Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP - The Inside View

As we all know, the boundless BigLaw bay of notable New York firms is both deep and vast, and only some firms are made to last. Although there are many fish in this sea, out of the batch, Simpson Thacher is quite the catch. In fact, it’s a real corporate shark, but that’s not to say the firm hasn’t made its mark in a variety of practices.As one associate reflected on their law school days, “I was afraid that I’d end up in an uncool practice area,” but for this insider, the decision to jump feet first into STB was simple: “Here, each practice group is an industry leader – not just one is amazing, and I knew I would be part of that.” And associates aren’t the only ones making waves at Simpson Thacher, as executive committee chair, Alden Millard, tells us about the past year at the firm and the sophisticated clientele it serves: “We’re well known for our forward-looking advice on critical developments in the markets that impact our clients. [...] For example, we advised Cisco on its $28 billion acquisition of Splunk. We also advised another law firm, Allen & Overy, on its high-profile, market-changing merger with Shearman & Sterling.”

"Here, each practice group is an industry leader – not just one is amazing, and I knew I would be part of that.”

Moreover, “near and dear to our hearts on the pro bono front, we argued in front of the U.S. Court of Appeal’s Fifth Circuit and won a groundbreaking ruling overturning Mississippi’s lifetime ban on voting by felons who had completed their sentences because it violated the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.” It’s clear that STB’s expertise extends beyond its corporate prowess to handling complex litigious matters too, so it’s no wonder STB also boasts top-tier nationwide Chambers USA recognition for securities litigation, regulation enforcement, and insurance disputes, all while holding elite status for corporate crime & investigations. As for its offices, most of the associates on our list were based in New York, the firm’s biggest office, with the rest practicing out of Houston, Los Angeles, Palo Alto, and DC.

Strategy & Future

“We’re very aligned with our clients and we react accordingly, bringing in hires with expertise in different areas to expand our scope for our clients,” revealed one source. Millard shares this sentiment: “We don’t employ a 'growth for growth’s sake' strategy. Instead, we are laser-focused on ensuring we have the right folks to help clients address the kind of geopolitical risks and regulatory landscape changes that we’re seeing.” Part of this includes practice area expansion. “We’re seeing an increasing need for bespoke finance capabilities,” Millard informs us, “so we’ve set up an Alternative Capital and Private Credit group that has been supported by lateral hiring,” and added “key people in Houston and New York to our Energy and Infrastructure teams. Importantly, we've boosted our regulatory capabilities across the Funds and Financial Institutions groups.” This expansion isn’t limited to the States; across the pond, “we’ve also hired laterals in London for our Fund Finance practice.”

The firm has also poured time and energy into expanding its ESG practice, and Millard details: “We have increasingly found that clients across all industries are being impacted by the changing regulatory requirements and evolving investment community needs around ESG and related disclosures. While our partnership is largely homegrown, we are strategic about going into the market for talent when it's needed to help us expand. We've done that recently for ESG and have developed a broad working group internally [...] The ability to deliver industry-setting thought leadership across that front has also been incredibly important in maintaining and increasing our work in ESG across industries, including energy and infrastructure.” Concluding, Millard lets us know that the firm has been focused on “making hires in anticipation of where the puck is going next, and ensuring that we fortify ourselves across the spectrum […] I expect 2024 to be even better.”

Read more from Alden Millard under the 'Get Hired' tab.

The Work

Juniors could mainly be found in the corporate group, followed by litigation then real estate, with a good number in groups such as tax, executive compensation and employee benefits, and exempt organizations. At STB, work assignment comes via the centralized system run by staffing coordinators. Every week, associates receive a call from a coordinator, and “you give them the rundown. So, you can tell them, ‘oh, this thing is crazy,’ or ‘actually, it’s slowing down.’” The benefit for fresh-faced juniors is that “it’s nice not having to manage another workstream. You’re exposed to different types of deals, and you end up working with a lot of different people.”

“You see every industry under the sun and companies from all walks of life doing cool, industry-changing things.”

Here, corporate juniors start off with two nine-month rotations, a selling point for many interviewees. Incomers rank their preferences from practice areas like banking & credit, M&A, capital markets, funds, and real estate. Most interviewees were pleased to report they received their top choices – plus, we heard there’s some flexibility to do a third rotation if you don’t get your top choices. On the finance side, matters stem “from both borrowers and lenders, where you get to see the personalities on both sides,” and over in private equity, “when you’re dealing with portfolio or private equity companies, you see every industry under the sun and companies from all walks of life doing cool, industry-changing things.” Sources spoke of being “the first set of eyes” and the “project manager keeping the ball rolling” on deals; managing checklists, coordinating with specialists and others, and rolling up their sleeves to take the first pass at reviewing and drafting the likes of subscription documents, side letters, and memos. Being relatively leanly staffed can be “challenging” at times, as insiders mentioned, but the consensus was: “I’m impressed by how much responsibility I’ve been given, how much seniors and partners have valued my input, and the range of matters I’ve been exposed to!”

Corporate clients: Sony Music Entertainment, Dell Technologies, BlackRock. Represented Microsoft in its $75 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

“If you step up to the plate, people are willing to help you learn.”

In the litigation practice, associates do regulatory work, antitrust, complex commercial litigation, securities, government and internal investigations, regulatory and compliance, and insurance. As one associate enthused, “we truly are a firm of generalists – we run the gamut here!” Understandably, tasks vary depending on what cases are active, but “a typical day is drafting a response and objection, assisting with drafting for motions of a summary judgment, or preparing for a deposition.” We were told that “it depends on firm need, but I’ve had colleagues that have gone to trial as a first year. If you step up to the plate, people are willing to help you learn.” When it comes to responsibility, “in the first year, you’re making small contributions that are helpful as you’re learning and navigating how best to help your team. Everything has been escalating in the way it’s supposed to in terms of doing substantive work,” a second-year associate concluded.

Litigation clients: JPMorgan Chase, Paramount Global, Pfizer. Acted as counsel for Twitter in successfully resolving multiple securities class actions and derivative lawsuits. 

Over in the nationally renowned real estate practice, associates mainly represent big private equity groups in their acquisition of real estate on a larger scale, as well as their financing work. So, with a blend of traditional real estate transactions, private equity M&A and debt restructuring, “there’s lots of due diligence, and coordinating with specialists and local counsel in various jurisdictions in the M&A space.” In the finance context, we heard that organizational tasks fall to juniors: drafting ancillary agreements and opinions, financing deliverables, and lots of property level diligence, as well as keeping things up to date and sending emails to clients. “Once you prove yourself responsible at the junior level, you do a lot,” an associate was happy to share, adding that “I’m pleased to have found a great home in the real estate department.”

Real estate clients: Blackstone, Centerbridge, Hilton Worldwide Holdings. Represented affiliates of DigitalBridge and IFM Investors in connection with their $11 billion acquisition of data center company Switch.

Career Development

“A crash course in business in BigLaw co-taught by Columbia Business school – a fabulous introduction!”

Newcomers begin their time at the firm with STBReady, “a crash course in business in BigLaw co-taught by Columbia Business School – a fabulous introduction!” Beyond that, the next round of formal training is STBAdvance for mid-levels, “making the pivot to taking on more of a leadership role.” Sources spoke highly of the training and resources available to “help us hone our skills,” including individual practice group trainings and lunches, as well as access to professional development coaches. And for each rotation or permanent practice, every junior gets an associate and partner mentor. “Mentorship is really what you make of it,” an interviewee commented. “I’ve reached out a lot and been lucky that my mentors have been so receptive. They’ve been happy to hop on the phone to speak about a matter they’re not on or grab a coffee to talk.” On the job, “there’s help with personal practice development,” and a common sentiment was that “people take time out of their day to explain things.”

When it came to partnership, it was explained that “as a junior, it seems somewhat clear, as the firm has discussions when you’re a mid-level and above about the track you’re on and progression.” An insider mentioned, “In our most recent partnership and counsel round, there were a lot of homegrown attorneys with 20 to 30 percent laterals. The firm recognizes and appreciates those who are homegrown.”

Culture, Hours & Compensation

Billable hours: no requirement

With no billable requirement, sources were quick to highlight: “It’s super nice, as the centralized staffing system helps guide your hours.” A corporate associate was pleased to report that “given the ups and downs of the market over the past couple of years, I haven’t been too worried if I’m too low as I’m told it will come back, and staffing will find you hours. So, you don’t have to be nervous about it from a junior perspective.” According to our survey results, the firm’s weekly hours were a tad above the market average and amongst sources, the consensus was working at STB is “the pretty standard BigLaw hours, but staffing is very open with communicating with you, and they’re supportive if things get too crazy.”

Insiders explained that “we all get the same bonus” on the basis that “you just have to be in good standing with the firm.” STB has also updated its hybrid working policy and, from the beginning of 2024, “we’ll be in four days. It will be flexible within the work week as to which four.” Another interview happily reflected: “The firm values having people in the office as there’s a nice culture of folks supporting each other, especially at the junior level.”

“The culture here is great,” an associate enthused, “it’s incredibly healthy.” Shaped by two prongs, insiders accredited the culture to the centralized staffing system and the placement of first and second years on their own floors. It means “there are no sharp elbows. Of course, some are more competitive than others, but centralized staffing means you can’t elbow or network your way to get more work – if you do a good job, you can, but you don’t have to fight others.” Plus, “we’re all on the same floor and share a lot of information with each other. Those aspects create a non-competitive culture amongst us.” Best summarized as junior camaraderie, “we’ve gotten closer – you feel like you’re not alone in the whole thing.”

“You can peek your head into someone’s office to vent or catch up – it’s super easy and natural.”

“When you walk out of your office, you can see your friends. You can peek your head into someone’s office to vent or catch up – it’s super easy and natural,” an interviewee detailed. New York associates were keen to list the benefits of being in the office, including free food, a gym on the first floor, and a “nice communal space to chat if you want a break, especially after lunch or work.” On top of practice group gatherings, STB provides associates with a Reconnect budget every quarter, and sources spoke of using it “for wine tasting, going to softball, and having dinners out.”

Simpson Thacher is recognized as The Elite for quality of life in our 2024 survey.

Pro Bono

With unlimited billable pro bono at STB, associates are highly encouraged to complete 20 hours. When it comes to pro bono opportunities, we were told that “if you want it, take it on and do it.” Every Monday, opportunities are circulated by the pro bono coordinator, with sources highlighting asylum and immigration, veterans and transgender rights, and prisoners’ rights initiatives such as the Innocent Project to get involved in.

For those with corporate work on their mind, “the firm does a great job with pro bono for corporate associates, although it tends to be shorter-term engagement slots at a small business clinic, such as working with entrepreneurs forming entities and answering their questions.” What’s more, we heard “the firm does well at integrating corporate clients with joint clinics.”

Pro bono hours

• For all (US) attorneys: 40,497
• Average per (US) attorney: 37

Inclusion

“There is a recognizable effort to recruit diverse candidates – the recruiting folks have taken a broader approach with the law schools they’re looking at.”

“Honestly, we’re pretty diverse at the junior level” was the unified response given by our sources when we discussed DEI. Associates acknowledged that whilst representation “dwindles” towards the higher levels, at STB, “it comes across as a priority with policies, different trainings, and talks held by the firm.” Interviewees highlighted that “there is a recognizable effort to recruit diverse candidates,” as “the recruiting folks have taken a broader approach with the law schools they’re looking at.” Moreover, STB offers a 1L Diversity Associate Program and the Conrad Harper 2L Diversity Fellowship, of which the latter provides not only a position on the summer program, but financial aid to cover law school-related expenses.

Also, we were told that there are plenty of mentorship opportunities across the different affinity groups. We even heard from insiders that associates can start their own initiatives within affinity groups. Specifically, the Women's Initiative was praised by many for having “lots of very incredible women and seniors who are very happy to mentor. We just had a women’s toast for female partners and counsel at an event – this is what we want to recognize,” an associate noted.

Get Hired

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

The first stage: recruitment on and off campus 

OCI applicants interviewed: undisclosed 

Interviewees outside OCI: undisclosed 

Simpson interviews largely from the top 25 schools, as well as regional schools local to its five US offices, through formal pre-OCI programs, resume collects and OCI.  Rising 2L students may also apply to the firm directly through the firm’s website at: https://www.stblaw.com/your-career/summer-program/how-to-apply. Simpson opens the 2L summer application process in mid-May.   

"We ask students to tell us about projects they worked on the previous summer or their experiences analyzing questions of law while clerking with a judge or in law school,” a hiring partner at the firm tells us. Other questions will focus on experience working in teams and involvement in extracurricular activities. “We are determining how they may approach their job, if they are effective communicators, are enthusiastic, and if they would fit into our collegial environment.” In addition, our source explains that it's a good idea to "be honest about what and where you want to practice but also if you aren’t yet sure of either. We understand that many students, especially those who went straight from undergrad to law school, haven’t been exposed to enough real-world work to know in what area they want to practice." 

2L Diversity Fellowship 

Students are encouraged to apply directly through the firm’s website for the Conrad Harper 2L Diversity Fellowship. Named in honor of Simpson Thacher retired partner and distinguished civil rights leader, the Conrad Harper Diversity Fellowship seeks to increase and support Simpson’s pipeline of associates from diverse backgrounds. The Fellowship awards recipients $50,000, paid in two installments, to help defray the cost of tuition, loans and other law school-related expenses. 

Top tips for this stage: 

“Through the course of OCIs you will most likely be asked about every single thing on your resume, so be prepared to discuss each one in depth.” – hiring partner. 

Callbacks 

Applicants invited to second-stage interview: undisclosed 

Simpson Thacher offers both in-person and virtual interviews.  During a full round of interviews, candidates meet with five attorneys, including two partners, two mid to senior-level associates and one junior associate. Each interview is approximately 20 minutes. Virtual callbacks are conducted via the Flo Recruit platform. A combination of in-person and virtual interviews will continue to be offered in summer 2024. 

“Our attorneys all have their own style of interviewing and we don’t have scripted questions,” the hiring partner revealed. Typically, though, interviewers, “also discuss the importance of understanding the client business. Candidates who show they understand this have a distinct advantage.” 

“Researching the firm is even more critical at this stage,” our source says. “Understand what our practice areas are and be ready to ask questions related to them.” Candidates should also be ready with questions about their interviewers. “Partners are always impressed when candidates ask about specific deals or cases on which they worked.” A corporate junior echoed this: “You don’t need to memorize what deals I’ve worked on, but being aware of what interviewers do shows us you’re thinking about how you fit into the firm.” However, the hiring partner says: “Don’t panic if there is a last-minute change to your schedule. The replacement attorney with whom you are meeting knows you haven’t had a chance to research them.” The most important thing, no matter who’s interviewing you, is to show enthusiasm.  

Top tips for this stage: 

“I value the questions people ask me more than the questions I ask them.” –a junior associate. 

“We expect questions about what people do within each group and what a day in the life might be like in a specific group.” –hiring partner. 

Summer program 

Offers: undisclosed 

Each summer associate has assigning associates who will find assignments matching their interests and help navigate workloads and timelines. “Over [the] summer you can try everything in every group, including all the small groups,” a junior associate divulged. Summers are also invited to attend firm-wide and departmental trainings in addition to summer-specific trainings. “The vast majority of summers return as junior associates, which includes a portion who join after judicial clerkships or fellowship opportunities,” the hiring partner says. “Summer associates will almost always know the practice area they want to join by the end of the summer.” 

Top tips for this stage: 

“Many times a good impression can come from simply asking questions and offering to pitch in with the smallest of tasks.” –a junior associate. 

“We encourage summer associates to work in as many practice areas as possible so they can make an educated decision on what group they would most like to join.” – hiring partner. 

Interview with Alden Millard, chair of Simpson Thacher’s executive committee 

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?  

Millard: I’m pleased to say 2023 was a strong year for us and I expect 2024 to be even better. We largely attribute our success in the market to our identity: we are well known for having a sophisticated commercial approach to solving our clients’ problems, and we have a collegial and collaborative culture, which reinforce each other. We’ve got best-in-class lawyers in every conceivable practice area across our global platform, which is why our clients continue to turn to us in an evolving global market to address their most complex and critical matters. 

Last year, we worked on a number of matters that have helped reshape various sectors of the economy. For example, we advised Cisco on its $28 billion acquisition of Splunk. We also advised another law firm, Allen & Overy, on its high-profile, market-changing merger with Shearman & Sterling. To dive into the sector-specific examples, we’ve been deeply involved in assisting clients with their growing investments in the data center industry for several years. Most recently, that has included advising clients like Digital Bridge or Apollo on major investments in the area, and Blackstone on its very large JV with Digital Reality to develop hyperscale data center campuses across the United States.  

We’re well known for our forward-looking advice on critical developments in the markets that impact our clients. For example, we have been very focused on the SEC rules governing private funds and the DOJ’s and the FTC’s new merger guidelines. Importantly, following the bank distress we saw in early 2023 and the dislocation of financing markets, we’ve been helping clients to respond to the resulting evolution of credit markets. We were fortunate to serve as counsel to Silicon Valley Bridge Bank, which was a vehicle set up by the FDIC to help protect depositors and the assets of Silicon Valley Bank to prevent more widespread ripples of distress in the sector. We also represented Blackstone in helping to set up a new JV with the FDIC to hold approximately $17 billion in commercial real estate assets following the failure of the former Signature Bank.  

We also secured numerous wins for clients on the litigation front. Our representation of HCA in a precedent-setting litigation surrounding its sale of three hospitals to Louisiana Children’s Medical Center was interesting as it was the first lawsuit involving the FTC over what is called a certificate of public advantage (otherwise known as a “COPA”). We were victorious in that case of first impression. Near and dear to our hearts on the pro bono front, we argued in front of the U.S. Court of Appeal’s Fifth Circuit and won a groundbreaking ruling overturning Mississippi's lifetime ban on voting by felons who had completed their sentences because it violated the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. Our team was back in Mississippi earlier this year arguing the appeal of that decision before the entire Fifth Circuit.  

At our core, we take a collaborative approach to providing clients with commercially focused advice. We build efficient, highly coordinated teams across different functions. I think our CFIUS and antitrust and other regulatory practices working hand-in-glove with our M&A teams is a shining example of that. What we reinforce to our colleagues day-to-day is the importance of developing an understanding of the business needs of our clients and how they operate. That enables us to help identify where our clients can seize and maximize opportunities while avoiding or mitigating risks. Ultimately, for us, it's just about adding value for our clients.  

CA: Could you tell us more about the recent expansion of the ESG practice, and what this means for the firm? 

Millard: We have increasingly found that clients across all industries are being impacted by the changing regulatory requirements and evolving investment community needs around ESG and related disclosures. While our partnership is largely homegrown, we are strategic about going into the market for talent when it’s needed to help us expand. We’ve done that recently for ESG and have developed a broad working group internally that has been an incredible help as our clients’ needs have increased. The ability to deliver industry-setting thought leadership across that front has also been incredibly important in maintaining and increasing our work in ESG across industries, including energy and infrastructure.  

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

Millard: We made several strategic investments in 2023 and that will continue in 2024. We spent a good part of last year expanding our teams across several of our offices. For example, our recent growth in our London office has been impressive – we’ve been growing that office steadily and the number of lawyers in London has doubled since 2020. We were proud to promote 23 new partners across the Firm’s global platform as of January 1st of this year. Whilst the vast majority of our partners are homegrown, we’ve been fortunate to strategically attract some incredibly talented laterals who are focused on our key sectors.  We’re seeing an increasing need for bespoke finance capabilities, so we’ve set up an Alternative Capital and Private Credit group that has been supported by lateral hiring. We’ve also hired laterals in  London  for our Fund Finance practice. We’ve added key people in Houston and New York to our Energy and Infrastructure teams. Importantly, we’ve boosted our regulatory capabilities across the Funds and Financial Institutions groups. Our growth is focused on making hires in anticipation of where the puck is going next, and ensuring that we fortify ourselves across the spectrum of our practices.  

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

Millard: We’ve seen a fair amount of volatility across the global financial markets in recent years, and obviously it’s hard to turn on the TV or open a newspaper without being reminded that we live in a dangerous and challenging world that is full of geopolitical risk. We’ve got elections coming up in the U.S. and other countries that will add to that, and, on top of that, we have a rapidly changing regulatory landscape. All of that, from our perspective, puts a premium on what I believe we do well, which is to design outside-the-box solutions for clients that provide them with flexibility to address all of these different challenges.  

Rapidly changing environments play to our strengths. We are focused on understanding our clients, their needs and their problems, and we are driven to think creatively to help solve those issues, mitigate risk and create opportunities. Within our own ranks, we are always trying to make sure that we collaborate fully and efficiently to provide the best outcomes for our clients. We don’t employ a “growth for growth’s sake” strategy. Instead, we are laser focused on ensuring we have the right folks to help clients address the kind of geopolitical risks and regulatory landscape changes that we’re seeing.   

Inside the Firm 

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

Millard: In the last four years, we’ve seen the benefits and challenges of partially or fully remote teams through a combination of in-person and remote hybrid working arrangements. We’re very committed to providing flexibility to our folks, but we believe that people spending more time in the office together is essential to ensuring that we remain a community of first-class lawyers who are connected to each other on an intellectual and personal level. Creating the opportunity for our colleagues to work together in-person, at least part of the time, helps reinforce our culture as a Firm and promotes confidence in being able to seek out help from colleagues.  

We’ve created a system of skills development and feedback, which emphasizes the need for  strong management and leadership skills. We have worked with external consultants to perform upwards review processes, where associates could provide written or verbal feedback, which was meaningful to senior associates and partners. Pairing upward and traditional reviews really helps us create a culture of robust feedback and attorney management.  

Training and development of our associates is critical to the Firm. We have our signature STBReady and STBAdvance programs, which include multi-day conferences and training sessions for our 1st to 3rd year, and then 5th year, associates, each of which marks an important career transition point. STBReady is our “new starters” program. We have partnered with Columbia Business School to develop a curriculum to help our associates get fully up to speed on important financial concepts that they might not have otherwise come across—it helps enable our lawyers to think like lawyers and businesspeople. 

CA: What’s the firm’s approach to bolstering diversity, equity, and inclusion?  

Millard: We're fundamentally committed to improving DE&I and we’ve taken steps to reinforce and reimagine our DE&I efforts. We have a mentoring program focused on leadership and career development across all of our affinity groups and inclusion networks. Our affinity groups and inclusion networks are for lawyers across all levels of seniority and offices.  

We regularly host our diversity leadership conference for all members of our affinity groups and inclusion networks. Our next diversity leadership conference will include programming led by both internal and external consultants to help our lawyers at all levels to develop community, as well as skills that will help them advance. 

We continue to educate ourselves and our community about important topics, especially those that foster a supportive and inclusive community. Recently, we offered a series of training sessions on anti-hate, focusing on Antisemitism and Islamophobia. I'm proud to say that an overwhelming percentage of our lawyers participated in these sessions. This is just one additional example of the ways that we’re trying to build our sense of cohesiveness and inclusive community. 

On the recruiting front, we’re very proud that the majority of our 2024 incoming summer class is female and diverse. We continue to invest in that pipeline to make sure we bring in future lawyers with a wide variety of backgrounds and lived experiences. Our 1L Diversity Program is designed to recruit exceptional first year law students and allow them practice during their 1L in the same way we have our 2Ls practice during the summer. Recruiting is only the first step; retaining and developing our people is critical.  

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? 

Millard: We’ve always been focused on making sure we’re attracting and retaining the very best talent across all our practices and offices. There is a tendency in the legal industry (as in lots of industries) to focus heavily on the potential downsides of new technologies. We’re excited for new technologies that will enhance our learning tools and create efficiencies.  

We think there is a distinct opportunity to use tech to help our talent learn faster and to become stronger lawyers, which in turn means we can better serve our clients. I anticipate that the increased use of AI will free up more of our associates’ time to spend on the creative thinking required to solve our clients’ most complex challenges.   

The Fun Bit 

CA: Is there any advice you’d give to your younger self starting out your career? 

Millard: One thing I would tell my younger self and other associates is to keep an open mind. My best experiences in my more than 25 years at Simpson Thacher have been when I’ve put myself out there to try new things. That is when you learn the most. So be bold and try new things, and you will improve and be a much better person and lawyer because of it.  

CA: The hours in BigLaw can be punishing. How do you unwind at the end of a long day/week? 

Millard: I do a few things; on the weekends I like to exercise and hang out with my family. My longtime wife and I have three relatively grown-up kids, one of whom is in college, so I prioritize family time. I also keep a good travel schedule; I get a lot of joy in seeing new places. I recently went to Panama for a week and got to experience the rainforest there, which I really enjoyed. 

CA: Is there a movie/TV show/books about lawyers or the legal profession that you particularly enjoy? And how accurate would you say it is? 

Millard: Generally, I try stay away from legal pop culture, since it’s what I do for a living. My favorite legal book is ‘Presumed Innocent,’ which I read in one sitting—though that reference may feel a little dated. It’s focused on a murder investigation, so I have no idea how accurate it is—I think that’s why I enjoyed it! In terms of movies about the corporate world, the one that I’ve enjoyed the most in recent years is the ‘Big Short.’ I love that film; it is really entertaining and informative.