Latham & Watkins LLP - The Inside View

If you’re looking to rub shoulders with the stars, it’s no secret that you’ll find the big names in everything from music and movies to sport and reality TV in LA. And, as it turns out, the same goes for legal stars. According to recent figures, LA juggernaut Latham & Watkins raked in $5.6 billion in 2023, making it the second highest-earning firm in the world. Like many of its neighbors on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Latham’s got range too. The firm has 12 offices in the US and a further 17 across Europe, Asia and the Middle East. The breadth of practices also impressed interviewees, who were pleased to say: “We take a broader approach and do a little bit of everything.” Perhaps that’s an understatement, as Latham’s “little bit of everything” has landed it a huge collection of top-tier Chambers USA rankings in its home city and across the country. While listing them all may exhaust our word count, top practices include antitrust, international trade, capital markets, energy, IP, life sciences, technology, and securities litigation.

“You can work on an M&A transaction, then a litigation project, or a bankruptcy matter.”

Incoming first years can capitalize on this variety thanks to Latham’s unassigned system, in which they are not tethered to a practice group until their third year: “It truly is choose-your-own-adventure. You come in as a brand-new associate and can fill your time how you want,” said one interviewee. “You can work on an M&A transaction, then a litigation project, or a bankruptcy matter.” However, despite Latham’s reputation for “top of the field deals” and “really smart people,” sources still enjoyed their colleagues’ company. “There’s a lack of ego here,” said one insider, “and people are super approachable from the top of Latham all the way down.”

Strategy & Future

Many of our associate interviewees were clued into the firm’s broader strategy as “we have a talk every year on the state of the firm, including the projects for the year and how we’ve been doing.” Another insider highlighted how financial regulation has been a huge growth point for the firm, explaining that “there’s been a ton of recent lateral partner hires in that space. Every regulatory body seems to be expanding its authority on financial institutions lately, so we’re bringing on people who understand the nuances of those federal laws.”

The Work

While the associates on our list were spread all 12 of Latham’s US offices, most found themselves in New York, with plenty also in DC. A couple of associates were based in the newest Austin office, while the remainder were split across the other locations. The corporate and litigation & trial groups both took on well over 100 associates apiece, while the rest were in finance or tax, or were unassigned. While unassigned, juniors find work through The Book, which is Latham’s centralized assignment system. Once assigned to a group, sources noted that work assignment generally became much more informal, but assignment via the central system was always a possibility. “I get the majority of assignments from the staffing partners on my team,” said one interviewee, while another “might stop by a partner’s office to see if they’ve got anything going on.”

The mammoth corporate group is divided into several subgroups, including M&A and private equity, capital markets, real estate and investment funds. “Each office has a similar makeup, but I’d say that our Chicago corporate team focuses more on public company M&A, while DC or LA might have more of a private equity footprint,” one interviewee reflected, “it just depends on the partners we have.” Associates in M&A praised the “broader experience” offered at the firm, with increasing responsibility as you progress: “After mastering more admin-style tasks such as helping on due diligence, associates typically start drafting some of the smaller ancillary documents. It grows from there, until you start running small deals.” Meanwhile, an associate working in investment funds had been involved in “everything from the smaller funds to the mega funds. It runs the full spectrum and we’re often staffed cross-office.” Although juniors need to first familiarize themselves with tracking checklists, we heard there’s still plenty of contact with clients and investors, as well as opportunities to try their hand at reviewing subscription agreements and side letters.

Corporate clients: Blackstone, ArcLight, JP Morgan. Advised Reddit on its multiple acquisitions of companies producing machine learning and AI-related software.

“The joke about junior litigators doing doc review forever hasn’t been my experience, and I wouldn’t even mind doing a bit more of it!”

Litigators are also spoilt for choice at Latham, with a range of commercial, white-collar, securities, appellate, antitrust and IP matters to try out, as well as domestic and international arbitration. “Although I’m technically assigned to one subgroup, I’m encouraged to try out different things and you don’t have to fully specialize until you get more senior,” one source shared. This breadth was reflected in the tasks assigned to juniors, one of whom boasted: “I’ve been able to see every aspect of litigation so far.” While greener associates may still find themselves reviewing documents, we heard responsibility extends far beyond this: “The joke about junior litigators doing doc review forever hasn’t been my experience, and I wouldn’t even mind doing a bit more of it! In fact, I know plenty of juniors who have first-chaired depositions.” With a mix of lean and large teams, our interviewees had experienced varying levels of responsibility, ranging from drafting complaints and motions to joining trial teams, prepping witnesses and working with experts.

Litigation clients: Twitter/X, Meta, Peloton. Represented Virgin Galactic in a securities class action matter relating to its commercial space travel business.

Associates in finance might touch on matters covering restructuring, structured finance, project finance and traditional banking. Though offices US-wide work on both the sponsor and lender sides, an interviewee in LA had worked with more direct lenders, while another in New York had experienced more sponsor-side work. Despite finance deals often sharing the same mechanics, sources gratefully reported that “the types of companies we deal with vary drastically, so our work varies as well.” Specifically, interviewees had done plenty of drafting, initially working on ancillary documents before progressing to the core purchase and credit agreements. However, while billion-dollar deals may call for massive teams, leanly staffed matters (such as those in project finance) offer more substantial responsibility: “I was allowed to run a deal in my first 12 months at the firm, with amendments and some supervision of course,” a junior explained, “I’m now running deals and have supervisees as a second year. It ramps up quickly.”

Finance clients: Lyft, Caesars Entertainment Corporation, The Walt Disney Company. Advised the former in a $5.25 billion revolving credit facility.

Pro Bono

At Latham, pro bono is not only entirely billable, but popular too: “When a corporate project comes out, all the corporate associates seem to fight to get on it!” That said, though pro bono is often the realm of litigation, the transactional opportunities that do come through often involve drafting wills, counseling small businesses and generally assisting local legal needs groups. The firm’s pro bono committee is in charge of circulating matters weekly, but associates can also bring their own for approval. Asylum and immigration work regularly crops up, but our interviewees also had experience working on matters related to veterans, housing, civil rights and legal name changes. A DC interviewee told us that “we tend to focus on local clinics, such as assisting the elderly or wiping decriminalized charges from people’s records.”

“…it’s a way to rehumanize the law while also breaking up your day and teaching you additional skills.”

So, while the firm pushes its attorneys to hit at least 50 hours, we heard there was more to the pro bono sphere at Latham than simply hitting a billable target: “There’s a positive impact that you can see immediately,” said one, “it’s a way to rehumanize the law while also breaking up your day and teaching you additional skills.” This was especially pertinent to IP litigators, one of whom shared that “veterans’ appeals go to the federal circuit, as do patent appeals. While it’s highly encouraged that we work with veterans in our group to develop skills in front of the court we practice in, it’s also just nice to help people in need.”

Latham & Watkins is recognized as an Excellent Performer in pro bono in our 2024 survey.

Pro bono hours

• For all US attorneys: 227,369
• Average per US attorney: 90

Hours & Compensation

Billable hours: 1,900 target

Alongside pro bono, attorneys can also bill hours used for recruitment, diversity and knowledge management (eg, training or writing material for conferences). Thanks to this, most found that the target was achievable, though a few interviewees who had lateralled into teams without staffing partners struggled to maintain a consistent workload: “It’s not because I haven’t asked for work or reached out, but some people have been insular with who they normally work with,” one interviewee explained; “I think partners care, but it can be easy for them to forget when things get busy.” However, insiders appreciated that the only real consequence to missing the target is losing the bonus. According to one associate: “It’s an all or nothing bonus, so there’s no subjectivity. Although it can be a bit harsh if you just miss it, they’re transparent on the numbers. They break down the number of people who reached certain hour thresholds and lay out the bonuses they earned.”

Day to day, most interviewees tried to stick to a regular schedule, but those in more unpredictable groups “have days where I’m billing 4.5 hours, and others where I’m billing 11. That’s just the nature of deal-based work.” Although our interviewees were no strangers to working at the weekends, associates appreciated how “partners push back on unreasonable client demands when they can, including unnecessary weekend work.” That said, one insider mentioned how “there have been periods where I had to work every day and through the weekends for several weeks. It can be exhausting, but people check in and remind you to take vacations.” However, associates made the most of slower periods and felt “comfortable rejecting work if I’m at the pace I want to be at. I don’t feel pressure to go above and beyond the 1,900 target.”

Career Development

When it comes to resources, Latham certainly knows how to put its money where its mouth is. The firm circulates weekly Training and Career Enhancement sessions across the firm, and there are specialized sessions for different groups. For instance, one litigator noted how “there’s a really intensive trial advocacy program for third years. I was surprised to see that at least a dozen partners had flown in from all over the country to help us prep for mock trials.” Similarly, an insider in funds praised the group for investing in a formal training program: “it’s been very thorough so far and partners have popped in to listen and answer questions.”

When it came to long-term career aspirations, interviewees in corporate groups in particular were glad to see plenty of recent partner promotions from their departments. Others were also encouraged by senior attorneys who “had kids as associates and weren’t penalized when they did want to make partner.” However, associates acknowledged that “it’s well known that you’re not going to make partner coming right in at 1,900 hours. You do need to sacrifice a couple of years if that’s what you want.” Associates can discuss their career development with practice group partner mentors (alongside all the other “mentors they throw at you, so that at least one will stick!”), though some laterals felt that this system worked better for those who joined through the summer program. “Latham is known for having a lot of laterals,” an interviewee mentioned, “but I think it needs to do better at integrating them. Though I haven’t struggled much myself, others have left as they couldn’t integrate. However, the firm is so big that it doesn’t really take a hit from that.” Nevertheless, sources recognized that, being at such a large firm, there are plenty of opportunities to network and find more informal mentorship on top of any assigned, formal mentors.

Culture

“You can knock on partners’ doors to say hello, and even the very senior partners make themselves available at a moment’s notice.”

Despite Latham’s massive headcount, an interviewee in NYC told us that: “I feel like I know a lot of folks, even in the largest office. I frequently run into multiple people I know on lunch breaks at least!” Around the office, insiders made the most of the open-door policy, noting how “you can knock on partners’ doors to say hello, and even the very senior partners make themselves available at a moment’s notice.” Another telling example of the culture, as evidenced by multiple interviewees, was the fact that they have stayed in contact with people who have left the firm: “I meet up with people from my summer class at weekends,” said one insider, “we have lots of resources about career paths away from BigLaw thanks to our network of alumni. They definitely do stay in touch.” Maintaining this culture across offices is no small feat, but juniors explained that “Latham prides itself on being a one firm kind of firm, so we work across offices constantly and there isn’t a separation of culture.”

Latham & Watkins is recognized as an Excellent Performer in quality of life in our 2024 survey.

Inclusion

“We have a variety of committees that lead the charge on different areas of the firm,” an associate explained, and DEI was no exception. One source praised the committee for “caring and working hard to improve DEI. Whenever I’ve asked for assistance with something, they’ve responded within the day to resolve the issue.” Affinity groups also got a shoutout from our sources, who lauded their work in “recruiting and mentoring people when they join so that they can get settled and staffed on matters.” Some had attended small circle mentoring groups where partners discuss their progression at the firm in relation to their diverse identities. Associates were optimistic about diverse representation more generally, though still felt that there’s a way to go with regard to racial diversity (as is the case across BigLaw more generally). “The firm can still improve on that front, but we have a lot of female partners,” a source reasoned. Another added that “women in M&A are given an equal opportunity to participate in matters, which isn’t the case at every firm. Given that the group is the main moneymaker at big firms, and subsequently sees the biggest pool of promotions, those opportunities do encourage the organic growth of female talent.”

Get Hired

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

The first stage: recruitment on and off campus

Latham’s broad approach to recruitment reflects its giant footprint on the legal scene. “Our open application platform allows any student, from any law school, to apply to our recruiting programs,” notes Michèle Penzer, a banking partner in New York and the Global Chair of the Recruiting Committee. “We seek the best and brightest legal talent, first and foremost. While we look at academic credentials for new associates, that’s not the entire barometer. We also look for leadership achievements, and characteristics such as grit and teamwork that enhance Latham’s culture.” 

The firm has an application period, Latham Early Action Days (LEAD), that encourages students to apply to their summer program within a 10 day period in April. A whole host of Recruiting Committee members and other attorneys participate in interviews, including managing partners, practice group chairs, and associates. All applicants are required to take a virtual assessment which will assess candidates on different skills and behaviors that are necessary to excel at Latham. Following the assessment, students will receive written feedback on their strengths for their personal reference.

This might all sound a bit intimidating, but associate sources assured us: “Collaboration and collegiality are a key part of Latham’s culture. Interviews are meant to be conversational, less about ticking through a resume and more about people as individuals,” said Boston counsel and member of the Recruiting Committee, Gloria Ring.

Top tips: “Be yourself. We want to hear about experiences that demonstrate who you are, and that shows us how you’ll contribute to our consensus-based, entrepreneurial culture. We value authenticity, ambition, excellence,  teamwork, creativity, and innovation. The stories you tell will reveal your values and competencies in a very natural way.” - New York partner and Global Chair of Recruiting Committee, Michèle Penzer.

Callbacks

Those invited to callbacks will meet with several lawyers over the course of several hours. Bay Area partner and Global Vice-Chair of the Recruiting Committee, Aaron Chiu, tells us: “Whenever possible, we try to pair candidates with Latham lawyers who share their interests, or who can best answer a candidate’s particular questions. To help us with matching, we welcome candidates to share those questions with us during the recruiting process; we understand that candidates are often evaluating a number of firms, and we want to ensure that callbacks are engaging, relevant, and illuminating.” 

Interviewers and questions vary depending on the candidate and location, but candidates are urged to share their professional passions and experiences that demonstrate how they may contribute to our firm. Chiu notes too that candidates should prepare themselves for a long day. Houston associate and member of the Recruiting Committee, Zainab Hashmi, adds: “While the process can seem intimidating, especially with the large amount of talking, questions, and introductions over the course of the day, we also hope it’s a fun experience, and that candidates view the lawyers they meet during interviews as their potential supervisors, mentors, colleagues, and friends.” 

Top tips: “Before your interview, set aside some time to think through what you want to share. We want to hear about you, and learn about your authentic self. Think about how your personal and professional experiences brought you to this moment in time, and how those experiences demonstrate you are the right fit for Latham.” - New York associate and member of the Recruiting Committee, Lauren Sun. 

Summer program

Candidates who are fortunate to secure a spot on Latham’s summer program will take part in the firm’s unassigned program, where they can explore the firm’s market-leading practice groups. The system is entrepreneurial and informal — summer associates are free to pursue projects that they’re interested in, aligned to the firm’s business needs, including pro bono work. Penzer tells us: “Our firm has a deep commitment to training and developing lawyers at every stage of their careers, including summer associates. Our Summer Academy brings together summer associates from across the globe for several days of networking, training, professional development, and socializing .” Houston associate and member of the Recruiting Committee, Kevin Donovan, advises summers to “strike a good balance between your substantive work and building relationships with colleagues. The relationships you build and the skills you develop over the summer will be invaluable as you advance in your legal career.” 

Top tips: “The summer associate program provides a unique opportunity to not only become familiar with Latham but also to envision your future as a high-level practicing lawyer. Through the program, you will have the chance to delve into various practice areas, participate in training sessions, connect with lawyers across the firm, and seek answers to your questions in real-time. While law school equips you with the skills to tackle the challenges and intellectual demands of the legal field, the summer associate experience rounds out your preparation for your future career.” - D.C. counsel and member of the Recruiting Committee, Jess Lennon.   

And finally…

“When we say that a career at Latham is an investment in your development and your future, we mean it. We want candidates who take charge of their careers by asking thoughtful questions, by being authentic, and by demonstrating an interest in practicing law at Latham. We’re very proud of our culture, and we are eager to share it with law students.” -New York partner and member of the Recruiting Committee, Reza Mojtabaee-Zamani.