Baker & McKenzie Reviews

Pros

Colleagues are very nice.
We are international.
Baker can handle just about any task a client requests.
Great for the resume.

Cons

Management is horrid, non-communicative until review time. For current firm news, go to abovethelaw for updates, or ask a secretary for the latest gossip. Zero workflow management; billables are becoming unattainable. Benefits are good, but barebones-basic. One poster in Texas mentioned "flex-time", this is not true for staff in the California offices, maybe it's true for the attorneys. OT for staff is only applicable to secretarys. Paralegals are rarely, if ever, included in projects from RFP through and into the actual project. Low morale and no sense of shared vision and goal for the local office or the firm as a whole.

Advice to Senior Management

Communicate! Be an industry leader, not a cookie-cutter mouse. Learn to share the pie a little more.

Pros

Smart lawyers doing great work. There is an emphasis on growing the practise and getting better clients, but no sense of how to do that. Compensation was fair, bonuses not really existent. Bit of a face time place, but high level of autonomy in actual work.

Cons

Management is terrible, especially in corporate. I understand management is changing. There is an emphasis on conformity. Creativity in pitching clients and performing work is discouraged greatly. Performance review system is a joke.

Advice to Senior Management

Be open to new ideas. Hire less consultants to tell you how to communicate your business to others. Promote better leaders.

Pros

Opportunity to work on big cases that will serve as precedent for years to come. Support staff does good, competent job.

Cons

The most important thing to the partners is money. If you lateral in, they will bring you in at a lower class year. If you are generating big revenues working one issue, you will not get the opportunity to work on anything else, regardless of how detrimental that may be to your career. Morale is very low.

Advice to Senior Management

Provide partners with management and leadership training. Being a good lawyer does not magically make one a good leader. Teach partners to mentor associates.

Pros

Good benefits for the employees.

Cons

Unsupportive seniors and overly intense working style.

Advice to Senior Management

it's ok.

Pros

If you know what to expect from a law firm, you won't be disappointed. No surprises here.

Cons

Hesitant to upgrade technology, but most law firms are.

Advice to Senior Management

Don't let lawyers lead the charge in matters they know nothing about. Take the advice of the professionals you hire.

Pros

Competitve salary
Excellent Medical Benefits
Flex-Time
401K and Profit Sharing
Floaters readily available when needed
Good software training
Jeans Day Every Friday

Cons

Low morale and poor level of communication from management. Gossip runs rampant at this firm. We learn more information about our office from the media than our own management team.

Advice to Senior Management

Give more feedback more often on job performance . This is not a congenial work environment. A lot of employees want to find other jobs.

Pros

advance in technology, young professionals and a lot of opportunity for learning and career growth when you're in the right department at the right timing

Cons

no retirement benefit, slow paced advancemant on some departments, irregular distribution of funding from one department to another, monotonous work at some point

Advice to Senior Management

understand that we are growing but it needs to be taken into consideration internal hiring first before hiring outsiders

Pros

The remuneration package is quite good. The firm has a very international outlook and affords many opportunities to work with different offices.

Cons

There may be certain limitations to professional development due to lack of mentoring / training from managers.

Advice to Senior Management

To obtain more feedback from employees.

Pros

Good for travel if you like to travel; they allow us to use our own judgment. The overall atmosphere is good but staff is not consulted regarding areas of knowlege that would be useful to cases.

Cons

No overtime pay, ever. But much overtime expected. Paralegals are the people who know the details, yet management makes the decisions behind closed doors without benefit of our knowledge. How can this be good for the clients?

Advice to Senior Management

You employ people who have personal needs, same as Sr. Mgmt. Think about it.

Pros

Bakers has a great international network of firms. This opens up opportunities to travel with work.

Bakers has a high level of diversity. It is typical to work with people from different countries. Being someone who grew up in Sydney and working in Sydney is actually a bit of a novelty.

Bakers Sydney has a very strong Environmental Markets practice, as well as a great intellectual property group.

Cons

Bakers Sydney is not yet one of the top tier Sydney firms.

Advice to Senior Management

You're doing a good job.