Goodwin Procter LLP - The Inside View

If there is one thing that has completely taken over the news in recent years, it’s tech. From startups to artificial intelligence and biotech, hardly a week goes by without some innovation hitting the headlines. It should be no surprise then that aspiring attorneys are itching to get involved. As a result, some of our associate interviewees told us they chose to start their career at Goodwin because “I knew I wanted to do tech of life sciences work, and I wanted to go to a firm that was strong in those practices.”

Goodwin can back up its reputation, too. Just take a look at Chambers USA, where the firm is bestowed, frankly, too many gold medals in its Massachusetts homeland for us to list them all, so here are the highlights: corporate/M&A, intellectual property, life sciences, general commercial litigation, and securities and technology litigation. Nationally, it takes home trophies for life sciences, highly regarded privacy and data security, REITs, and startups and emerging companies – among many others.

“Everyone I spoke to seemed comfortable being authentic.”

But it’s not just high-caliber work drawing in new recruits. “Associates here are encouraged to have time and interests outside of work, and that was a big selling factor for me,” one junior told us. Luckily, “that continues to remain true.” Another described how during interviews, “everyone I spoke to seemed comfortable being authentic. Authenticity was something I was really worried about when stepping into the BigLaw world. It made me feel comfortable being quirky!” Goodwin’s got its juniors spread across the country in Boston, New York, San Francisco, Santa Monica, Silicon Valley, Washington DC, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia.

Strategy & Future

“We are excellent in everything that we do,” states managing partner Mark Bettencourt, "That is not because we are excellent in everything, it is because we have decided to be focused and only do things in which we can be truly excellent and truly world-class." This feeds into the firm’s industry-focused organizational structure.

“This past year, we have decided that we are going to focus in an even more intense way on certain industries that we've historically focused on: real estate, private equity, tech and life sciences" says Bettencourt. He continues: “We have redoubled our efforts to grow our healthcare presence and to really burnish our leading reputation as an investment funds platform.” In October 2025, Goodwin announced its annual turnover was $2.7 billion, an increase from $2.45 billion the previous year, showing that its strategy seems to be paying off.

There are townhalls every quarter and regular practice area meetings to keep associates in the loop. Associates also receive regular presentations and emails with updates on firm strategy, while the firm is adopting AI tools to assist with the day-to-day work of being an attorney.

Read more from Mark Bettencourt under the 'Get Hired' tab.

Goodwin Procter is recognized as a Strong Performer for AI Integration in our 2026 associate satisfaction survey.

Summer Program

Summers are split into a business law pool or a litigation pool, and then respective offers will be in one of those two directions. On the social side, one said: “By the time I got to the end of it, I felt like I knew everyone. That lays the foundation for the rest of your time at the firm. It’s good to know your colleagues and the folks who are your peers so you can turn to them for clients.” Another laughed, “Who doesn’t like the summer program?!” There are, after all, opportunities for nice dinners. That said, it’s not all dinners and parties, this source caveated that “I did a bunch of work too!”

The Work

During an associate’s first two years at the firm, all staffing must be approved by the department’s attorney development manager, who tries to ensure all juniors get varied opportunities and plenty of work. Our sources were pleased to tell us almost all staffing requests from partners are approved, and juniors can also ask the attorney development manager directly for assignments. They generally liked having this system in place, as one put it: “Knowing that someone is actively working in the background to keep you staffed and keep your plate full takes off a little bit of the mental load.”

For the first two years, associates are part of either the business law junior pool or the litigation junior pool, although the length of the assignment depends on the firm’s needs, and being sorted into a specific practice group can happen after a year.

Juniors focused on litigation sit within groups with an industry focus – covering the likes of PE, tech, life sciences, healthcare, investment funds, real estate. “We do a bit of everything, but our biggest area is general commercial litigation.” This source elaborated: “Our clients range anywhere from small startups to very large companies in disputes with other companies, or in disputes with the government.” Other areas of work include post-closing disputes, securities, consumer class actions, shareholder disputes, antitrust, labor and employment, breach of contract cases, and government investigations.

Daily tasks include researching, drafting sections of briefings, handling discovery requests, overseeing the doc review process, and helping prepare for depositions. Sometimes, juniors get to sit second chair for depositions, too. “A lot of the work that we do follows and is in coordination with the corporate teams and their clients,” said one litigator, and teams are often staffed across offices. This insider continued, “It’s engaging to work with colleagues who aren’t litigators and fun to see the other side of the coin – also, getting to know those repeat clients really well.”

Litigation clients: Webster Equity Partners, Bristol Hospice, OpenEvidence. Represented Insulet Corporation in a case centering on allegations concerning the misappropriation of trade secrets and patent infringement for Insulet’s wearable insulin pump.

“Even within tech, there’s still a lot of latitude to decide what work you want to do.”

In the tech group, a lot of the work is for startups, but “even within tech, there’s still a lot of latitude to decide what work you want to do,” from investor funds to M&A and private equity. Juniors will work on the company side and the investor side of financings in the tech space, with an occasional side of capital markets. “The deals are interesting,” shared one tech attorney, “they’re in the news, and it’s all companies I’ve heard of.” Early on, juniors keep track of diligence checklists and schedules. Then, “as you start mastering that, they give you drafting immediately.” Our sources felt they had a good level of responsibility: “Definitely in the tech group, I feel empowered to move things myself,” an interviewee confirmed.

Tech clients: Predibase, MeridianLink, HubSpot. Advised SevenRooms on an agreement to be acquired by DoorDash.

Over in life sciences, one associate explained the organization of the department: “The group itself is industry-focused, and all the clients are life sciences companies.” There are further divisions within the group, “not officially separate practice areas, but semi-split between capital markets work, emerging companies work, and more M&A work.” Attorneys can work across groups but will usually specialize in one area.

Junior tasks include reviewing diligence, drafting primaries like board and stockholder consents, taking the first pass at underwriting agreements, and researching issues. On M&A, associates support the team by updating and keeping track of documents based on comments from specialists and opposing counsel. “I’ve gotten the breadth of experience I wanted,” one insider told us, “Being at Goodwin has given me the experience, from working with brand-new startups to really established companies being bought out. I’ve really seen the full range of what a biotech company can be.”

Life sciences clients: DrenBio, Blueprint Medicines, Royalty Pharma. Advised SpringWorks Therapeutics in its $3.9 billion acquisition of Merck, Darmstadt, Germany.

Career Development

“Mentorship is one of my favorite things about the firm” was a sentiment we heard more than once. Juniors are assigned three mentors when they join: a mid-level associate, a senior associate, and a partner. Many also form informal mentor-mentee relationships with partners and colleagues they meet at firm events. Formal training at Goodwin looks like both firm-wide and department-specific sessions, generally both virtually and in person: “It’s nice to have that flexibility.”

“If there is somewhere I would practice long-term, it’s Goodwin.”

Associates told us it was clear what their necessary steps were to climb the career ladder. Every few months, there are townhalls on what associates need to do to make partner. More informally, seniors are happy to answer questions. “Everyone is supportive; they want you to stay at Goodwin and build a practice here,” so even though “there is attrition – it’s BigLaw! – if there is somewhere I would practice long-term, it’s Goodwin.”

Hours & Compensation

Billable hours: 1,950 target

“You have to be intentional about meeting your billable requirement, but it’s manageable,” sums up the general feeling among our interviewees. The target “is treated as more of an expectation than an aspiration, but the firm is also sensitive to different macroeconomic and industry conditions” that might cause a group to have a slow year. “The important thing for Goodwin is you’re trying to meet your hours,” an insider concluded.

Juniors can count 25 hours of shadowing time towards the target. This can be used for training activities like shadowing a deposition, hearing, or client meeting, which helps rookies “get some experience on the client service aspect of our job” or “watch more experienced attorneys do what they do.” Up to 100 hours of culture and innovation time can contribute, but only if a threshold of 25 hours is passed. C&I time is a “very broad bucket,” encompassing recruiting, testing generative AI pilot programs and software, volunteering, helping with publications like the firm’s blogs, or conference preparation.

While associates felt there was a general respect for their time, there was also the expectation of always being readily available, with our sources frequently working into the evenings and on the weekend. That said, “coverage for vacation is typically easy to find.” Speaking of vacation, the firm’s Recharge on Goodwin scheme offers associates a holiday paid for by the firm (yes, you read that correctly!) if they meet their target hours.

Compensation meets market and is lockstep until promotion to of counsel. To get the bonus, associates must hit their hours target and “be in good standing” with the firm. There’s a “framework of things you’re supposed to do to be in good standing: how to act depending on your year and what is expected of you.” Additional bonuses can be given to high-flyers based on performance.

Culture

“I love the people at Goodwin; it’s nice to feel cared about as a person at the firm rather than a fungible billing unit,” enthused one junior, “People more senior treat you as a valuable member of the team.” Each office has regular social gatherings, but more informally, our interviewees told us they enjoy grabbing coffee or lunch with their colleagues.

“I love the people at Goodwin; it’s nice to feel cared about as a person…”

A “fun fund” is available for associates to spend on social activities with coworkers outside of work. “The beauty is you get to decide what you want to do,” previous examples including pottery classes, game nights, paint and sip evenings, dinners, yoga, and Pilates. So, “as long as it’s activity-oriented and community-oriented, it’s usually okay.”

Pro Bono

Trial associates highlighted that “pro bono work is highly prioritized, and it’s used as a way for junior and mid-level associates to get deposition and trial experience.” And it’s not only the trial offerings that are interesting, “the startup practice lends itself to corporate opportunities in the pro bono space,” one insider informed us.

Goodwin encourages attorneys to do at least 50 hours of pro bono per year by giving them a sticker: “People who have them are proud of them, because they stack up each year,” a source described, “they’re also very brightly colored, so they’re very easy to see!” There is no cap on pro bono, and some described it as a great avenue to pick up work when the market is slow.

Opportunities include asylum and immigration clinics, naturalization cases, criminal defense, civil rights in prisons, expunging criminal records, and corporate work with the Neighborhood Business Initiative. Some programs are specific to their local area, such as housing initiatives in New York City, and associates can also pitch their own projects to the pro bono team: “You have the option for the firm to sponsor your project and to work with other attorneys on that matter.”

Pro bono hours:

• For all (US) attorneys: 91,833
• Average per (US) attorney: 65

Inclusion

“We still have inclusion networks, and they have always been open to everyone,” one insider told us. We heard the firm is trying to create “a place where employees still feel included, like their needs and being met and resources are available.” If they’re feeling overwhelmed, associates can reach out to the firm’s coaching team, who will “help you work through a plan that gets you to a point where you feel like the job is manageable.” Goodwin also brings in speakers to give talks on topics like how to manage your stress and mental health, and how to improve your sleep.

Get Hired

The first stage: recruitment on and off campus

Applicants interviewed: 922

Goodwin recruits across all eight of its US offices, with most summer associates applying directly through the firm’s online portal. Interviews are conducted by members of each office’s hiring committee and hiring partners, giving candidates the opportunity to engage directly with firm leadership.

Interviewers explore a candidate’s academic and professional experiences, what drew them to law school, and the practice areas that most interest them. As National Hiring Partner Kevin Lam explains: “We value students who are genuinely interested in how businesses are built and scaled and who want to play a meaningful role in the industries driving today’s economy. We seek collaborative, business-minded individuals with strong judgment and communication skills who are motivated to grow in a high-performing, team-oriented culture.”

The firm also seeks to understand what candidates are looking for in a legal career and how their lived experiences have shaped their path. As Lam adds, the firm is interested in hearing “what students are looking for in a legal career, how their unique lived experiences have helped influence their education and career decisions, and why they believe Goodwin is a place where they can thrive.”

Top tips:

“Asking thoughtful questions about our business and the person interviewing you is one of the best ways to demonstrate genuine preparation and interest. While interviews are an opportunity for candidates to learn about the firm and the team, they’re equally an opportunity for us to learn about you. Authenticity matters here – we value a range of backgrounds and perspectives.”  Hiring partner Kevin Lam

Callbacks

Applicants invited to second stage interview: 422

During a typical callback interview, candidates meet with four to six attorneys across varying levels of seniority. The conversations are designed to assess key competencies, including “interpersonal skills, drive and project management,” with interviewers using structured behavioral questions to evaluate a candidate’s potential to succeed at Goodwin.

Students may also opt to attend one of the firm’s “Super Interview Days,” which combine interviews with an office tour and reception, offering an opportunity to experience the culture and connect with attorneys in a more informal setting.

Top tips:

“Take the opportunity to engage with a range of Goodwin attorneys, whether in person or virtually. Even in a remote setting, professionalism matters – maintain eye contact, speak naturally rather than relying on prepared notes, and dress appropriately.”Hiring partner Kevin Lam

Summer program

Offers: 147

Acceptances: 60

Goodwin’s summer program runs for ten weeks. Summers gain hands-on exposure to the firm’s core sectors - life sciences, private equity, real estate, technology, healthcare, and investment funds - and the intersections between them. The goal, as Lam explains, is to help students “discover what aspects and avenues of law are available within the life sciences, healthcare, private equity, real estate, technology, and investment funds industries - and where they converge.”

Work is distributed through a centralized assignment portal designed to ensure a range of substantive work, while structured mentorship begins on day one. “Our summer program provides summers with concrete, meaningful work assignments that help them gain a real-world perspective while giving them autonomy to navigate their own path in the law,” Lam concludes. The result is a program designed to give students both practical experience and the flexibility to explore where they can make the greatest impact.

Top tips:

“At Goodwin, we place tremendous value on building meaningful relationships across the firm. We actively encourage participation in social gatherings, mentorship initiatives, and networking opportunities because our collaborative culture is central to both individual and collective success. Thriving here means embracing the collegiality that defines who we are.” - Hiring partner Kevin Lam

Interview with Mark Bettencourt, managing partner

Commercial strategy, market position and trends

Chambers Associate: How would you define your firm’s current position and identity in the legal market? What differentiates your firm from your peer firms in the market?

Mark Bettencourt: Goodwin has very intentionally, for a number of years, defined itself as an elite, industry-built firm. Our exquisite focus on the needs of our clients, expressed through our industry immersion and our world-class, excellent legal practice areas is what differentiates Goodwin from its peers.  If you are a business principal in one of our six industries of focus and you want someone to give you the best possible legal advice and also very strong businesses and strategic advisory input, then Goodwin’s your choice.

CA: Have there been any developments at the firm over the past year that you’d like law students to know about?

Bettencourt: The firm recently press released the results of its financial year ending September 30 which were historic in all regards. Those are the products of all the inputs that we dedicated over those 12 months on behalf of our clients and on behalf of our people.

We are excellent in everything that we do. That is not because we are excellent in everything, it is because we have decided to be focused and only do things in which we can be truly excellent and truly world-class.

We are trying to create an environment where every single person can develop at the maximum pace that their skills and ambition allow. We look to support each person in a very personalized way, and we have a lot of programs that support that. Just by way of example, our first-year class is going to go through an intensive five-week educational and training program before they start working for clients. We think that exposing folks to the various and sundry issues that come up in the course of the practice they are going to pursue in a simulated way positions them to figure out what they are really interested in, where their passion lies, and where they feel like they have learning deficits. It really allows each person to get a running start.

CA: Are there any domestic or international events/trends that are affecting any of the firm’s practices at the moment? Are there any trends that you think are affecting the business of law firms more generally, and how is that playing out with your firm?

Bettencourt: This year there are very significant macro uncertainties which have affected a number of the industries in which we are practicing. You have to expect that the macro environment is going to present opportunities and challenges. The secular changes in the industry are really driven by what I think are the very early stages of technological innovation and disruption. All of my peers in the legal industry and all professional services firms are trying to figure out how to best to deploy artificial intelligence and other business processes and automation initiatives for the benefit of clients. That is coming through from the first-year associate onboarding experience, all the way through to client.

CA: What is your firm’s commercial strategy focusing on, and how do you expect the next year to unfold?

Bettencourt: We from time to time really want to take a jaundiced-eye look at our strategy just to be fair to our partners and our people that we are creating the most opportunity for professional growth and the best outcomes for clients. This past year, we have decided that we are going to focus in an even more intense way on certain industries that we've historically focused on: real estate, private equity, tech and life sciences. We have redoubled our efforts to grow our healthcare presence and to really burnish our leading reputation as an investment funds platform. In an effort to be even more successful in the future, we're redoubling our efforts to grow our investment funds platform and continue the very exciting growth we've had over the last five or six years in the healthcare space.

CA: You already mentioned a little bit earlier how the firm's announced results show increased revenue turnover. Could you tell us a bit about what you think the main contributing factors there are, why you think the firm's doing particularly well?

Bettencourt: Our growth was broad-based. We like to think about the firm through the eyes of the clients. Clients have come to us with their most challenging regulatory problems, their most thorny, unresolved disputes, looking for help to reach resolutions, and their most sophisticated transactions, whether that be in the technology, life sciences, healthcare, private equity, investment funds, or real estate industry.

If you look at the trajectory of the firm, it is more than twice the size it was six years ago. We have leveled up the quality of work we're doing for clients and the sophistication. Some of that is evolving client needs, but some of that is our ability to do more and more each and every year because of our focus.

CA: As your firm works with tech companies, could you tell me about any trends you’re seeing in this area and any predictions you have for the future?

Bettencourt: We have been focused in a fully immersed way in the technology space, but also in other industries. We're actually seeing the power of artificial intelligence in the life sciences industry.

This level of technological disruption and creation is going to continue for the indefinite future. Our clients are out there making the world of tomorrow, and we want to be right there with them so we can figure out what may today seem like the unforeseeable or unimaginable legal or regulatory or business challenges created by it. Someone is going to need to be the guide as we get to this Mount Everest and we very much want to be that for our clients.

Inside the Firm

CA: How is the firm evolving to accommodate the needs/expectations of the next generation of lawyers?

Bettencourt: We're looking at them holistically and we're super focused on their well-being. We have a whole umbrella initiative called You@Goodwin that talks a lot about how to put your personal well-being foremost in your professional development journey.

We spend a lot of time talking about mental health in particular and well-being and we have initiatives at this time of the year, as one would expect, around mental health. We want to invest in the things that make our community as a whole and the individuals who make our community more than just a collection of individuals, and at the individual level, make them the best they can possibly be.

What we are trying to do is focus less on what is implicit in hybrid work, which is you are going to work some days here and some days there, and focus more on the impact or power of being present. That is not necessarily only a physical concept, right? And so we are trying to focus on the inputs that are most likely producing the desired outcome. The desired outcome is from a highly engaged, highly motivated, highly productive, satisfied junior associate.

The Legal Profession

CA: How do you predict the legal profession will change in the next five years? Are there any particular challenges the industry is facing?

Bettencourt: I have been practicing long enough where I remember the first day I received an e-mail! So over the broad sweep of my career, there has been a lot of change in the legal profession. Part of our conversation a little bit earlier was about the disruptive effect that technology is going to have in the next five years. That is probably a higher level of disruption than we experienced maybe in the last five or ten or 15 years.

With each wave of technological change, there is more intense disruption, more intense – hopefully – creativity, from a positive perspective. There is going to be a lot of that in the next five years and sometime in the future. As one example, clients are going to look for more outcome-based pricing and more certainty around pricing.

The Fun Bit

CA: Throwing it back to law school: it's been a long day of classes and studying. What's your go-to easy meal to have before you crash?

Bettencourt: It is usually something I could eat with my hands, a burrito or a large slice of pizza. Having gone to law school in Greenwich Village, there were ample opportunities to grab both of those.

CA: What was the first concert you attended?

Bettencourt: Oh wow, this will get a lot of chuckles. The first concert I ever attended was Kool & The Gang. It was 1985 and it was at what was then called the Providence Civic Center in Providence, RI.

CA: Thinking about the ways in which the legal profession is developing, what is the one skill you have learnt in your career that you think is key for young attorneys to learn?

Bettencourt: Being adaptable, being flexible. They are going to be required to do so many different things. The skill is to appreciate how to continue to evolve, get the most from the mistakes and the experiences that you have, and then continue to evolve. To be successful, we all need to transform ourselves at a faster pace than the world is transforming. It is kind of the old metaphor that you do not need to outrun the bear, you just need to outrun the next slowest person. Everyone that we hire is super talented. It is more like a personal ethos that you need to be committed to continuous improvement, continuous learning. If that is a skill, then I would submit that that is the one that will best serve our folks as they start their legal careers.