Weil, Gotshal & Manges

About the firm

If there’s one thing to note about US law firms, it’s that there aren’t too many perks of being a wallflower. With typically smaller trainee cohorts, disappearing into the background is not really an option. This suited the trainees we spoke to at Weil, who were all after an opportunity to work closely with senior lawyers and take on responsibility before their email signatures had stopped feeling new: “To come and be one of twelve or fifteen trainees in an intake at Weil helps you be confident, outgoing, resilient, and able to talk to very senior people.”

“To come and be one of twelve or fifteen trainees in an intake at Weil helps you be confident, outgoing, resilient, and able to talk to very senior people.”

Weil’s London office is particularly well known for private equity, finance and restructuring practices, with antitrust, tax and other specialist teams on top of those core functions. Chambers UK ranks Weil among the leading London firms for restructuring/insolvency, leveraged finance and restructuring/insolvency litigation. The firm also performs strongly in areas including capital markets, infrastructure and high-value private equity buyouts nationwide.

Despite being a place for trainees ready to hit the ground running, the current cohort repeatedly described Weil as “less big and scary than I had expected. People are more normal and down to earth than you’d think!” one trainee told us. As another summarised: “It strikes a nice balance: people get stuff done, but people don’t take themselves too seriously.”

Why trainees joined the firm

US-firm work and rewards

Those we spoke to had been attracted to the high-value work, market-leading pay and the pace of a major city practice. As one insider shared, “I had top US firms on my radar, and Weil was one of those. It was about finding the best pay and the best work, the most attractive option to reap the best rewards of moving to a firm.”

Established London training

As part of a number of big-name American firms to open London offices in the mid-1990s, Weil has had a presence in the UK for a… Weil. Candidates liked that the firm combined a long-standing London presence with the culture and platform of a US firm. One source added that “I liked the fact that Weil has been in London for a very long time and their training is very established.” Interestingly, Weil was the first US firm to launch a London training contract.

Personable feel

“A lot of firms felt too impersonal,” one told us, “I felt I would be part of a huge machine where people wouldn’t get to know you and I just got a totally different feel at Weil. The people who work there and the people they recruit are very personable.”

Trainee satisfaction rankings

Training contract structure

Seat allocation

Trainees submit three preferences around six weeks in advance of each seat rotation. With a cohort of roughly 12-15, sources said most people received their first or second choice at some point throughout the training contract.

International secondments

Opportunities have included New York and Washington DC, with Paris available for French speakers. Graduate recruitment circulates the opportunities available for each rotation, and trainees may be asked to submit a short application. Availability varies by rotation, practice area and individual eligibility.

Seat Experiences

Trainee life

Culture and environment

Data from our annual trainee survey

“Everyone understands that this is a tough job,” one trainee explained, “and that makes it so much better.” While bigger groups can naturally feel more hierarchical, sources generally found seniors approachable and appreciative. One trainee rounded off by adding that “the seniors I interact with have a great sense of humour.”

“Everyone understands that this is a tough job, and that makes it so much better.”

On the social side, firm-wide summer and Christmas parties sit alongside team events and a trainee social budget. Finance was emphasised as a particularly social team, with drinks, pub quizzes, karaoke and an annual off-site trip, while restructuring has its own social secretary. As one insider shared, the likes of singing karaoke with partners helps “break down the formality and helps you see them as a person rather than a scary partner!”

Working patterns

Data from our annual trainee survey

When it comes to working patterns, trainees’ specific hours varied by team, but one described the range as “9am-6pm some weeks, and then 9am-midnight on other weeks.” They added that the PEMA seat could fluctuate more because of the deal flow. As one summed it up, “on average the hours aren’t horrendous but it can get intense.”

Trainees generally work in the office from Monday – Thursday and can work from home on Fridays. As for the office itself, the perks include a café which offers “really good breakfasts" as well as boasting a gym complete with showers.

Pay

Trainees generally felt well compensated for the demands of the job. Interviewees felt that “we’re paid at a good rate in the London market,” to the extent that the general consensus was: “I’m happy with it; no complaints!”

Supervision and training

Data from our annual trainee survey

Supervisors at Weil are selected in the knowledge that they have the right attributes for the role, which trainees saw as a meaningful sign that the firm had chosen to invest in junior development. Trainees often share an office with their supervisor, creating opportunities to ask quick questions, listen to calls and observe how a senior lawyer manages their day. “It really helps you observe and determine whether that suits your long-term goals,” one source explained. Another insider added that “there aren’t typical trainee tasks at Weil, it’s not a case of, ‘You’re a first-seat trainee, so we’re only going to trust you with certain things,’ you’re encouraged to have a first stab at drafting.”

Supervision is not limited to one person either: trainees work with lawyers across their department and are also assigned senior associate up to counsel mentor as a senior point of contact. Formal feedback comes through mid-seat and end-of-seat appraisals, and is supplemented by informal comments on pieces of work throughout the seat. We heard that the immediacy of feedback can depend on the team and workload; in busier corporate matters, for example, trainees sometimes have to “reverse engineer a red line,” by comparing their drafts with the final version. That said, one trainee added that “people are more than happy to take the time to explain things to you and make sure you understand how the bit that you’re doing fits into the broader transaction.”

Training combines more formal programmes with learning on the job. The training contract begins with an induction covering systems and core skills. Corporate, finance and PEMA were described as particularly structured: finance and PEMA trainees reported around six weeks of induction sessions, while finance runs partner-led Tuesday training and circulates market and legislative updates. Tax’s introductions were smaller and more informal. Graduate recruitment can also arrange targeted one-to-one support where a trainee identifies a skills gap.

Pro bono & CSR

“I’ve done so much pro bono,” one trainee laughed, “pro bono is very big at Weil!” Trainees reported a 50-hour annual target and a trophy reward for those who meet their hours. The benefits for trainees include higher levels of responsibility and client contact than they would typically have in billable matters, and all while working for a good cause. As one trainee put it, “there are firms that say pro bono is important, but Weil puts measurable metrics behind it.”

“As much as this is a tough job, it’s very privileged. It’s great to use these skills and resources to help people out there, and the firm provides loads of opportunities to do that.”

One described “helping a female-run charity attract financing and update their company articles.” There are also team-specific cases which get directed to a certain department, such as tax. “As much as this is a tough job, it’s very privileged,” one trainee told us, “it’s great to use these skills and resources to help people out there, and the firm provides loads of opportunities to do that.”

Other opportunities include

• The Innocence Project

• Family law and youth justice clinics

• Transactional and specialist advice for charities and community organisations

Inclusion

Trainees were positive about Weil’s efforts to support diversity and inclusion, describing their cohorts as international, gender-balanced and diverse. One trainee added that “personally, the firm’s approach to inclusion was one of my motivations for applying to Weil.” They continued that the firm has “open conversations about diversity, and there are opportunities to mentor children from disadvantaged backgrounds and help them break into a career in law.”

Trainees mentioned networks such as Women@Weil, WeilAccessAbility (disability inclusion), BLAST (the firm’s Black affinity group), AsiansAtWeil, an Asian affinity network and WeilPride, a Pride network. Sources emphasised the frequency and quality of events, and added that the firm is flying out members of AsiansAtWeil to New York for a conference.

Qualification

Interviewees described qualification as a relatively informal process, where the graduate recruitment team sends out an email with the departments that intend to recruit roughly three months ahead of qualification. Trainees then select a department, and the graduate recruitment liaises with the department, before letting the trainee know the decision. There is no formal CV or interview process, but rather continuous check-ins and chats with partners throughout the course of the seat.

Retention, retention, retention…

“Weil’s retention rate is really really high,” one trainee explained, “most people stay for quite a few years. There’s a number of Weil-trained partners now. The expectation and standard is that people do stay after qualification.”