Holland & Knight Reviews

Pros

Looks Good on your resume and compensation is more then most firms. Great Benefits package and professional atmosphere

Cons

Big case load and a lot of pressure to meet billable hours requirements. Attorneys and management are not always appreciative or kind to their staff

Pros

salary decent; benefits comparable; hours OK

Cons

small clients; unimpressive partnership; boring

Advice to Senior Management

revamp entire fee model and expectations; focus on building clientele; address internal issues; stop being penny-wise by pound-foolish; evaluate firm values

Pros

Highly competent, cooperative, and effective attorneys. Work well across offices and practice areas. Tremendously deep bench (real experts in around 100 practice areas). Genuine commitment to pro bono services. Most find the requirements, evaluations, and pay to be at least reasonable, if not very good.

Cons

As with any big law firm these days, there are waves of reorganization every few years to cut build-ups of fat. But, sometimes a little skin gets cut with the discarded fat. That's sad, and the risk of it can sometimes be stressful. Still, far better than at competitor firms.

Advice to Senior Management

Leadership has been very good but not perfect, yet nothing so bad or so needed that it should be aired publicly. The firm shares more useful info with associates than most or all its competitors. Still, the firm, like all big firms, could do more to educate junior associates about the business of law firm operation, so that they can better understand and buy even more into firm practices and policies.

Pros

HR had good interest in being fair to employees. Tried to be fair and accurate with expectations. Up to date with technology. Maintained and encouraged harassment and diversity policies. A comfortable place to work and provided ways for employees to expand knowledge base.

Cons

Previous reasonable workload now frustratingly overworked due to economy and expected greed. Presently, workers scared of losing jobs.

Advice to Senior Management

Encourage and try to keep up moral.

Pros

Professional and collegial work environment; team-oriented culture among attorneys, including a generous willingness to share time and expertise often on short notice; close working relationships between partners and associates; true "no-assholes" policy (98% effective); associates have significant client contact and high levels of responsibility; work is typically interesting and challenging; substantial professional development opportunities and resources.

Cons

Outside the major markets, compensation has been below market and does not match the billing and collections expectations. Money is not the first priority for typical H&K attorneys. This fosters an outstanding culture but means that compensation doesn't keep pace with competing firms. Associate compensation also can be arbitrary because it is tied too closely to geography and billable hour production while giving little or no objective weight to originations and profitability. Associates in different offices doing the same work for the same clients and being billed at the same rates earn vastly different salaries depending on where they are located.

Advice to Senior Management

None

Pros

Great benefits package includes a choice between a standard and a premium PPO with Blue Cross, dental, vision, 125k plan, 401k, life with supplemental coverage add on and disability. Medical, dental, vision, life benefits available for dependents at extra cost. Employees are given Paid Time Off to be used as needed instead of hard vacation/sick time. Respect for employees is a part of their core values - they actually walk the walk on this value and have a professional standards policy. Strong pro bono and charitable work ethic. Employees are given paid time to participate in the firm's literacy program for low income children. Award winning diversity program. Nice people to work with... many employees have been with the firm for 15 years or more. Very few employees leave due to dissatisfaction with the firm or their work.

Cons

The Firm has undergone downsizing in the last year. There are fewer hands doing more work. Tight budgets give little room for flexibility. Layoffs have obviously impacted morale and employees are in a "keep your head down and your mouth shut" mode. Those who are still there are grateful for the job and aren't going to complain about additional job duties being given to them for fear that their job may be next. Compensation is on the lower end of staying competitive with peer firms in each local market. Pay is usually at the median. This is not a year where bonuses would be considered generous.

Advice to Senior Management

Partner with your employees to get through the tough times.