Top corporate firms with good work life balance?

[Sarai]

Work life balance is really important to me. However, I am ambitious and like to be intellectually stimulated so I would like to do great work but also at a firm that values work like balance.

When looking at legal cheek and other sites the firms with the best work life balance tend to be smaller regional firms but this isn't really what I'm looking for. I'm based in London and I like the work that a typical city firm does.

If you have suggestions for ones with good/decent work life balance please send them?

 

[TC fiend]

If work-life balance is your priority, I think your best shot is probably with the Silver Circle firms or the London offices of regional UK firms. Your workload will also depend very much on the department you qualify into - someone in pensions is going to be doing more 9-5 days than someone in high yield debt, for example. I think it’s worth looking at more English firms, and/or some of the big SC players if you’re still looking for that intellectual challenge

 

[Sarai]

Thank you. This was what I was considering, I hadn't considered how the practice areas made a difference too.

 

[Romiras]

Work life balance is really important to me. However, I am ambitious and like to be intellectually stimulated so I would like to do great work but also at a firm that values work like balance.

When looking at legal cheek and other sites the firms with the best work life balance tend to be smaller regional firms but this isn't really what I'm looking for. I'm based in London and I like the work that a typical city firm does.

If you have suggestions for ones with good/decent work life balance please send them?

I think you should define what "Good" or "Decent" work life balance means to you in terms of hours (a week and perhaps yearly billable average). Similarly, what does "great work" mean to you?

You should also consider and define whether you can tolerate ungodly hours (e.g. working at 3am) versus working on average, bad hours (e.g. working from 9am to 9pm).

If you are looking for a firm that does tier 1 (or 2), mid to large cap deals, that has deals that shows up regularly on BBC, the FT, etc, that lets you clock off at 5pm (easily), then, frankly, it doesn't exist.

You absolutely also have to consider the practice area. Private Equity / M&A, for example, has terrible hours, both in terms of when you are expected to be online and working, and in terms of average hours you'll be expected to push out. Litigation can be more consistent (but this is also overstated, as there are plenty of litigation associates getting rushed and beasted).

Silver Circle firms do not work much less than their MC counterparts, especially in transactional seats.

 

[Sarai]

Thank you. I think good is finishing at 7 and not working outside of that. Decent is finishing at 7 most weeks but potentially much later at crucial periods. I'm not sure how long a day you would have to work for 6-7 billable hours per day.

I would say good work is at least tier 2 and at least mid market.

Thanks about your advice around practice areas.

You're correct SC is on par with MC in many areas so probably have large workloads too.

If MC and SC are out I guess I'll be looking at national/regional firms. Thanks

 

[Abii]

I think a lot of this is seat dependant as well as firm dependent, you say you like the work that a typical city firm does but what element of this? For example some city firms are known for litigation which I have absolutely no interest in, others do PE/M&A which will be worse hours than say someone that does a lot of employment work. My personal area of interest is tech, and there's variations in the hours there from US firms in London to UK/International firms in London who have hours more close to what you are looking for above.

If you look at London offices that have the best hours (according to the internet) it tends to be firms like IM, DACB, Howard Kennedy etc. but again thats different work.

Also what does work life balance mean to you, could you do 2 years training intense hours and then go in-house for long-term work life balance.

 

[Sarai]

I guess by City firm work I mean some m&a work, some finance, employment, tax, IP and litigation. I also have an interest in tech but some firms that are really good with tech clients don't have the broadest range of practice areas. I also am interested in project work.

The firms at the very top for work life balance tend to do mostly professional negligence, insurance, shipping, real estate and employment work. I'm not really interested in specialising in these areas. These firms also don't have as many tier 1 or 2 rankings as other firms in the market.

Good work life balance means to me mostly finishing at 7pm and maybe a really late night 1 day a week. I couldn't have consistently late/unpredictable finishes for the entire TC but I could manage a really intense seat.

 

[Sarai]

@Jessica Booker how do law firms approach hiring people with disabilities? I don't have a disability but one of the reasons why I'm seeking a firm with good work life balance is because I can suffer with really low energy levels and I find it hard to function when I've had little sleep. I genuinely don't understand how lawyers are expected to produce top quality work whilst being so overworked.

 

[Jessica Booker]

@Jessica Booker how do law firms approach hiring people with disabilities? I don't have a disability but one of the reasons why I'm seeking a firm with good work life balance is because I can suffer with really low energy levels and I find it hard to function when I've had little sleep. I genuinely don't understand how lawyers are expected to produce top quality work whilst being so overworked.

If you have a condition that falls under a disability category, they will/should make reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process as needed/appropriate. Any similar adjustments can be made in the work place too.

 

[Abii]

@Jessica Booker how do law firms approach hiring people with disabilities? I don't have a disability but one of the reasons why I'm seeking a firm with good work life balance is because I can suffer with really low energy levels and I find it hard to function when I've had little sleep. I genuinely don't understand how lawyers are expected to produce top quality work whilst being so overworked.

As Jessica said above if you are disabled employers should make reasonable adjustments - provided they know you are disabled.

However it has been noted that disability has been largely overlooked in terms of diversity in the legal sector. Osborne Clarke and Eversheds are offering part-time TCs to tackle this.

Joint initiative looks to introduce part-time training into the legal sector

A cross-firm scheme initiated by our Lawyers with Disabilities Division (LDD) is encouraging more part-time qualifying opportunities to be offered in the legal sector.

www.lawsociety.org.uk

I’m a disabled/chronically ill TC applicant myself. I’ve found some firms have been better than others at offering reasonable adjustments.

 

[Sarai]

Hi Jessica. Thank you. I'll book an appointment with my doctor to see if it's a long term condition. It's been easy for me to manage as my job atm isn't stressful and I've been fully remote for 2 years. But in a really intense environment I'm not sure how I'd cope.

 

[Sarai]

As Jessica said above if you are disabled employers should make reasonable adjustments - provided they know you are disabled.

However it has been noted that disability has been largely overlooked in terms of diversity in the legal sector. Osborne Clarke and Eversheds are offering part-time TCs to tackle this.

Joint initiative looks to introduce part-time training into the legal sector

A cross-firm scheme initiated by our Lawyers with Disabilities Division (LDD) is encouraging more part-time qualifying opportunities to be offered in the legal sector.

www.lawsociety.org.uk

I’m a disabled/chronically ill TC applicant myself. I’ve found some firms have been better than others at offering reasonable adjustments.

Thanks for offering this advice. I'm really not sure what I have is a disability or just seriously low iron. It's great that part time TCs are a thing. Wish more firms did more to make disabled employees lives easier.

 

[Sarai]

If you have a condition that falls under a disability category, they will/should make reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process as needed/appropriate. Any similar adjustments can be made in the work place too.

Thank you