice, but it's not the only thing up its sleeve: “Some people will come in knowing that Fried Frank is big in real estate, but I want them to understand that not only do we do a bunch of other things, we excel in those areas too. There’s a lot of cool, cutting-edge work in other spaces, as well!” This associate is right; the firm stands tall in highly regarded corporate/M&A and real estate in New York by Chambers USA’s estimation, collecting nationwide accolades for its hedge funds, private equity: fund formation, and real estate (again!) offerings as well.

For associates across New York and DC – the cities where most of our insiders were based – the genuine sense of investment was the icing on top. "The firm brings on candidates holistically, so the culture is really rooted in training and helping associates develop as associates,” a junior noted, “The practice groups are great, and I do cool cases, but that culture is what sets it apart.”

Summer Program

“I really enjoyed the summer program,” summers-turned-associates at FF beamed, “They keep you really busy – not just with work, but there are so many different events and activities.” One of the more talked about highlights was the Anatomy of the Case, which is a six-week commitment where summers volunteer to prep for a mock trial presentation. “They take all the New York summers and send us to DC for two days,” an insider reminisced, “you work with a partner, get all the info, and every week, there’s a training that shows you what part of the case you’re at.”

The trial itself was said to be just part of the story though, as things take more of a relaxed turn: “Afterwards, we had an outdoor barbecue and went to karaoke!” Beyond that, insiders were equally enthused about attending Yankees games and Justin Timberlake concerts as particularly memorable moments.

Strategy & Future

Real estate remains the firm's crown jewel, and two record-breaking financial years in succession suggest that the rest of the firm’s core practice areas are in genuinely good shape too, with strong performances confirmed again in 2025 across M&A, asset management, and private equity.

The London office, meanwhile, continues to go from strength to strength, having expanded 60% to over 120 lawyers in the last five years, appearing in the top five in the UK for M&A by deal value in Q1 of 2025.

The Work

While our interviewees were spread across different practices, many of them were doing some form of corporate or litigious work – and much like the work itself, staffing at FF runs on a “healthy blend” of both centralized and relationship-based systems, with the balance shifting depending on where you sit.

Everyone was a fan of their respective staffing systems, with one source reassuring us that, “the staffing coordinators protect our peace! They won’t offer you work unless they know for sure that you want it.” Another put it this way: “It takes away the two anxieties regarding staffing. If you’re not super prone to building relationships, you don’t have to scour the halls looking for work because it’s a more democratic system. But if you do develop good relationships, you can still leverage that.”

The biggest practice at the firm, asset management – described as “the step before an M&A deal” – is split into two halves. The first works primarily on sponsor-side fund formation – “so, for the private equity fund themselves, the investment banks, and stuff like that.” FF’s clients here tend to be “big mega funds,” but juniors can work with smaller funds… “well, small by Fried Frank’s standards, which are still pretty big!” This work involves closed-ended funds (a fund with a set lifecycle), which the firm covers the entirety of: “Even if things come up later after the fund is formed, we’ll be the first port of call for them.” The other side of the practice is alternative investments, and those attorneys work with open-ended funds (“hedge funds, those without a set lifecycle”). The clients here are also sponsor-side, as opposed to investor clients.

Depending on what stage the fund is in, juniors can find themselves jumping on any number of different tasks. At the beginning of formation, associates could be drafting limited partnership agreements or private placement memorandums or forming defined terms for the fund and coming up with a management fee. As the process progresses, duties look more like negotiating with service providers and conferring with local counsel in different countries or jurisdictions to “ensure you’re giving and getting the best legal advice possible to form the agreements.”

Sounds heavy, but interviewees reassured us that as a rookie, “you can start with more admin tasks, like lots of entity formation which involves filling out forms to get entities created in different jurisdictions.” But substantive work does come in droves when you’re ready for it: “As a first year, I was expected to hit the ground running and serve as the quarterback to make sure everything’s running smoothly,” which sets juniors up to “get better about being independent and proactive, keeping track of what’s going on, and talking to mid-level and senior associates about the next steps.”

Asset management clients: A&E Real Estate Holdings, Aperture Investors, Apollo Global Management. Acted as counsel to Bonaccord Capital Partners in connection with the formation and structuring of Bonaccord Capital Partners II, Bonaccord’s flagship GP stakes fund, which focuses on making minority equity investments in middle market asset management companies.

Litigation at Fried Frank “isn’t segregated by group,” so variety really is the spice of life for its juniors. Don’t believe us? We heard of associates working on everything from real estate, white collar, and general commercial litigation to securities and intellectual property litigation – and “everyone touches a little bit of everything.” Considering this wide array, the client list is chock full of Fortune 500 companies and high-net-worth individuals across various sectors. Insiders were fans of different aspects of the practice for different reasons. For example, one source pointed out that “real estate litigation is a great way to get in court,” while another felt that “white collar work is the most challenging and strategic. It’s also the most creative, because you get to do more presentations and things like that.”

Day-to-day responsibilities here look like “lots of doc review,” though rookies get to do plenty of discrete legal research too. Associates also take meeting notes, assist with portions of memos, and “I’ve seen some first years get to take first cracks at writing parts of summary judgments.” How much responsibility you get out the gate depends on how leanly staffed the team is. “I’ve had junior matters where I was really driving the case, and then I’ve had ones as a third year where I’m further down the totem pole,” a junior litigator pointed out, “Generally, though, juniors are doing substantive work.”

Litigation clients: New York State Department of Health, Under Armour, LivePerson. Represents Standard General in breach of fiduciary duty litigation in Delaware Chancery Court challenging Standard General’s acquisition of Bally’s Corporation.

In the firm’s M&A/private equity group, private M&A runs the gamut, and the clients are often private equity clients – on both the sell and buy side. As such, there is a fair amount of overlap with the asset management team, where the group has been helping with multi-fund secondaries transactions. The entire practice involves “a lot of cross-group work,” we heard, and “people are pretty open if you start working in one group and are interested in another.”

Financial adviser work takes up a lot of the group’s workload, and juniors have been working on “larger, middle market deals” over the past year. Drafting ancillary documents and due diligence (obviously) come part and parcel with the practice, and as is often the case, responsibility depends on how leanly staffed teams are. That said, “they’re happy to give you more responsibility if you want it and think you’re capable of handling it. There’s plenty of room to take on more work, and they’re happy to give it to you."

M&A/private equity clients: Soho House, Goldman Sachs, BYOMA. Acted as counsel to Bally’s Corporation in its €2.7 billion definitive agreement with Intralot, in which Intralot will acquire Bally’s International Interactive business.

Career Development

There is no shortage of training at FF, in fact, the litigation department has “just revamped the whole training program, so we do a lot.” Every practice hosts weekly trainings for first years specifically geared towards building juniors up. “Those are really structured,” we heard from a junior litigator.

A source in asset management mentioned that “our group does really well at getting facetime in with partners and senior associates,” and there was even a New York-based event to welcome first years. This insider described it as taking place “at this cool, hip spot with lawn games, like cornhole and stuff. I got to meet some people that I’ve been working with for the past year and had never met in person.”

Informal training and mentoring opportunities go hand in hand at Fried Frank, where “people are really happy to answer your questions. They love teaching and helping you along.” This goes for those considering their “definitely possible” partnership prospects, too. “People are pretty open about those conversations,” one interviewee reflected. From the understanding of our juniors, the firm provides “pretty transparent steps,” and the chairman of the firm will take first years out to lunch, where partnership conversations often crop up. Of this, another nodded, “It’s an open dialogue, and people aren’t secretive at all.”

Culture

“Through all the highs and lows, Fried Frank has been remarkably supportive.”

“Recruitment does a good job of finding individuals that don’t take themselves too seriously,” an associate underlined, “what they look for is down-to-earth people.” It’s a sentiment that came through consistently in our conversations, and everyone agreed that “you have to be willing to have a conversation with literally anyone that approaches you!”

This culture is clearly by design, and feeds into the office atmosphere: “There are always people in the cafeteria, and people are swinging by your office a lot.” Better still, it was clear to those we spoke to that “even as a business, the firm really cares about the people who work here. You live a lot of life at the firm,” one junior reflected, “and through all the highs and lows, Fried Frank has been remarkably supportive.”

That culture has plenty of tangible outlets too, from soccer, basketball, and touch football teams to Thanksgiving feasts, ice cream parties, and celebrations for Diwali and Lunar New Year - there is no shortage of social engagements available to associates.

Hours & Compensation

Billable hours: 2,000 for full bonus; 1,850 for bonus eligibility

First years can breathe easy on the billables front - “they don’t want you to be concerned about your billables in your first year. They just want you asking questions and learning, so all first-year bonuses are guaranteed,” an interviewee explained. Beyond that, the attainability of the 2,000-hour target for the lockstep bonus was largely practice dependent, though the consensus was that it’s “pretty achievable, but it’s just a matter of the market really.”

Worth noting too that there is also a 300-hour pro bono credit and 125-hour allowance for qualified non-billables, which covers everything from recruitment events to business development and involvement in Employee Resource Groups – so as one insider put it, “don’t leave anything on the table!”

Fried Frank asks its associates to be in three days a week, and most of our insiders were hitting that often – if not more. Working hours were variable but generally landed somewhere between 9.30am to 7pm, with weekend work making the occasional appearance. For the most part, though, “you know when something is coming down the pipeline that might necessitate weekend work well in advance.”

Pro Bono

FF has its hands in “a lot of different pots” when it comes to pro bono – and with a 300-hour allowance built in, “it’s really ingrained in what we do.” So much so that the firm hosts an annual pro bono celebration, which people were genuinely enthusiastic about: “I was so impressed by the amount of stuff people do.” Multiple pro bono coordinators keep a steady stream of opportunities circulating via email, and the team is said to be readily available if you want to reach out to them directly.

Matters here tend to be more litigation-heavy, as tends to be the nature of pro bono, but that hasn’t stopped transactional attorneys from diving in headfirst - “I’m basically a litigator by night,” one grinned. We heard of associates working on name changes for members of the LGBTQ+ community, eviction hotlines, immigration and asylum cases that involve visa and citizenship issues, wills and power of attorney help for elders, and a clinic specifically for incarcerated mothers. It’s a varied and meaningful portfolio and the attitude from the top reflects this: “If we don’t have a partnership or specific work for someone, we’ll go get it!”

Pro bono hours 

• For all US attorneys: 53,289 
• Average per US attorney: 76

Inclusion

“It feels important to them,” and “there’s a big emphasis on it,” was the consistent read from juniors on the firm’s inclusion efforts. Twice yearly town halls give senior leadership a dedicated space to “talk about respect and inclusion to ensure everyone feels comfortable and safe at the firm,” one insider was keen to point out, “it’s not just lip service, they actually meet it.”

On the organizational side, Fried Frank recently hired a director of inclusive talent management “to bridge the gap between talent management and professional development and make sure people who are part of diverse groups are getting the necessary support.” The firm’s Employee Resource Groups (ERG) span a range including the Women’s Forum and the Pride Alliance, as well as the ethnically diverse, working families, and disabled attorneys ERGs.

Get Hired

The first stage: recruitment

OCI applicants interviewed: undisclosed  

Interviewees outside OCI: undisclosed  

Fried Frank is committed to attracting talented candidates from a broad range of law schools. Interviewers look forward both to advancing with students whom they have met through networking and to connecting with applicants engaging with the firm for the first time. Candidates are encouraged to apply directly through the Fried Frank website as soon as the application opens.

Top tips for this stage:  

Be confident and take time to learn about the firm and its work; interviewers don’t expect you to be an expert, but they appreciate candidates who can speak to the firm's practice areas and how a career at Fried Frank aligns with the candidates' long-term goals.

Callbacks  

Applicants invited to second stage interview: undisclosed  

Callback interviews consist of a series of one-on-one interviews with two or three partners and two or three associates. Interview schedules are created based on the information candidates provide. Candidates may request to meet lawyers by practice area and other factors — such as alumni from their law school or college — and share additional interests that help them assess whether Fried Frank is the right fit. The firm takes ahighly personalized approach to each interview and works to ensure the schedule reflects those preferences.

At the callback stage, questions are designed to assess whether interviewers connect with you on a professional and intellectual level and why you are specifically interested in Fried Frank. The discussion will be more substantive. Candidates should be prepared to discuss prior work experience in detail, including classes, professors and research or writing assignments, as well as examples that demonstrate teamwork and how they navigated challenging team environments. The goal is to identify candidates positioned to succeed at the firm.

Top tips for this stage:  

“They try to make sure each candidate meets with a junior and a senior associate – it gives you a little bit of a different perspective.” –  Junior associate

“Approach the callback with confidence, enthusiasm and professionalism. Candidates who stay engaged and energized stand out. Being well-prepared with thoughtful questions about our practice areas and firm community also makes a strong impression.” – Fried Frank Hiring Source