A survey of trainees and junior legal professionals at American legislation corporations’ places of work in London reveals that they spend as a lot as 13 hours a day at work—roughly twice the typical work week within the U.Ok.
That comes with a way of life of Deliveroo dinners and selecting 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 corporations, in November.
“I haven’t seen daylight 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 reveals, like Fits, make you consider about how lengthy and arduous legislation corporations work their new employees 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 corporations comes with good-looking pay. Beginning salaries within the high corporations are over £170,000, or almost 5 occasions the U.Ok.’s median earnings in 2023.
The likes of Kirkland and Ellis and Paul Hastings, American legislation corporations with practices in London, pay £172,000 and demand a median of 12 to 13 hours a day, The Instances reported. In distinction, British corporations make workers work barely shorter on common whereas capping beginning pay at £150,000.
To make certain, not each agency within the trade has brutally lengthy hours in change for a six-figure paycheck. A number of of the corporations 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.Ok., which spans 36.6 hours or 7.3 hours a day.
Billable hours are the metric legislation corporations typically use to measure the efficiency of their legal professionals. 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.
Nevertheless, the mannequin has been controversial amid price 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 career is already starting to alter.
That hasn’t hit hiring momentum, no less than on the high stage. London’s high legislation corporations employed companions at document velocity in 2024, pushed by American legislation corporations’ urge for food to compete for expertise within the British capital.
A part of the enchantment for contemporary expertise at U.S.-based corporations is the excessive pay they’ll swing relative to British ones. Essentially the most esteemed legislation corporations are rethinking their associate pay construction in response to the rising competitors.
“The influence of the covetous New Yorker on the best ranges of the London authorized providers market over such a brief interval 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
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