Fish & Richardson Reviews

Pros

The people I worked with were fantastic. We were able to accomplish a lot, they were open to teaching new skills and there was a real sense of fitting in, even for new people.

Cons

The pay could have been better, but I was there on a contract, so I think it's better in a full time role. I can't really say anything negative about my experience there.

Advice to Senior Management

For what little conflict there was when I was there, it was not handled as well as it could have been. Management seemed to want to ignore it, rather than face it head on and resolve it.

Pros

You're on top of the dog-pile. Even as administrative (rather than legal) staff, the experience is rewarding. I've learned a lot about how a great firm operates.

Cons

Some of the best parts are also the "worst." For instance, it's great to be around extremely hardworking and smart people, but don't think you'll ever get to slack off if that's what you're used to!

Advice to Senior Management

I've had a great experience so far. I really respect my boss and think the people in charge are extremely intelligent and competent.

Pros

The environment provides an excellent opportunity to learn from some very bright attorneys. Relative to other firms, helpful resources are plentiful due to the high billable rates the firm obtains from its clients. The compensation is extremely attractive.

Cons

As with most top tier firms, the number of hours you are expected to bill is difficult to meet while still maintaining some semblance of a personal life. Timely feedback is rare and not very helpful; particularly with younger attorneys. Efforts have been made to increase diversify within the firm, but have led to mixed results. The initial success of these efforts have since waned. The attorneys are still largely homogeneous with respect to their demographic makeup.

Advice to Senior Management

The rapid growth of the firm over the last several years has created challenges to the firm's culture. Increased feedback, particularly to young attorneys, would go a long way towards their development.

Pros

Over the years Fish has been a great place to work. People are very nice and friendly.

Cons

There are some complete morons in some of the upper management admin positions. Attorneys are arrogant and seem to be unaware that the admin groups impact them. Attorneys have their heads stuck in the sand.

Advice to Senior Management

Communicate better. Stop the insane recommendations that have permeated out of the recent admin study. The assumptions given to the management committee are BS.

Pros

Flexibility, teamwork, compensation are just a few of the best reasons. Fish has excellent training at every level and is very team oriented. Everyone backs everyone else up within the same department. It is a small firm feel (very personal) with large firm benefits.

Cons

The departments (i.e., prosecution, litigation, regulatory, etc) are spread out and not grouped together. Although other offices are not doing as well, DC is thriving and very busy and DC is held to the slow down of other offices. Further, the DC office has grown so fast, it's hard to keep up with the people that come and go. During these hard economic times, moral is not near as high as I've seen it in the past. Still, none of these reasons outweigh the perks and benefits of working for a top-notch firm.

Advice to Senior Management

DC is very busy ... please allow time to complete the work.

Pros

The experience. If you want to learn patent law, this is the place to be. Fish handles sophisticated, multimillion dollar patent litigations as well as patenting issues for large companies with complex issues. The pay is good, too, especially if you are in one of the midwest offices.

Cons

Long hours. Expect to work 60-70 week hours. The stress can be intense, too. They expect you to perform at the top of your game all the time and do it very quickly.

Advice to Senior Management

Find some way to handle the life/work balance issue. The reduced hour thing is practically impossible to successfully implement.

Pros

Great people work at Fish. Typically friendly. There are some bad apples though. We have a strong commitment to our clients.

Cons

Medical benefits are weak when compared to other AMLAW 100 law firms. The way raises and bonuses are calculated for the staff is baffling. The fact that raises are determined before reviews are done is very disappointing.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep this boat going forward during these difficult economic times. Please don't outsource anything!