BakerHostetler

Looking for friendly vibes, free choice of assignments, and a clear road to becoming partner? Baker might just be the Host(etler) with the most.

About the Firm

You can’t spend long in Cleveland without hearing about its famous curse, which doomed its sports teams to a 52-year drought in major league championships. The causes of this mysterious jinx are lost to time, but we can venture a suggestion: maybe all the city’s good fortune was being hoovered up by BakerHostetler? After all, while the Browns and the Cavaliers were suffering decades of fumbles and frustrations, this local law firm was quietly becoming a national powerhouse, as well as building an enviable reputation as a workplace where everyone just gets along.

“That is the shining light of BakerHostetler: they hire nice people.”

Of course, in reality, it takes a lot more than good luck to achieve these kinds of results. One thing that came across overwhelmingly from our research is the effort and focus which the firm puts into maintaining its friendly, harmonious atmosphere. “We hire extremely intentionally,” one associate told us, noting the priority given to attracting recruits who have a clear cultural fit and then giving them attainable pathways to staying long-term as partners. “That is the shining light of BakerHostetler: they hire nice people,” another attorney told us.

What’s more, the emphasis on harmony doesn’t mean that that careers are forced into the same cookie-cutter pattern. “What made Baker stand out to me is the unassigned program,” one associate told us, referring to how associates are free to sample work from across the firm in their first year, and then pick a team to join permanently afterwards. “It’s very rare for firms to let you try such a wide range of work and give you enough agency to pick your practice area,” they continued.

There’s certainly plenty of high-performing teams to choose from, as evidenced by wealth of accolades which the firm racks up in our sister guide Chambers USA. Notably, it’s a nationwide top performer in multiple rankings relating to advertising and privacy & data security, plus it also dominates in a host of state-level listings, ranging from IP in Philadelphia to corporate/M&A in Texas and labor & employment in Florida, alongside a whole suite of sectors in its native Ohio.

Summer Program

Juniors weren’t shy about divulging summer program secrets with us… of which the magic words were substantive work: “I took the lead writing a motion to dismiss on a big case in my first summer,” a junior shared, “it was really cool to have that responsibility and opportunity so early on. And then to see it get filed… obviously with a lot of edits, but it was neat to be part of something like that.”

“I took the lead writing a motion to dismiss on a big case in my first summer.”

Another remembered attending “a bunch of hearings in my first summer,” and participating in a mock trial held to prep a client’s case for court. The latter was described as “super cool! There were all these attorneys, clients were there, a jury consultant, mock jurors… the whole nine yards. I was helping make slides.” While this isn’t guaranteed to take place every year, it showcases the firm’s willingness to involve summers in client-facing work whenever opportunity arises. Finally, the cherry on top is the summer retreat, where “associates, partners, and summers go. It’s nice to meet people there, and these are the people I still talk to now,” a former summer told us.

Strategy & Future

Fish & Richardson has formalized its Standard Essential Patents (SEP) practice, appointing firm veterans Benjamin Elacqua and Christina McDonough as the group’s co-leaders in a move to provide support for an even broader client base. The firm has also introduced an appellate practice group that is “looking to be quite impressive and a good resource for our attorneys,” an interviewee pointed out. Associates were confident that the focus will remain unwaveringly on IP, though “there’s been a big push to get those with a life sciences background into the firm to develop that group.” Renewed energy will also be poured into medical devices and pharmaceuticals, we heard, and the firm has also recently opened a Chicago base, expanding its operations across the country.

The Work

BakerHostetler’s ‘unassigned’ system allows first year associates to sign up for matters from across the full span of the firm’s free market, before selecting a practice area to join after twelve months at the firm. Associates emphasized that the free choice this offers is genuine, and a major part of the firm’s appeal.

One word of warning, though: the transition from the summer program’s work assignment portal to the free-for-all at the start of your first year can sometimes feel a little jarring. As one source put it, “A very predictable problem for every single associate is that they have a slow ramp up period when they first start, get anxious and reach out to a ton of people, then get overwhelmed by the work coming in.” The good news is that, now you know about it, you can easily avoid falling into this trap; however, several associates did feel that juniors would benefit from a more structured transition to the free market system.

Career Development

There’s no doubt that the achievability of making partner is a key selling point of BakerHostetler. “The path to partnership is clear,” one associate told us, pointing once again to the impact of the firm’s hiring strategy: “Baker looks for associates that they think are going to be good fits and stick around, so they don’t hire 200 summers with the intention of keeping 50 of them.”

Another helpful factor is the firm’s transparency about the benchmarks that candidates need to hit. “They don’t hide the ball in terms of what it takes to be a partner,” a source told us, adding “If you do a good job and hit every metric then you will make partner; they won’t move the goalposts.” Did we mention that sports are a big part of the firm’s culture?

Running with this theme, there are also plenty of training opportunities available to help the firm’s draftees get game-ready so they can drive toward that final career touchdown, including the New Associates Academy which all first years attend in Cleveland. The firm’s new Anatomy of Case program (a monthly seminar taking trainees through the litigation lifecycle, split between firmwide broadcasts and discussions with local experts in each office) received great reviews, and our sources also reported “really looking forward to” the deposition boot camp. And for those who prefer learning by reading, we heard that the quality of the sample documents and instructions on the firm’s system is “really good.”

Hours & Compensation

The base salary of BakerHostetler associates varies by office location. “For the most part, people find the pay division between offices fair,” one interviewee noted, although we did hear that “There are some up-and-coming cities like Denver where the salary hasn’t quite caught up to the cost of living.” Nonetheless, for those in the lower-paying locations, a silver lining is that their cheaper billing rates generally make it easier to pick up work and hit annual targets for billable hours.

These are set at 1,950 hours firmwide in order to be eligible for a 10% bonus, with additional hours (up to 50 of which can be made up of firm citizenship activities) unlocking extra compensation up to a total maximum bonus of 35%. One other thing to be aware of is that firm’s associate salaries do not fully keep pace with the Cravath scale after the first two years, and some associates would have liked more transparency about this. However, one stated “my experience is that it doesn’t matter because they pay above-market bonuses.”

Further adding to the positive side of the ledger, interviewees emphasized that BakerHostetler is very good at respecting employees’ vacation time, and that when they are working, marathon shifts are kept to a minimum. One reported, “I’m not doing crazy hours: I get eight hours’ sleep and go to the gym,” before admitting “Although, if I’m honest, sometimes I skip the gym.” Hey, no judgment from us (though clearly the firm’s sporting ethos has limits)!

Culture

As already discussed, cultural fit is a big part of BakerHostetler’s hiring strategy. But who exactly is the firm looking for? “The typical person is warm, candid, and detail-oriented but very polite,” was one associate’s summary, while another echoed the emphasis on courtesy and respect: “It’s a midwestern firm so they lean hard into that midwestern politeness, and everyone’s nice!”

“Socializing is organic; they do a good job of hiring people who are going to choose to hang out together.”

Given this concentration of like-minded, friendly people, it’s unsurprising that one associate reported “socializing is organic; they do a good job of hiring people who are going to choose to hang out together.” That does mean that there’s perhaps a little less emphasis on organized social events than at some firms. However, each office still has a busy social calendar which includes some real highlights. For example, Cleveland attorneys get to attend the autumn BakerBall, with past venues including an art museum, onstage at a theater, and the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame.

If you want to see hall of famers of a different kind, we also heard that sport – and particularly baseball – forms a significant part of the firm’s social life. “There’s fantasy everything,” one associate told us, while another enthused that “we have an incredible suite at the Cleveland Guardians; it’s better than the owners’!” Evidence for our theory that that BakerHostetler has been poaching the team’s luck continues to pile up…

If shared culture unites the firm, there are still some regional differences in the kind of working environment on offer, principally based on the physical character of the different offices. However, even these are being smoothed out somewhat. “We’ve been in the same office for 40 years,” a DC-based associate told us, “But we’re just about to move round the corner to a shiny new office.” Similarly, the New York office opposite the Rockefeller Center is being renovated floor by floor to bring it in line with the firm’s standards.

Regardless of where you’re based, you’re expected to spend at least 50% of your working time in-office, though we heard this is a “soft goal” with some scope for flexibility based on individual circumstances.

Pro Bono

BakerHostetler offers one-to-one equivalence between pro bono and billable hours, and the associates we spoke to were adamant that this was completely genuine. “You could probably do all of your annual hours pro bono if you wanted,” one joked, while another described how their boss being “so invested and engaged in a pro bono matter I was doing” was “a very rewarding and endearing experience.”

The precise opportunities on offer depend on the skills and partnerships available locally; for instance, we heard that the LA office doesn’t regularly do criminal or immigration matters, but has strong relationships with local education charities, while DC associates frequently handle cases concerning rents and housing conditions. Plus, if the firm has contributed to Cleveland’s sporting curse, its associates are at least trying to give a little back by fundraising and volunteering their time for the National Football Foundation’s local branch!

Inclusion

Associates felt that BakerHostetler remains substantively committed to “staying the course” when it comes to inclusion. According to one of them, “A reason why I joined is that the firm has always been good at ensuring there’s fair representation across the board of people from different backgrounds.”

Its Paul D White Scholars Program and work with schemes such as Georgetown Rise (which supports first-generation law students) were particularly highlighted as helping to make the profession more accessible. Plus, one interviewee attested, “The firm clearly champions women being in positions of importance; I have a lot of female mentors who have put a lot of time into making me feel that I can succeed at anything in this firm.”