A survey of trainees and junior attorneys at American legislation companies’ places of work in London exhibits that they spend as a lot as 13 hours a day at work—roughly twice the typical work week within the U.Okay.
That comes with a way of life of Deliveroo dinners and choosing up calls at “ungodly hours or on days off,” an nameless worker advised Authorized Cheek, a authorized information website that surveyed 2,000 staff throughout London’s varied legislation companies, in November.
“I haven’t seen sunlight in three months,” mentioned one other nameless worker.
One more participant mentioned that though trip time was revered, they have been at all times anticipated to reply work calls.
Sure, all of the tropes that exhibits, like Fits, make you imagine about how lengthy and onerous legislation companies work their new workers work, may simply be true.
Whereas it has the trimmings of a poisonous work tradition folks would attempt to keep away from, working lengthy hours at legislation companies comes with good-looking pay. Beginning salaries within the high companies are over £170,000, or practically 5 instances the U.Okay.’s median earnings in 2023.
The likes of Kirkland and Ellis and Paul Hastings, American legislation companies with practices in London, pay £172,000 and demand a mean of 12 to 13 hours a day, The Occasions reported. In distinction, British companies make staff work barely shorter on common whereas capping beginning pay at £150,000.
To make certain, not each agency within the business has brutally lengthy hours in alternate for a six-figure paycheck. A number of of the companies listed by Authorized Cheek in its survey restrict their workday to 9 hours or so for freshly certified solicitors.
Nonetheless, that’s a far cry from the typical workweek within the U.Okay., which spans 36.6 hours or 7.3 hours a day.
Billable hours are the metric legislation companies usually use to measure the efficiency of their attorneys. In some circumstances, these hours tick as much as 2,000 a 12 months. The U.S. calls for the next variety of hours on common in comparison with Britain.
Nonetheless, the mannequin has been controversial amid value pressures and calls for for a extra clear system. Legal professionals additionally argue that there could possibly be extra environment friendly methods to do the identical work with no billable hours construction that determines pay. With AI’s emergence into public consciousness, the authorized occupation is already starting to vary.
That hasn’t hit hiring momentum, at the very least on the high stage. London’s high legislation companies employed companions at report velocity in 2024, pushed by American legislation companies’ urge for food to compete for expertise within the British capital.
A part of the enchantment for recent expertise at U.S.-based companies is the excessive pay they will swing relative to British ones. Probably the most esteemed legislation companies are rethinking their accomplice pay construction in response to the rising competitors.
“The impact of the covetous New Yorker on the highest levels of the London legal services market over such a short period has been profound,” a report by recruiting agency Edward Gibson mentioned in July.
A model of this story was initially revealed on Fortune.com on Nov. 5, 2024.
This story was initially featured on Fortune.com
