Mintz - The Inside View

“I was really interested in joining a firm that was based in Boston and had a huge history in Boston,” one associate began when asked the all-important question of ‘why Mintz?’ They added: “I was really attracted to the idea of a firm that had strong roots in the city and connections and lots of action here.”

“I was really attracted to the idea of a firm that had strong roots in the city and connections and lots of action here.”

With the firm fast approaching its 100th anniversary, it’s certainly no exaggeration to say it’s a stalwart member of the Boston legal scene. Indeed, for Mintz, Boston is more than just an office location; the firm is actively involved in the local community, whether that’s through its pro bono initiatives or supporting schemes like the Boston Lawyers Group, an organization that creates opportunities for lawyers of color.

But don’t make the mistake of thinking it’s all about Boston! “We continue to invest in having as many talented resources as we can spread across our footprint,” says Michael T. Renaud, Chair of the firm’s Intellectual Property Division, when we sit down for a chat about the firm’s strategy. “The focus isn't to avoid Boston, but to be more active in the other locations,” he says, those other locations being Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Diego, San Francisco, Washington, D.C, and Toronto. This approach seems to have paid off, if associates’ enthusiasm is anything to go by; for example, we heard from keen recruits that the firm’s San Diego outpost is not just “a satellite office,” but a hub in its own right for attracting new talent.

Mintz’s approach is also paying off through a suite of high rankings in our sister guide Chambers USA, both on its home turf and further afield. To limit ourselves to a few highlights, the firm achieves the top band in Massachusetts in construction, immigration, insurance, and public finance. Nationwide, it’s also ranked in areas including intellectual property (Section 337), life sciences and startups & emerging companies, reflecting how many of the firm’s clients are in the tech and life sciences space.

Mintz is recognized as The Elite for Junior Satisfaction in Boston in our 2026 associate satisfaction survey.

Strategy & Future

At a time when many competitors are pulling out of the patent prosecution and patent litigation space, Mintz is investing in this area. “One of our trends is to invest heavily in growing IP,” says Renaud. “But, notwithstanding our real significant growth in IP, we're still a litigation powerhouse. By way of example, about 40% of our revenue comes from litigation. We're continuing to grow the big three areas: corporate, litigation, and IP.”

“The firm expects that its associates stay and develop there, so they’re very willing to keep an open dialogue about the strategy and future of the firm.”

As it grows, the firm is mindful of the need to keep associates updated and on board with its plans.Each quarter, the managing partner holds a meeting with associate representatives where these reps get to ask questions and raise any concerns from the wider associate community, while there’s also a biannual meeting where all associates can join and submit anonymous questions. Similarly, the firm does a ‘state of the firm’ review a couple of times a year, when firm management visits each office and talks about the firm’s goals and how it’s doing. “The firm expects that its associates stay and develop there, so they’re very willing to keep an open dialogue about the strategy and future of the firm,” reckoned one associate.

Read more from Michael T. Renaud under the 'Get Hired' tab.

Summer Program

Mintz developed its nine-week, Boston-based program to fit this emphasis on keeping hold of and developing talent. “It doesn’t have a huge summer class it hires, because it expects people to stay,” one associate told us. Camaraderie among this select cohort is helped along by how the summers typically sit together in a large conference room while they do their assignments, as “you can build those relationships a little better than if you were walled off in an office.” That said, the program is expanding its horizons, because – in an exciting development – this year will see the Mintz summers starting in New York for the first time.

As for the content of the work, this is taken from either the corporate, the intellectual property, or the litigation practice throughout the whole program. For example, summers in the corporate team do a simulation exercise where they roleplay a full M&A transaction from start to finish. “I really learned a lot,” said one previous participant. “You really get down into the weeds of things, things that you may not know about until you’re halfway through your first year or second year.”

The Work

Mintz operates a hybrid staffing system. In most departments, associates are assigned their first projects. From there, they’re expected to build relationships with seniors and tend to get most of their work that way. A centralized system is in place in the background for when associates have spare capacity to fill. Several sources did feel that their workload nonetheless remained erratic and unpredictable, which was stressful at times; “What I wasn’t expecting was the ebb and flow of it,” one reported, while another regretted that juniors “don’t have much control” over how busy they are. Nonetheless, others judged that the firm’s approach suited them overall. “It’s a natural flow of how you get work, which is nice because you develop relationships and can work on things with people you really enjoy,” said one corporate attorney. “To me, it’s the best of both worlds; it’s not always perfect but it works well 90% of the time.”

Newbies in the corporate department are expected to pick up assignments across the full range of corporate matters, and “if you like working with a certain partner or group, you can ask for more of that work.” This range includes general corporate work, M&A, private equity, capital markets, funds, securities, and venture capital. In their third year, attorneys specialize and declare a major and minor. We heard Boston-based associates mostly work exclusively for partners and senior associates in Boston, whereas those in other offices often work on cross-office teams. “The deal teams are lean, so I’ve got a lot of client experience early on,” said one junior. “The repeat clients’ deal teams all know me. That’s cool and good experience.”

During the early stages of a deal, juniors typically do a lot of diligence work. As the deal progresses, they do more drafting and client calls, as well as handling schedules, checklists, and processes.“It could be the mundane tasks where you’re just rolling forward a precedent document,” explained one junior. But equally, “you might get something with more of the nitty gritty and it feels like you’re really doing corporate work. Looking back at my first year, I was juggling signature pages with matters that were way more substantive.” However, this associate wasn’t complaining! “As for those mundane things, you learn from those experiences too,” they added.

Corporate clients: Oxford Science Enterprises, Perch Energy, Titan Partners Group. Represented cyber security-focused venture capital firm SYN Ventures on more than 15 transactions, worth over $171 million in total.

Within the litigation department, juniors work across different subgroups that include insurance and reinsurance, cyber security, construction, securities investigations, fraud, bankruptcy, and general litigation. The general litigation group works with the corporate department to advise on deals and take the lead if a matter becomes litigious. “I wanted to work at a place I could be a generalist and that has been true,” said one attorney. “Every day is different.”

“Mintz does a really good job of developing their associates over time and giving them opportunities.”

Juniors help prep for depositions, prepare discovery responses, undertake research, and draft briefings and motions. Sometimes they will attend client meetings and hearings. “The ownership I’ve been able to take on is one thing Mintz does really well,” said one associate. “Mintz does a really good job of developing their associates over time and giving them opportunities.” For example, often the junior in the team is responsible for communicating with clients and other teams within Mintz. “There’s variety in the types of work but variety in the subject matter as well, which is another thing that drew me to Mintz,” shared one junior.

Litigation clients: Siemens Financial Services, City of Boston, Dutchie. Secured a settlement for Uber which, along with Lyft, ended a long-running employee classification lawsuit brought by the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office.

At Mintz, intellectual property is split into two teams: IP litigation on one side and IP prosecution and strategy on the other. Associates will be in one or the other. “One thing I love about my group and the reason I’m not interested in looking at other places is how entrepreneurial it is,” said one junior. “The partners seem like they’re small business owners themselves and it’s fun to watch them develop groups and build contacts and bring those things in. It’s very energizing.”

IP work often overlaps with corporate and litigation, so IP juniors have opportunities to meet seniors in other practice areas and get involved in the IP side of their matters. “That opens the door to new opportunities for me,” one insider told us.

“When I started as an associate, I was doing things I didn’t even know existed, like evaluating a portfolio, patent protection, and insurance work,” we were told. Alongside the unavoidable doc review, juniors get to take depositions, write legal briefs, and attend client meetings. Partners will sit down with associates to go over their drafts, provide feedback and finalize the documents together. If associates show interest, seniors will give them new opportunities, such as getting involved in the partners’ business development work. Teams are lean, often consisting of only a partner, senior associate, and junior associate.

IP clients: JUUL Labs, Eikon Therapeutics, A2 Biotherapeutics. Represented Media Content Protection and Philips in asserting patents directed to content protection technology against Intel, Dell, HP and Lenovo.

Career Development

Newbies receive both a junior mentor and a senior one. The senior mentor is also known as the “writing mentor” because they’re the go-to person for helping with drafting. There’s also a more informal mentoring program where once a month the mentor and mentee can go for a chat over lunch – paid for by the firm!

“I feel like it was quite unique in how much we were encouraged to learn some of the fundamental things as first years and had time set aside for us to do that.”

“I was really impressed by the training set up for us. It almost felt like a continuation of law school in some ways,” said one insider. For example, some departments run training programs where juniors follow a set program of study, complete with a textbook and homework. “I feel like it was quite unique in how much we were encouraged to learn some of the fundamental things as first years and had time set aside for us to do that,” the same source added.

If you’re worried that this sounds a bit too much like handholding, then rest assured that Mintz also encourages associates to tackle real responsibility early on. As Renaud puts it, “if you're ready to do the job, we would like you to step up and become part of the high-functioning members of the team right away.” For those who really thrive, the path to partnership beckons. Mintz operates a tiered partnership model: to become an equity partner, attorneys must first become a non-equity partner. Some associates did feel that the full route to achieving this – or alternative lateraling options – hadn’t really been made clear to them. Nonetheless, support is available: the firm has a third-party coach who works with associates on weighing up their options.

Hours & Compensation

Billable hours: 2,000 hours

The firm has an annual target of 2,000 billable hours, although this is effectively 1,900 hours, as associates can include up to 100 hours of pro bono, training, diversity, and recruiting activities towards their target. The firm pays market rate and matches the Cravath scale for bonuses. “Every Boston firm might not be on the New York scale; I think it’s really good that Mintz does that,” observed one junior. This year, the firm didn’t match the scale’s special bonus, but there are additional bonuses for those who hit 2,200 and 2,400 hours.

As mentioned previously, the fluctuation in associates’ workloads can be challenging at times. However, when asked about how they managed hectic schedules, an associate reassured us that “The firm has lots of different layers of protection to make sure I’m not overwhelmed.” For example, the people who run the central staffing system keep an eye out for who’s very busy at any given time, and we heard that seniors are also willing to give juniors a lighter workload following a particularly busy period to help them recover. Associates should be in the office three days per week.

Inclusion

“Diversity, equity and inclusion are core to our firm and we haven't stepped back from that commitment,” says Renaud. This approach was popular with juniors. For instance, one told us: “When the political culture was shunning it a bit, Mintz didn’t change its tone and I appreciate that.” The Women’s Initiative is particularly active. As one example, it hosts a monthly lunch where attendees can get to know colleagues from other practice groups who they might not otherwise meet.

“You’re allowed to sign up for whatever affinity group speaks to you, whether you identify as part of a group or an ally,” one associate reassured us. Besides the Women’s Initiative, there is also the Mintz Pride group focused on LGBTQ+ lawyers, and additional groups for parents and various ethnic communities. Every year there’s a retreat for the MIATTY group, which is focused on ethnic diversity, where everyone involved travels to attend a large conference.

“It’s not like people are at each other’s throats trying to get work.”

Culture

“It’s not like people are at each other’s throats trying to get work,” one associate in the Big Apple told us. “It’s definitely more laid back. Especially for New York, that’s surprising.” While every law firm will market itself as friendly and welcoming, potential recruits are often unsure if these claims really hold up. Well, we’re pleased to be able to report that associates across the firm’s offices (not just New York!) found Mintz to be an authentically pleasant place to work. “Other associates will stop by to ask what you’re working on. They genuinely want to know how you’re doing,” shared one junior.

More generally, associates told us: “There is a sense of ‘we all are working towards the same goal, so let’s not make each other’s lives hard’. There’s less of this tough love that’s maybe part of the stereotypical BigLaw culture.”

Pro Bono

Attorneys can attend clinics where they give members of the public legal advice, including clinics for victims of domestic abuse, for veterans, and for women-owned and black-owned startups. Some attorneys work with a women’s reproductive health center and others do criminal record sealing. There are also various opportunities related to immigration. “Because pro bono hours count towards your target, up to a certain amount, it makes it easier to prioritize that even as billable things are happening,” said one insider.

Our sources were big fans of the firm’s head of pro bono, Sue Finnegan, telling us that “she’s an amazing attorney and person, so it’s cool working for her.” Sometimes seniors ask juniors if they would like to help out on matters, and juniors get staffed on pro bono that way.

Pro bono hours

• For all US attorneys: 16,282
• Average per US attorney: 19.2

Get Hired

The first stage: recruitment on and off campus 

OCI applicants interviewed: 0

Interviewees outside OCI: 143

Students hoping to summer at Mintz should apply directly to the firm’s website. Applications and interviews are done on a rolling basis, beginning in April. Mintz engages in OCI at a very limited amount of law schools. Outside of this, the firm participates in resume drops.

Hiring sources tell us that interviewers “look for curious, collaborative, collegial students.” Questions vary by interviewer, but overall, “we aim to find prospective associates who share the same passion for the law as our lawyers do.”

Top tips for this stage: 

“Someone who gave the sense that they were out for themselves would have a hard time getting a good rating!” – a junior associate 

“Think about what you want to convey to an interviewer without scripting the answers. Take the time to learn about the firm – including our people and practice areas.” 

Callbacks 

Applicants invited to second stage interview: 66

Candidates invited to callbacks will interview with four lawyers – again, questions vary person to person. But hiring sources said that interviewers will be interested in a candidate’s interest in the law, their other interests, accomplishments and “how would you like to be challenged!” 

A junior associated went into more detail: “At the end of each interview, there is an evaluation process with about five or six questions like, ‘Is the candidate a team leader? Would you feel comfortable having them meet with clients?’ Naturally, the questions we ask in interview help candidates provide answers to those questions.” 

Top tips for this stage: 

“Focus on being able to make a personal connection. Go beyond just answering questions on what’s on or not on your resume.” – a second-year junior associate 

“Similarly to OCI, students should be prepared. We aim to have an interactive discussion on your future at our firm.” 

Summer program 

Offers: 29

Acceptances: 17

In Mintz’s nine-week program, summers choose a practice area of interest (Corporate, Litigation, or Intellectual Property) and are immersed in that practice area for the duration of the program. Training sessions throughout the summer include a Corporate “Nuts and Bolts” training, a moot court for Litigation Summers, and writing seminars and mentors for the full class. Social events are dotted throughout the program “so our lawyers and students have an opportunity to get to know each other outside of the office.”  The firm tells us summers typically return as first-year associates in the practice area in which they worked during the summer. 

Top tips for this stage: 

“Be enthusiastic; do great work; get to know people; always carry a pen and notepad!” 

Interview with Michael T. Renaud, Chair of Intellectual Property Division

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?

Michael T. Renaud: We're an ascending law firm in the sense that we've had 12 years of consecutive revenue and profit growth and we're moving up the AmLaw 100 on all of the key metrics. As a result, we're really focusing on high-value practices where you can get the higher rates and have them coupled with high customer satisfaction and more of a business-outcome-based approach. Instead of simply saying ‘our business is billing you by the hour and collecting it,’ our business is about trying to line up our legal services with the business's interest.

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

Renaud: I’d start off with the pro bono work. We now have 65% associate participation, which we think is quite good, and over 16,000 hours of pro bono work. It's in the areas of domestic violence, civil rights, and asylum, so issues that line up a lot with some of the core values of the next generation of law students and associates.

Diversity, equity and inclusion are core to our firm and we haven't stepped back from that commitment. By way of example, we participate in the Afro Scholars program, which is a leadership development program for talented 1L students . We've also been a long-time partner of the Boston Lawyers Group, which is an organization that advances inclusion and belonging for lawyers of color.

Mintz is a low-hierarchy firm, meaning we give a lot of opportunities to lawyers based on merit and based on their commitment. That's why associates can end up handling witnesses at trial depositions. Part of the benefit of being a smaller firm (and I say smaller even though I think we're nearly 700 lawyers now), is that we can be nimble about the opportunities that we offer.

Just speaking of the IP group, we recently had a trial where instead of having three older partners handle all the witnesses, we ended up with in the neighborhood of 10 different lawyers, of which more than a third were associates, handling witnesses. That's another attribute of Mintz: if you're ready to do the job, we would like you to step up and become part of the high-functioning members of the team right away.

We also now have expanded our summer associate offerings in New York, LA, , and Toronto,. We're really trying to make our summer associate program, which has always been large in Boston, be a growing commitment to more of our offices.

CA: Are there any domestic or international events/trendsthat 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?

Renaud: There's been pressure internationally to put work in places other than the United States legal market when it makes sense to do it. Meaning, if a European law firm could handle a transaction that is a multinational transaction, then why pay the higher rates in the United States? One of the ways we've managed that is by  developing closer partnerships with specialists in European firms.

We work closely to senior management in our key client relationships, so that we genuinely understand what they want, and we're routinely collaborating with foreign law firms on almost every large transaction that we have. Whether it's a corporate transaction, a licensing transaction, an enforcement program, or defending against a multinational litigation where we're collaborating, we invite the foreign law firms into the equation. Rather than competing with them, we offer a holistic solution.

CA: To continue a little bit more on the theme of the commercial strategy of the firm, are there any particular practice areas or geographical locations that you're really focusing on for growth in the next couple of years?

Renaud: Boston was our first office and has historically been our hub. Now a little less than 50% of our lawyers are resident in Boston because we’ve successfully grown in our other geographies. We have been focusing on expanding our capabilities outside of Boston for many reasons including having access to great talent across the country. In addition, we opened a Toronto office  three years ago, which has given us a nice footprint in North America. We continue to invest in having as many talented resources as we can spread across our footprint. The focus isn't to avoid Boston, but to be more active in the other locations.

We're highly competitive compared to the larger firms in the AmLaw 100. At Mintz, patent litigation happens to be amongst the practice areas with the highest hourly rates. We're recruiting from the top 25 firms in the country to bring those practices to Mintz because it allows us to expand a very lucrative and highly regarded area of the firm’s service. Now, of course, a decent chunk of that top 25 has started to deprioritize patent litigation and patent prosecution. We're still doing it in a very profitable, sophisticated way.

One of our trends is to invest heavily in growing IP. But, notwithstanding our real significant growth in IP, we're a litigation powerhouse. By way of example, about 40% of our revenue comes from litigation. We're continuing to grow the big three practice areas: corporate, litigation, and IP.

CA: As an intellectual property specialist, could you tell us about any trends you’re seeing in this industry and predictions you have for the next few years?

Renaud: We're seeing a lot of players entering the space outside of traditional law firms. The consulting firms are getting more and more active in IP. We're working more hand-in-glove with these consultants. It's a little bit like the foreign law firm dynamic. If the client wants to work with a consulting firm as part of the solution set, we're capable of collaborating and disaggregating part of what we do as a business solution provider and letting the consulting firm work seamlessly with us.

Another big trend in IP is the ascension of the European law firms. German firms in particular are becoming savvy about business solutions. German firms are often already talking with the clients about anything that's multinational. And by the way, I don't think there's an IP solution that realistically could be North American only at this point. Almost all of these solutions have to be multinational. We have been teamed up with multiple German firms for 15/20 years. We're doing really well by our clients promoting solutions jointly with our German partners.

Inside the Firm

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

Renaud: Mintz has a 60% in office requirement.. We're building directed training specific to associates. If an associate is less experienced in their deposition taking or oral advocacy skills, we're creating specialized training that's directed to that sub-cohort rather than saying, ‘well, you got your deposition training in your second and fourth years and then you're done.’ Not all associates are going to gather their skills at the same rate. While that probably  was always the case, we’re particularly focused on supporting those associates now.

Second, we're pushing for the partners to be in the office more. The reason for that is to make sure that when the associates are in, the partners are going to be there. As an example, I'm in the office every day when I'm not traveling. If you give real one-on-one attention on top of that directed specialized training, it makes a big difference.

Everybody has a mentor assigned to them within their functional group. I require the senior partners, the equity partners, to go and spend time one-on-one, whether it's a lunch, a coffee, or whatever, to really invest in the more junior partners and associates. It's working.

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?

Renaud: One of the big trends I think you're going to see, and you've already seen it at the biggest law firms in the United States, is transfer of leadership to a younger generation of lawyers and making it more diverse. The next generation of lawyers are more closely connected with the workforce and with the clients. We see that clients are doing the same thing. We're making firm leadership increasingly look like the client base and the up-and-coming associate talent.

I don't know what AI is going to look like in the legal profession, but I think it's already here. It's awkwardly used. It doesn't have great outcomes presently, but it's going to be tailored and it's going to be worked out like everything else. When the internet first showed up, people weren't really sure what to do with it. You're going to see real sophisticated refinement of how to use AI and technology. I think moving leadership to a younger cohort increases the chances that we're going to do that well.

The Fun Bit

CA: Are you a morning person or an evening person?

Renaud: Evening.

CA: Phone call or email?

Renaud: It depends what the subject is, but I think a phone call is much more effective and a Zoom call is even better. I would say phone calls over e-mail.

CA: Cats or dogs?

Renaud: I’m a dog person.

CA: Business suit or business casual?

Renaud: I've evolved to reach the place where I prefer business casual now. Like everything else, you get set in your ways. But I think business casual is probably more effective at breaking down barriers and making things happen. I think that the tie and suit gets a little stuffy, so I'm business casual.