Mayer Brown

About the firm

Searching for a place that can house each part of your weird and wonderful sense of self? Do you have fears that even the shine of a thousand spotlights and all the stars you could steal from the night sky will never be enough? Well, fear not, for P T Barnum isn’t the only answer; we have heard tell that at Mayer Brown, “there isn’t one specific mould; everyone is their own person and personalities are celebrated.”

“There isn’t one specific mould; everyone is their own person and personalities are celebrated.”

These varying personalities are united by a few interests, however. “I wanted to try transactional seats, advisory seats, contentious seats…” one insider listed, echoing others’ wishes for “a very well-rounded firm.” Indeed, our sister guide, Chambers UK, provides praise for a whole host of the firm’s practices, including its national work in asset-based lending, capital markets (CLOs and derivatives), construction, and energy & natural resources. The firm also fares well across the Atlantic, receiving a whopping 99 department rankings in our other sister guide, Chambers USA.

Training principal Miriam Bruce elaborates on the firm’s local practice strengths, including “an exceptionally strong market presence in finance," she also adds: "There is also a lot of excitement in London about our growth in private capital.”  And trainees are practically all-but-guaranteed a front-row seat on such deals, as a few sources pointed to the smaller size of the trainee cohort: “I didn’t want a firm that only had a handful of trainees or one that had over 50.” Year-on-year, the firm takes on around 15 trainees per cohort.

Why trainees joined the firm

International work

Trainees were impressed by the “real emphasis on international work as part of the UK office,” and confirmed that a training contract at Mayer Brown means “international work is part of the remit, not just an optional extra.”

Strong training schedule

According to trainees, Mayer Brown has “a very thought-out and comprehensive training programme for every seat that you do.” More details in the ‘Supervision & training’ section!

Strengths across both contentious and transactional work

One source explained their non-negotiables when researching firms: “I wanted a breadth of work and having strengths in both litigious and transactional seats was really important to me.” Mayer Brown delivers on both fronts, providing, in one rookie’s words, the “opportunity to dip my toes in multiple areas to find out what worked best for me.”

Trainee satisfaction rankings

Training contract structure

Seat allocation

Before trainees begin each seat, they rank their desired seat options from one to five, adding a sixth choice if they wish to do a secondment. Interviewees explained that the process is simple enough, but the outcome is ultimately dependent on business need. Midway through each seat, trainees also catch up with the graduate recruitment team: “It’s an opportunity to express what you like and don’t like about your seat, and you can bounce ideas back and forth with them for what you want to do next.”

When it comes to seat requirements, rookies are expected to undertake at least one transactional seat during their training contract, which means a stint in finance, corporate or real estate. The popularity of the contentious departments has resulted in a cap being placed on the number of dispute seats trainees can do, i.e. no more than two.

Client secondments

Mayer Brown’s trainees benefit from the opportunity to do a corporate secondment. As you might expect, this only becomes available for juniors who have completed a corporate rotation within the firm first, to ensure a seamless transition.

Other opportunities are ad hoc across the different practices and have included a seat within a private equity firm and the recent addition of doing some non-contentious construction work for a large construction client.

International secondments

As an international firm, it’ll come as no surprise that trainees can be seconded to an office abroad. “There are longstanding secondments to Paris,” explained one source: “it’s with the international arbitration team.”

There were a few grumbles from insiders who felt there should be more international opportunities on offer, though it was noted that the firm had been in talks surrounding the expansion of secondments further afield, perhaps even bringing back a New York rotation, which has recently been approved!

Seat experiences

Trainee life

Culture and environment

Data from our annual trainee survey

When it comes to firm culture, common phrases we heard from interviewees were “non-hierarchical,” “open-door policy,” and “genuinely friendly.” As one summed it up: “People are actually people here,” meaning “they don’t feel robotic or stoic or cold; they actually want to get to know you.” The general feeling among sources was that “culture is probably one of Mayer Brown’s strongest qualities,” with a trainee happily sharing: “It’s exceeded all my expectations.”

Reviews were mixed when it came to the firm’s social calendar. As one junior explained: “Every team tends to come with its own culture and sometimes you find some practice areas are more sociable than others.” This didn’t seem to pose much of an issue, though, since the trainees felt “very close-knit” within their cohorts and were able to plan their own events with their own social budget provided by the firm.

The firm also runs events centred on improving trainees’ skills, for example with the NextGen network “aimed at helping junior lawyers learn how to network with clients.” Clients were invited to an event at Los Mochis on Liverpool Street to help trainees build a network outside of the firm.

Working patterns

Data from our annual trainee survey

Trainees aren’t given a billable target during their training period but are expected to record 7.2 hours a day, which can consist of a mix of billable and non-billable work. Hours vary, with some juniors reporting busy weeks equating to 60 hours, but the average seemed to be around the 40-hour mark.

The firm’s official office attendance requirement is 60% in-office and 40% working from home, though trainees are expected to be in more. The ‘anchor’ days for most teams were said to be Tuesday to Thursday, though we heard that this is “very team and supervisor dependent.”

In terms of office amenities and perks, juniors benefit from heavily subsidised food at the Hub, along with barista-made coffee for £1.50 (!) from “staff that are amazing and sweet” and who “remember your coffee order!” When it comes to health and wellbeing, a GP makes their rounds onsite on a Thursday, Pilates classes are regularly scheduled, and colleagues are provided with a monthly wellbeing budget to spend.

Pay

Data provided by firm and our annual trainee survey

“In terms of the experience, career trajectory, and really everything you receive from a law firm, I feel that the salary is very fair,” shared one trainee when asked if they felt well compensated at Mayer Brown. This was reflected in answers from other interviewees, with one concluding that “it’s not about the salary vs the number of hours you put in, but the level of knowledge you get out.”

Supervision and training

Data from our annual trainee survey

“One of the advantages of a training contract at Mayer Brown is that it is a small cohort,” explains Bruce: “this means we can develop a bespoke programme for them.” Indeed, trainees noted the firm’s unique training schedule, including sessions that went beyond usual department teachings.

For example, last year, a real client was invited in to present a fictional problem to trainees. “Our trainees were then asked to spend half a day planning out their solutions and advice before presenting them back to the client,” says Bruce. The aim is to equip juniors with a variety of different skills, from problem solving to explaining legal vs commercial solutions in a palatable way for clients.

Day-to-day, insiders reported a supportive environment in which supervisors were always “eager to sit you down and explain parts of a deal or how a transaction works.”

Pro bono & CSR

Got20? That’s Mayer Brown’s internal mission encouraging people to bill at least 20 hours of pro bono a year. “20 hours is light work!” laughed one trainee, revealing details of a special reward for colleagues who hit 100 hours of pro bono a year (spoiler: it’s your very own drinks trolley).

The firm’s commitment to pro bono is realised through a specialist team of dedicated pro bono associates and counsel. “I was really happy with the diversity of pro bono projects here,” reflected one insider, who detailed a mix of opportunities available. Overall, trainees valued the autonomy that comes with taking on a pro bono matter, with one source sharing: “I quite like that it’s a change of pace when you’re working for an individual.”

Other opportunities include:

• Child Citizenship Project (formerly known as KIND)

• Shelter

• School Consent Project

Inclusion

As one trainee told us: “The firm is genuinely diverse; it’s not just window dressing.” Resource groups are available for all colleagues to join, hosting events and highlighting important topics for discussion. Examples are the Social Inclusion & Opportunities group, Enable (which allows people to “come together and promote awareness of different disabilities”), Fusion (a group focussing on efforts in race and ethnicity), Multifaith, Pride, Work and Me (supporting people balancing family obligations alongside work), and RAW (Retention and Advancement of Women).

Trainees also praised the firm’s efforts in championing social mobility, with a conscious decision to pivot promotional resources away from Oxbridge and traditional redbrick universities. The result, according to insiders, is that there is “no sense of elitism” within the training cohorts as trainees hail “from lots of different walks of life.”

Qualification

At the start of their fourth seat, trainees have a “kick-off meeting with graduate recruitment who explain how the qualification process works,” said a source. Juniors reported that the process is pretty standard, with trainees being notified of which teams are hiring before submitting an application pack, which consists of their internal CV and their end-of-seat appraisals. There were some qualms that available NQ positions were shared with trainees a little late in the cycle, around April. Interviewees were also unsure of the number of positions open within each department.

The process itself received no critique, with some interviews taking place depending on the number of applications received by certain departments. Sources were also pleasantly surprised by the resources provided by the firm to assist with managing stress and mental health during the qualification process: “The resources they offer aren’t just performative; they have given a lot of thought to what they can provide us with,” shared one rookie.

Padel is the new squash…

Socials are changing, and this cohort is staying ahead of the game, with trainee meetups ditching the drinks in favour of running and a cheeky game of padel.