Arnold & Porter Reviews

Pros

Civil and friendly attorneys, including most partners; informal
No limits if you want to add to your skills/responsibilities (no more money, though, and you'd better train yourself)
Some flexibility in scheduling
Maternity benefits excellent (not always a plus; see below); childcare onsite at DC office
Some cutbacks in staff and benefits due to recession, but nowhere near the butchery at other firms
Decent salary
Excellent pro bono program
A sense of humor is encouraged
Firm is growing

Cons

Lower-level management shows considerable favoritism, but turnover's high; sit tight, wait for the next regime
Deadwood: some long-time support staff who believe showing up is all they need to do -- and they're right
Family-friendly -- great, unless you don't have a family and have to make up for the mommies' privileges
Information not always shared when policies and procedures change
Unwillingness to upgrade technology
Bonuses well below those at other firms
Tendency to lateral in partners or future partners, rather than grow their own

Pros

great place to work, the people and benefits are top notch

Cons

lots of hours, but that is typical at a large firm

Pros

pay, reasonable hours for a big law firm

Cons

little say over the direction of your career, not the type of work that I wanted to do

Pros

Very fair place that gives staff an opportunity to work with and for great legal minds, Unfortunately, I got laid off, but STILL a great firm, with great people and some of the best lawyers on the planet. Partners and associates were great.

Cons

It ended. I got laid off! :(, but I enjoyed the opportunity and the experience I gained is pricesless.

Advice to Senior Management

None really. The Office Manager(s) are solid people (great personalities to manage staff. Still enjoy those people to this day.

Pros

An excellent place to work with good benefits and competent people. You will feel respected for your work and not a typical lawfirm where you feel like the subordinate to partners and associates. Everyone starts with 4 weeks vacation, but this includes sick leave.

Cons

Promotion levels are low, but that is to be expected in the LA industry - if you're in it for a career than compensation gets really good after 5 years.

Advice to Senior Management

Not much I have to say about advice for management, other than to keep doing what you are doing. It is working.

Pros

Most of the staff is great to work with as well as most attorneys.

Cons

Management is lacking. HR doesn't know basic info about benefits, time off etc. Communication is not good and there is much room for improvement. There is a lot of "bullying" there and much of this goes on without the attorneys even knowing. People who aren't pulling their weight seem to be rewarded while others, who are overwhelmed and who are still providing excellent service, are not.

Advice to Senior Management

Learn about the benefits offered so you can provide accurate information. Management should have to take classes in how to deal with employees in a fair and respectful manner. You should listen to your employees and if the majority of them are saying the same thing . . . listen and do something about it.

Pros

The people are what makes the firm. And the benefits are fantastic. You can gain a lot of experience from a number of outlets including the pro bono committee and work assignments.

Cons

Don't believe the hype. The assignment process is not very effective. The distribution of work is very ineffective. Some associates end up on a number of projects while others fight to get staffed on document reviews.

Advice to Senior Management

Revamp the assignment system to make it more effective for junior associates. And make the parameters of the evaluation process clear to new associates. Associates need to know what criteria partners/counsels are using to judge them and how they can ensure that they live up to the expectation of these partners.

Pros

37.5 work week, good vacation; good staff and support services, good benefits; nice working areas

Cons

HR doesn't have a clue what goes on at desk. There are many secretaries, who may work on occasion, in their way. HR doesn't know who does work and they don't value the trait, if they do know. They are filling seats with lower salaried employees with less experience and giving them more than six attornies each, plus backing up another four to seven. Then they took away a week of salary on many when they simply changed the policy and made it effective for everyone! I also know they had one of their best years ever in 2008, yet they are taking advantage of the "recession" to cut back and grow their profit margins. This is business but NOT the A&P where goodwill and sense of family and respect reined. We miss you Jim Sandman.

Advice to Senior Management

A&P used to have a family feel to the workplace - they have been voted Best Place to Work many times, and I would say it was the best place I worked at one time. In recent years, it has become more cutthroat and less caring. HR is non-supportive to the secretaries and manipulate things without even the partners knowing. The Management Committee wouldn't dream of cutting even 1% of their enormous profits to keep the business working efficiently. They have staff who have worked over 40 years! but they have taken the opportunity to cut a lot staff with longevity rather than most recent hired. Of course that does save them money in salary and bonus and benefits too. I think the focus of Management at A&P has turned inward for the benefit of the partners, which is their choice, but not as nice a place to work anymore.

Pros

The attorneys I worked with were wonderful, gave me great opportunities to learn, and helped my career after leaving the firm.

Cons

While the attorneys I worked with were great, the middle managers in charge of support staff were not. They suffered from middle management syndrome, in that they were ineffective, trying to please those above them without pleasing anyone at all. However, this really depends on the team you are working for.

Advice to Senior Management

Strengthen the middle management level for support staff and remove problem staff a lot sooner.

Pros

Arnold & Porter has great name recognition and a very good reputation as an employer of choice, and they have received numerous awards throughout the years. As an attorney, it is a very prestigious name on your resume, and I think a good place to learn and develop. I worked on the staff side, and there, I would say that it depends on what department you work for.

Cons

My experience is largely tied to the person that I worked for, and I would say that she provided no leadership, knew next to nothing about the profession, and took little interest in--and provided little opportunity for--my ability to succeed in my job. More interest was placed on doing things the way she wanted than on actually getting the job done. For the most part, I think most of the managers on the staff side are pretty good ones, but overall, I would be concerned about the quality of advice and guidance that the firm's senior managers are receiving from some of the leaders on the staff side of the firm. Also, the level of bureaucracy and the number of people involved in critical decision-making is absolutely unbelievable at times. On the attorney side of the firm, I think things are actually run pretty well--better than in many firms.

Advice to Senior Management

I think Senior Managers need to empower the employees they've hired to make the decisions that they were hired to make, and to step back from micromanaging the day-to-day activities to such a degree.