Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP - The Inside View

Time for a vibe check! We’ve done our research, and the resounding response was that at Morgan Lewis, “the vibe is something that I saw reflected from the top down.” What is that indescribable feeling exactly? “It’s the unicorn of firms,” a starry-eyed junior sighed, “It’s not a burn-and-turn firm.” As firm chair Jami McKeon confirms: “People understand that this is a place where we want them to come and want them to stay. The job has gotten harder and more demanding,” she admits, “but I do believe you can create an environment where people feel that this is a great job and a great profession to be in. You’re helping people, you’re rewarded financially for it, you’re surrounded by really smart people and you get to use your creative juices.”

“I love this firm. My group is incredible... I’m super proud of where I work; there’s a reason I’m here.”

Morgan Lewis’ prestige is simply undeniable. One insider admitted that early on, it was “definitely on my radar.” But the strong culture at the firm meant that for many aspiring associates making their decision, “rankings actually didn’t matter when it came to imagining how it would be working with people side-by-side.” Selfishly, we’d insist that they matter at least a little bit – especially looking at Morgan Lewis’ track record in Chambers USA. Standing top of the podium for bankruptcy/restructuring, capital markets, corporate crime and investigations, corporate/M&A, employee benefits and executive compensation, energy, international trade, investment funds and labor and employment (*takes deep breath*), there’s nothing this superstar can’t do! Just ask its associates: “I love this firm. My group is incredible, and it’s really about the people and the clients. I’m super proud of where I work; there’s a reason I’m here.”

With over 30 offices across the Middle East and Asia Pacific, North America, and Europe, Morgan Lewis is the name heard around the world, but the associates on our list were found mostly in New York, Washington, DC and Philadelphia.

Strategy & Future

McKeon speaks to the firm’s growth over the last year: “We’ve never been one of those firms that grows for growth’s sake. We’ve had some pretty big expansions – recently, in Munich and in Paris, which have been great. On the near horizon, we’re opening in Saudi Arabia once we receive final regulatory approval.”

McKeon also mentions the firm’s data center initiative, something Morgan Lewis is uniquely positioned for. “Data centers are now becoming a huge thing... When you combine our nuclear regulatory with our real estate with our energy practice, all those things are really explosive.” Artificial intelligence ties into this too,as internally the firm announced a partnership withThomson Reuters. McKeon details, “We’ve been working with them to provide testing, feedback, and input that will shape and develop products and tools that will help our profession. You don’t want to be sitting around waiting when it comes to AI – you want to be in the vanguard.”

On that note, McKeon reminds us: “There’s a lot of fear that the legal profession is going to change in a way that will eliminate jobs for associates, and that’s not true. Technology has not hurt us. We were one of the first firms that created an e-data practice more than two decades ago... Has that resulted in less jobs for associates? No. E-data is a $100 million practice for us.” Something else firms must reckon with is making sure that "people don’t lose the mindset of looking for opportunities to be creative, be thoughtful, and be engaged because of their fear that these jobs will go away,” McKeon philosophizes. She continues: “What our new and most junior members of the profession should be thinking about is enhancing those things called ‘soft skills’ that to me, are leadership skills: creativity, curiosity, empathy, courage, relationship skills and communication with clients. All those things are going to be really important for long-term success.”

Read our full interview with Jami McKeon under the ‘Get Hired’ tab.

The Work

During a summer at Morgan Lewis, aspiring associates are encouraged to try a range of practices. “You take assignments everywhere and they’re constantly getting you involved in whatever you want. They’ll help you be diverse in helping you trying things out,” explained one source. Staffing is centralized and assignment coordinators can see what hours look like across groups and staff accordingly. Though, more relationship-based staffing isn’t unheard of too, as “partners or senior associates can ask for somebody specific they want to work with,” a junior relayed. Another added, “They’re looking for people who have personal responsibility, an idea about where they want their careers to be, and the wherewithal to pursue that independently. You’re not going to be out of luck with no work to do.”

The firm’s finance group represents banks, hedge funds, business development corporations, and other investment vehicles; private equity funds and their portfolio companies; and corporate borrowers and investors in debt transactions, which juniors like because “it gives you more insight into what’s happening on both sides and the considerations that the other side’s clients are working through.” Insiders detailed working on cash flow, asset based, and direct lending middle-market deals, but “you can try your hand at anything. If you like something, you’re encouraged to move in that direction and take on as much of that work as you want.” Typical junior tasks include closing checklists and signature pages from the outset. “It’s not uncommon for juniors to be brought in at the tail end of a deal to help close things out when things are getting hectic and there’s a lot of paper to move,” explained one insider. As newbies gain more experience, they can “punch above their weight a little,” and take the first pass at drafting borrower resolutions, offer certificates, and credit agreements. Whatever you try your hand at, the firm “doesn’t want you to see things as a senior or partner workstream,” a source stated, rather “they want you get familiar with everything, even if you feel like it’s not within your jurisdiction.”

Finance clients: Bank of America, Citibank, Société Générale. Represented JPMorgan Chase Bank in connection with a $1.35 billion revolving credit facility for Mettler-Toledo International and some of its affiliates.

Junior litigators can delve into a variety of work across areas like business disputes, white collar and securities. This includes FCA cases, SEC investigations and class actions, so the role of an associate is equally diverse. Expect your day-to-day here to involve drafting motions for summary judgment, discovery, briefing legal arguments, written advocacy and doc review. “You get substantive work out the gate for sure,” one source relayed, “and you feel like a valued member of the team from day one.” Evidently so, as another laughed, “Our cases are super busy – you rarely get a free moment!” One insider, who works in a more niche subsection of the group, continued: “It’s super client-facing, and I chose this – I love the work and the people I work on it with. It’s a good niche for me to be in.”

“You get substantive work out the gate for sure, and you feel like a valued member of the team from day one."

Litigation clients: Tivoli Audio, Boston Globe Media Partners, 480 McClellan. The firm represented New-Indy Containerboard in its defense against a claim by Resolute Forest Product arising from Resolute’s sale to New-Indy of a paper mill for $260 million.

Corporate business transactions has a wide client base, including banks, pharmaceutical companies, retail stores, and energy companies. “The corporate practice basically supports every field of interest you could think of,” an interviewee reflected. The team has a “high level of contact with top private equity firms,” so sources reported working on private equity deals, M&A, and public company work. In terms of responsibilities, juniors can expect to do due diligence, run calls, disclosure schedules and “various other deal team tasks – including interfacing with the client.” Tasks largely depend on the size of the deal team, we heard, as “it varies from the junior to senior level, depending on the team, their needs and the size of the deal.”

Corporate clients: Bristol Myers Squibb, Merck & Co, Cantor Fitzgerald. Represented Melwood in its partnership with Enabled Technologies to recruit and train 100 AI data annotators.

Career Development

“I’m more optimistic about my career development here than my law school buddies are at their firms,” an insider was pleased to tell us. At Morgan Lewis, newbies are offered a formal mentor and given a budget every month to use for mentoring, “like, you can go out for lunch and expense it to the firm.” Another added, “They do a really good job of giving you the required formal process if you want or need that but not stifling any sort of informal mentorship that goes on.” We also heard that the firm provides a whole host of training sessions, including firmwide academies and practice-specific Friday lunch-and-learns.

For those with their sights set on partnership, “there’s a real feeling here that you can stay,” an associate nodded, “they’re here for you if you want to go the distance and make partner. That pathway feels available to us in a way that when I talk to some of my friends at other firms, it’s not even on their minds.” Even if partnership is not your calling, “they’ll support you if you move on to another project: in house, clerkship, whatever. For them, it’s like, ‘You’re one of us; we’re not expecting 70% of you to wash out of this.’”

Culture & Inclusion

Morgan Lewis “emphasizes the importance of being respectful, working as a team and being collaborative.” This is evidenced by frequent attorney huddles, bi-weekly Thursday events with fancy food and drinks, and community outreach days, where associates come in and do volunteer work. There are also holiday parties, in particular a “family-friendly party at Halloween in DC where the kids trick-or-treat around the office!” Insiders were pleased with “the genuine care and respect everyone has for each other in and outside of work,” and a big driver of this is the firm’sinclusive nature: “We have a lot of first generation and parent attorneys. The firm celebrates that instead of making it feel like it might hinder your growth.”

Speaking of inclusion, McKeon firmly believes that “being thoughtful always moves the needle.” How so? “In order to promote and advance inclusion and engagement, you have to test your own feedback to things,” she elaborates, “Ask yourself: am I looking with a broad enough lens? Am I looking at how someone might bring something different to the table? We are in the business of solving tough problems for our clients; to do so, we need the best talent and broadest perspective.”

“They reserved the entire floor at Bloomingdale’s… We shopped and had a fashion show!”

The advantage Morgan Lewis has in this space is McKeon and her perspective, as an associate told us, “Having Jami as the firm chair has really informed some of the policies the firm has on parental leave, working from home, on- and off-ramping when you have kids. It’s all common-sense stuff but aimed at folks who would traditionally be pushed out of BigLaw for these things.”

With affinity groups aplenty such as ML Women, First Gen, and MENA, we heard that “the firm is always putting money behind engagement and inclusion initiatives.” An excited insider smiled, “They reserved the entire floor at Bloomingdale’s and allowed everyone – from seniors to the most junior first years – to interact with their female clients. We shopped and had a fashion show!” Between LGBTQ+ happy hours, the Black Lawyer Network’s gathering, and ML Women’s networking event, these events are special because they “aren’t always aggressively for business development; it’s more about community.” Others were happy to share that “as long as you’re smart, hard-working, respectful and kind, there’s no reason to feel like you can’t belong here.”

Hours & Compensation

Billable hours: no requirement

Sources told us that 1,900 hours is the magic number to become bonus eligible. “We’re all overachievers, so it’s super doable without overexerting yourself!” a junior stressed. An average day for an associate varied, though survey respondents averaged working an average of 49 weekly hours. Juniors are expected to be in the office from Tuesday to Thursday though, as one source pointed out, "We’re expected to be in that much, but they recognize that things happen – it’s fine as long as you’re understanding and communicative.” In terms of work-life balance, another commented, “It’s a sustainable place to work – we work hard, we have BigLaw clients and projects, but they’ve figured out a way to balance it in a way that doesn’t make you feel burned out.”

"It’s a sustainable place to work...”

Pro Bono

McKeon proudly explains, “We’re the largest firm in the world that requires pro bono of every single lawyer,” she beams, “It’s required because we believe in giving back.” An associate smiled: “Morgan Lewis does not play when making sure everyone is included in pro bono!” In fact, at least 20 hours of pro bono is a requirement for the bonus! Time spent on pro bono can all be counted towards the billable target, and we heard that getting staffed on matters is super easy through regular email blasts from the firm’s pro bono coordinators. From immigration, asylum, and domestic abuse to landlord/tenant disputes, and Supreme Court briefings, the level of variety provided “is by design. They want people to pick topics they’re passionate about to inspire them to do more pro bono.”

Pro bono hours

• For all (US) attorneys:  114,645             
• Average per (US) attorney: 61.7

Get Hired

The first stage: recruitment on and off campus 

• Total Screens conducted (Pre-OCI, OCI and all other) in 2024: 1114

Morgan Lewis is active in numerous job fairs and formal resume collects at law schools across the United States and welcomes direct applications on our website. We pride ourselves on our deep and trusted partnerships with exceptional law schools where so many of our lawyers are proud alumni.

Initial interviews are conducted directly with partner and associate teams that represent Morgan Lewis’s expansive range of practice breadth and global footprint. Candidates can expect to hear about our firm’s collaborative culture and the values of Morgan Lewis. During this round, questions will allow us to learn about your individual talents, background and prior experiences.

In short, we’re looking for students who show the promise to embody exceptional client service through drive, excellence, engagement, collaboration and a commitment to inclusion. 

Insider Advice 

“We know the recruiting season can be stressful, and you meet with many firms! Do your research, show your interest and be yourself to make a connection with the interviewers.” –Partner Jennifer Breen 

The second stage: callbacks 

• Applicants invited to second-stage interviews in 2024: 452

In the callback phase, candidates will meet with a combination of partners, associates, and members of our hiring committee. We work to align your interests with our client needs and select interviewers who can speak in depth about those particular areas of law.

Interviewers will pose questions built around our four core competencies—drive, excellence, engagement, and collaboration. To gain additional insight into what motivates and inspires you, you’ll also be asked to expand further about prior work experience, extracurriculars, and volunteer activities.

Insider Advice 

“Candidates stand out when they have concrete examples of instances throughout their education, and perhaps in previous careers, where they have demonstrated their ability to collaborate with others, a drive to succeed, and engage with their communities. It’s also nice to see candidates who are genuinely eager and enthusiastic about the prospect of working at our firm.” –Partner Jennifer Breen 

Summer Associate Program 

• Offers made following 2024 program: 179 (2L)
• Offers accepted in 2024: 112 (2L)

Morgan Lewis’s summer program runs for 10 weeks and launches with an exciting Summer Kickoff—a multiday gathering of our summer associates and hiring partners along with firm leaders, including the Chair of the firm. The program gives summer associates a glimpse into associate life at Morgan Lewis by showcasing our unique culture, market-leading practices, and commitment to training and development, well-being, inclusion, mentorship, and pro bono.

Throughout the program, our summer associates gain exposure to interesting and challenging work assignments. Our Summer Academy curriculum underpins this experience with practice training and a range of professional skills development opportunities. Social activities are thoughtfully incorporated to foster connection amongst our summers and our firm’s lawyers - at Morgan Lewis, we believe that relationships are everything!

Insider Advice 

“Take advantage of the opportunities that come your way and be engaged. Try different assignments and connect with attorneys and your fellow summer associates. The relationships you make and experiences you have will be invaluable as you start your legal career.” –Partner Jennifer Breen 

Interview with Jami McKeon, chair

Commercial strategy, market position and trends

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

Jami McKeon: There are a couple things. First, I think it’s really important to always emphasize this – when I started practicing law in 1981, every firm was local or regional because there was no voicemail nor email nor overnight mail – none of those things. As the world changed and as in-house legal departments grew and technologies expanded, most law firms slimmed down their focus. Maybe they decided they’d only do corporate or oil & gas, and sure, they’d have a tax or labor or benefits lawyer, but there would be a primary focus on just one or a few areas. Morgan Lewis was one of the only firms – if not the only firm, then among the few firms – that instead knew that our stock in trade was our relationships with our clients. We made a decision to stay broad in the areas where our clients need us, and our focus is to have each area be world class and a destination unto itself. You will not find another law firm that is one partnership – unified, all under the same roof – that has a market-leading labor & employment group, tax, investment management, antitrust, structured transactions, litigation, corporate, finance, telecom & media… whichever of our 15 practice groups you name, they are in themselves market-leading groups that attract clients because they are so well-known and so strong.

We have a tremendous focus on collaboration – not just in what we say, but in how we train and compensate people. Because of that focus, once you are in the door at our firm, we help you across several different areas. Some statistics that I find particularly interesting and unique – the majority of our top 200 clients work with us across at least six practice groups and twelve offices. Almost half our clients have been with us for 20 years or more. We represent 80% of the global 500. What’s unique about what I’m describing is that we handle everything for those clients, from their biggest matters to their everyday work. One of the things that jumps out at you is that very few leading law firms have a leading labor & employment or patent prosecution practice. Most big firms think those are rate constrained and not as profitable; but here, they are part of the piece of the puzzle that allows us to be so sticky with our clients. That is our differentiator – it enables us to occupy a unique space in the legal profession that’s proven to be very successful for us.

When transactional work was light, a lot of firms were scrambling. We didn’t have to start any new practices, we already had them. Every year – it’s been eleven years since I’ve been chair – our income, revenue, profit goes up. Why? Because no matter what goes on in the world, clients are coming to us for the things they need. Case in point: we’re one of only two law firms that has a nuclear practice.

What you see in the history of our firm is the incredible breadth and depth that distinguishes our practice. You then layer on top of it what is very different in terms of our culture. We had a wellbeing officer with a Master’s degree in psychology in 2017. We started allowing our associates to work from home in 2017. We are the largest firm in the world that requires pro bono of every single lawyer. It’s required because we believe in giving back and honestly, if you want to feel better about yourself, go do something for something else.

Our collaborative culture extends to our partners; all our partners submit memos at the end of the year, and the focus is not about themselves and their own work or contributions. Instead, they talk about their colleagues; they are asked: Who have you seen provide exceptional client service? Who has inspired you? When you combine our breadth and depth with our culture where we don’t have a lot of jerks around because they don’t last very long, it puts us in a very special place in the market.

People understand that this is a place where we want them to come and want them to stay. I have four children and five grandchildren – all who were born during my time at Morgan Lewis. I don’t believe in the phrase “work-life balance” because it’s all life. You combine those things – the breadth and the depth, the cultural component of collaboration, and a place where we want people to be here for the long term… that’s what distinguishes us and people know that’s what distinguishes us – it’s not a secret.

This is a hard job, and over the years, the job has gotten harder and more demanding. But I do believe you can create an environment where people feel that this is a great job and a great profession to be in. You’re helping people; you’re rewarded financially for it; you’re surrounded by really smart people; and you get to use your creative juices. I strongly appreciate people who believe that in this age of AI, it’s those other workplace skills that are more important – community, collaboration, and the ability to work with people.

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

McKeon: A couple things. We’ve never been one of those firms that grows just for growth’s sake. We’ve had some pretty big expansions – recently, in Munich and in Paris, which have been great. On the near horizon, we’re opening in Saudi Arabia once we receive final regulatory approval.  Our data center initiative is one we’re uniquely positioned for. Data centers are now becoming a huge thing and the next seismic step in business infrastructure. You and I are using a ton of data right now! So, when you combine our nuclear regulatory with our real estate with our energy practice, all those things are really explosive. We developed our AI client solutions initiative which is where we’re focusing on helping clients with AI. From a firm perspective, we announced a partnership with Thomson Reuters about 18 months ago, and we’ve been working with them to provide testing, feedback, and input that will shape and develop products and tools that will help our profession. You don’t want to be sitting around waiting when it comes to AI – you want to be in the vanguard.

We continue to grow and expand our associate academies, adding two more last year for a total of eight across the firm. We’re big believers in investing in our people, and we’ve added a lot more of those. If I were an associate, I’d want to be paying attention to these.

CA: What’s the firm’s approach to bolstering inclusion?

McKeon: It’s really important to be a place that welcomes and nurtures the best talent. What we’ve said for a long time, and I firmly believe, is that inclusive teams are important because better decisions get made for clients as well as for the firm when you have a variety of perspectives, backgrounds and experiences at the table. If I’m speaking to people with identical backgrounds and life experiences, the likelihood of me getting a well-rounded perspective is low. Instead, you want a wealth of perspectives when tackling a problem. I feel a responsibility to make sure that we are looking at people with a wide lens. What I mean by that is in order to promote and advance inclusion and engagement, you have to test your own feedback on things. Ask yourself: Am I looking with a broad enough lens? Am I looking at how someone might bring something different to the table? We’re very thoughtful about that and being thoughtful always moves the needle. We are in the business of solving tough problems for clients; to do so, we need the best talent and the broadest perspective.

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?

McKeon: There’s a lot of fear that the legal profession is going to change in a way that will eliminate jobs for associates, and that’s not true. Technology has not hurt us. We were one of the first firms that created an e-data practice more than two decades ago. Before that, we had to crawl on the floor and go through boxes and take handwritten notes. Has that resulted in less jobs for associates? No. E-data is a $100 million practice for us.  And we have grown exponentially in every way since then.  Technological advancements has never slowed the need for excellent legal help; it just changes the tools available to use in that effort.

The challenge for every law firm is figuring out to how to use tech in a way that’s advantageous for its client and helps expand the practice for its lawyers. We have to make sure that people don’t lose the mindset of looking for opportunities to be creative, be thoughtful, and be engaged because of their fear that these jobs will go away. I don’t believe they will go away. What our new and most junior members of the profession should be thinking about is enhancing those things that are called ‘soft skills’ that to me, are leadership skills: creativity, curiosity, empathy, courage, relationship skills, and communication with clients. All those things are going to be really important for long-term success.

The Fun Bit

CA: What was the first car you owned?

McKeon: That’s such a good question. It depends on how you mean ‘owned.’ I had a yellow Chevy Vega that I shared with my sister when I was in high school and college, and then the very first car I had on my own was a green Mustang when I was in law school.

CA: What memory/moment has stuck with you from law school?

McKeon: It’s not so much a memory, but when I went to law school, I was scared I wasn’t smart enough. I worked really hard in every class, I read every book. My way of relaxing was watching M*A*S*H or murder mysteries like Matlock. I took law school seriously, and I really loved it. I had nothing to do but worry about myself, but it really made me love law.

In law school, I had a professor who taught admin law. She believed that everyone should be required to do pro bono because in so many ways, lawyers have a monopoly and so many people don’t know how to navigate the legal system. Back in 1980, Morgan Lewis already gave billable credit for pro bono, but that professor – Mary Jo Frug – influenced my belief in 100% pro bono participation. Tragically, she was shockingly murdered long ago, but I can see her face clear as day… she really had an impact on me and how I look at the responsibility of being an attorney.

CA: Which actor/actress would you want to play you in a biopic about your life?

McKeon: It’s a hard one because nobody reminds me of me, but I have so many favorite actresses. I think the actress I’d really want to play me is Greer Garson. She’s spunky, edgy, witty, but she’s passed on. Currently? Sandra Bullock, Anne Hathaway.