Richards, Layton & Finger PA - The Inside View

“Look at the Business Associations textbook and look at the how many of those cases involved Richards,” one insider directed us – “it’s like a third of those – you cannot escape it!” Indeed, ever since Richards, Layton Finger (RLF) hopped into the corporate world, it has been a staple in developing Delaware law – a state widely seen as one of the leading locations in the US for attracting corporate entities. Chambers USA  clocks the firm as one of the best in the state for bankruptcy, chancery, corporate/M&A, intellectual property, and real estate.  

“Look at the Business Associations textbook and look at the how many of those cases involved Richards, it’s like a third of those – you cannot escape it!” 

For our interviewees, this was all they needed to hear. Associates were drawn to the firm’s large clients – “some of the best firms, nationally” – their position at the forefront of chancery law, and their strong bench of transactional attorneys in Delaware: “The people are incredibly smart and have written a good portion of the law in the state!” For those that buy into the firm’s ethos too, there’s an understanding of and appreciation for life outside the office: “It’s high-level transactional work, but with a firm where you can be more of a family person.”  

Strategy & Future 

One area where associates felt there was strong clarity in the firm’s strategy was an intention to quickly move forward with regards to AI. “We’ve been all in on AI for the last six months,” one junior told us, so “ever since that watershed moment we have been full steam ahead incorporating into our practice.” Associates use Westlaw's suite of tools, including AI Deep Research, Litigation Document Analyzer, Co-Counsel - alongside Perplexity Enterprise.

Those we spoke with generally felt that “it hasn’t gotten good at doing the things I do on a daily basis” yet, but noted that it was good that the firm does now have a firm AI policy about where they can and can’t use it.  

Summer Program 

Sources told us that Richards, Layton Finger hosts “a pretty attractive summer program” stacked with events – “on the social side everyone is trying to wine and dine you!” – and a taste of the work juniors get up to once officially joining. Interviewees noted that “small firm dinners at partners’ houses seemed to suggest an interest in bringing people together,” and the commonly held view was that “as a summer, you get the impression that associates work pretty closely with the partners.”  

During the period, summers can work with seven or eight of the firm’s practice groups. This is formatted through two rotations where “they encourage you to do one transactional and one litigation practice.” Summers rank departments they want to work in “so you can control your own destiny,” and within the practices themselves the work “is representative from the type of research you’ll do. Obviously, you’re not filing documents like first years, but we try to make it realistic because when the summer comes we do lean on them – we just treat them as a new class, as more hands to help us do the work!”  

The Work 

When summer ends, summer associates provide a tentative ranking of their practice area preferences as a full-time associate. During 3L year, incoming associates provide their final rankings, which the firm looks at along with the needs of the firm when making department placements. Corporate litigation had the largest number of juniors followed by general litigation and business – alternative entities. Corporate advisory, business corporate-trust and bankruptcy make up the remainder. We heard that the firm will consider swapping associates after first or second year if they continue to show interest in a practice they were not placed in.  

Corporate advisory operates a “more open market” system of work allocation where associates can have anyone pop into their inbox to get them onto matters. Although juniors had mixed feelings on this, positive noises were made about the diversity of transactions newbies can get on: “I can get involved with the type of work that I like,” one interviewee grinned, and “there’s definitely a lot of growth.” Juniors drive correspondence with co-counsel and the client, but while “we’re not project managers,” development in the practice is good as, as time goes on, “your advice gets taken more – I’m allowed to jump in and make substantive comments.” 

Consistent across the junior experience though is the research side of things. “We are quite specialized, so our practice is pretty academic,” one associate explained; “I read almost everything published by the Court of Chancery and study developments in the law on a day-to-day basis.” For those interested in the practice, “you need that willingness to write about those developments and to explain that to co-counsel. Being available and putting in the time you need to get a question is important here, it can’t be a rushed job.”  

Chancery clients: Represented Taysha Gene Therapies’ directors, officers and investors in a special litigation committee investigation where investors sought to recover over $200 million in damages related to private stock placement.  

“…you feel like you’re steering the ship a little more!” 

Corporate litigation follows a slightly different allocation pathway as the group is split into teams made of a few partners and four or five associates. Here, associates work on corporate litigation and some matters in the Superior Court, “but always on commercial contract litigation matters.” Newbies in the group felt that “there’s steady progression, starting out with drafting discovery responses and requests,” moving onto the occasional brief writing, and “a lot of repping in Delaware at the co-counsel level – managing a filing as opposed to drafting the filing,” and even deposition prep. Only six months in juniors get started on drafting motions working with mid-level associates so “I’m pretty pleased with it,” as one junior quipped. We were told that “smaller teams with a single partner offer a lot more flexibility – you feel like you’re steering the ship a little more!” 

Corporate litigation clients: undisclosed.  

General litigation at RLF is made up of three separate teams each led by a group of directors. “You are expected to work within your team,” one junior outlined, with associates given work from partners and counsel rather than an assigning partner. Associates rotate between teams every year, but “the better you do the more work you get, and the more partners will work with you.” Counsel also tend to work with the same partners. “As a junior there’s tons of flexibility,” with tasks for first years starting with drafting and then moving to taking first passes of briefs and motions, and juniors are “very involved” in motion practice discovery. We also heard of juniors being given entire cases to handle – admittedly in small claims court and with supervision, but with the junior handling client interactions, drafting demand letters and the settlement. Opportunities to take trial testimony of experts and handle witness interviews are also not unheard of. 

General litigation clients: GSK.  

“Bankruptcy and restructuring, is one large team, so all the associates work with all the partners,” one insider told us. “You have one person who is your assigning partner, but that only has meaning for your review cycle,” another explained; “it’s very relationship driven, so you do good work and they’ll spread the word.” Chapter 11 bankruptcies are common for associates, sitting alongside preference actions, fraudulent conveyance claims, and challenges to acquisition. RLF represents anyone from debtors and lenders to investors and creditors across a range of businesses. 

Bankruptcy & restructuring clients: Fund.com and Avon. Co-counsel in Claire’s and its debtor affiliates’ chapter 11 cases. 

Career Development

“I’ve gotten every opportunity I’ve expected and wanted. It is ultimately a self-driven process, but I’m definitely becoming a good lawyer.” 

The firm holds “some formal training sessions” on things like depositions to ensure juniors have solid foundations before moving onto more complex matters, “but I wouldn’t say it’s a large part of the program.” This is true of the corporate side too as “the firm has pretty good sessions about the nitty gritty of corporate law, which have been really helpful!” We heard that the sessions are generally well-attended, but as is often the case, our sources also reported that some of the best learning is done on the job. Formal mentorship opportunities are usually there for juniors as well, but most of the mentorship is informal, and something that depends on “who you get along with and a partner’s availability on a given day.” One junior did note that given the associates’ workload, “it’s been hard to create materials to help the next group of associates,” but RLF does also pay for CLEs outside of the firm. In addition to this, “they let us put together training materials for CLEs at other firms, updating firms on cases in Delaware, statutory changes, and occasionally federal law,” something that helps juniors develop in these areas as well. As one junior put it: “Development isn’t lacking. There are tons of examples to read and learn, and I’ve gotten every opportunity I’ve expected and wanted. It is ultimately a self-driven process, but I’m definitely becoming a good lawyer.”  

Juniors generally felt that partnership is attainable and is something that is considered for associates when they reach their eighth year. “They’re good at communicating where you’re at” though, it’s generally at the fifth-year stage when associates are given more detail as to whether they are on track or not. 

Hours & Compensation

Billable hours: 2,000 target 

All the juniors we spoke with were on track for exceeding the firm’s 2,000-hour billable target, and a number commented that “it’s been a particularly hours-heavy year this year.” Thankfully for juniors, “the partners aren’t going on vacation, they are constantly available and online at night - everyone is working that hard.” Sources we spoke with reported working BigLaw hours, so there were mixed feeling about the compensation. Several interviewees mentioned that first-years are ineligible for bonus and that salaries aren’t market, but given the firm’s Delaware location, compensation wasn’t seen as too much of a negative. “You could find a bit more, definitely,” but here, “you can afford to live ten minutes away from the office comfortably – you can’t do that in New York!” A number of associates also praised the firm’s healthcare benefits, something that acts as “a significant amount of compensation because the firm pays all our healthcare premiums!”  

Culture

Like many Biglaw firms “we’re all head down focused until something comes up,” with associates not being obligated to tie their social lives in with the firm’s – ideal given attorneys at RLF are generally quite family oriented. Nevertheless, associates are expected to be in the office four days a week, with Friday being designated as a remote working day. “It feels like the culture is changing? And we’re in the middle of that…” one interviewee mused as expectations for in-office attendance varies by partner; “some people care more than others if you come in, but you won’t face any reprimands – sometimes we have a full office, sometimes we don’t.” Ultimately there was an appreciation that “time is our most finite resource!” so there’s the understanding that “people want to spend their free time with their families.”  

“…people are cordial, love to chat, and I know the names of the partners’ kids.” 

In the office “people are cordial, love to chat, and I know the names of the partners’ kids.”  We heard that it is quite flexible and there’s “a good structure for helping working parents. Obviously, we work hard and put in a lot of hours, so if there’s big stuff going on with the kids you don’t want to miss that – if I need to leave early to pick up the kids I can, and we’ll figure out how to cover for that.” RLF also hosts a Working Parents group who meet for lunches and talk about “what’s going on in our kid’s lives, being a parent, and we have events where we bring kids and spouses, like the fall festival and an ice-skating event.”  

Pro Bono 

Associates can credit up to 100 pro bono hours to their billable hours target, which can also be put toward community service and other firm activities such as hiring and D&I. Although those we spoke with felt it didn’t make up too significant a portion of their overall hours – “it’s hard to fit into your schedule as a junior!” – our interviewees still felt “there are lots of opportunities.” We heard that housing matters were fairly common to work on, but “there’s no cause their especially focused on.” In fact, RLF has five separate pro bono teams covering a spectrum of issues, from global to local, which “grounds you back to where you live!” These include: the non-profit team, helping with entity formation and governance issues; Office of the Child Advocate, serving as attorneys in child welfare proceedings; Protection from Abuse, who represent victims of domestic violence; the Federal Civil Panel team who work on civil rights violations in the US District Court for Delaware; and the Wills team who provide counseling for estate planning. 

Pro bono hours 

• For all US attorneys: 2,850 
• Average per US attorney: undisclosed 

Get Hired 

The first stage: recruitment on and off campus  

Richards, Layton and Finger has traditionally visited approximately 20 law schools each year for its OCI interviews, alongside various job fairs.  Each year, the firm evaluates its hiring needs and the need to conduct traditional OCI interviews.  In addition, Richards, Layton and Finger visits several law schools and participates in a variety of networking events throughout the year. The firm encourages law students to apply to the firm directly, via its online portal. Interviews are conducted by attorneys who are members of the firm’s Hiring Committee.. The firm emphasises the need for applicants to demonstrate enthusiasm for the firm’s practice and a strong work ethic; to do this, students should share stories illustrating their work ethic in class, on a journal, or in another challenging situation. 

Top tips for this stage:  

"Spend time researching our firm and our practice areas. Be prepared to answer questions about your practice area interests and your interest in Delaware." — Director and Chair of Hiring, Kevin M. Gallagher.  

Callbacks  

During the callback process candidates meet with four or five attorneys from the Hiring Committee. Members from the department the candidate is interested in will be included. The interview schedules usually include lunch with two associates and candidates are encouraged to ask questions to each of their interviewers throughout the process. For the questions the interviewers will ask of the candidate, focus is typically given to the candidate’s seriousness about developing their career in Delaware. 

Top tips for this stage:  

"Tailor your research to the attorneys with whom you will be meeting; we will have given their names to you in advance. Asking questions demonstrates your intelligence and your curiosity; this helps convey to your interviewer that you are genuinely enthusiastic about our firm." — Director and Chair of Hiring, Kevin M. Gallagher.  

Summer program  

Prior to their arrival in May, summers rank their practice area preferences which they will rotate through across the period. Summers are paired with a director and an associate in each department they work in who are responsible for coordinating and assigning work for them. This work is usually of the same level work and responsibility of a full-time associate, but summers will also partake in informal seminars, lunches, and weekly social events. These events introduce summer associates to Wilmington and the surrounding areas and have included dinners at the directors’ homes and a community service event benefitting the local Ronald McDonald House. 

Top tips for this stage:  

"Take advantage of every opportunity presented to you during the summer. Our attorneys and staff are excited to get to know you, and we want you to get to know us too. Give each assignment your best effort and demonstrate to the attorneys that you put thoroughness and care into your work." — Director and Chair of Hiring, Kevin M. Gallagher.  

And finally:  

“Wilmington is a small city with a lot to offer for a fulfilling personal and professional life. Ask questions of everyone you encounter about their journey to the firm and the practice they built here. We work hard and hold ourselves to a standard of excellence; at the same time, we have close relationships with each other outside of the office. I would encourage anyone interested in RLF to research our firm, research our practices, and get to know our attorneys. Be yourself throughout the interview process and demonstrate your enthusiasm.”  - Director and Chair of Hiring, Kevin M. Gallagher