Mayer Brown Reviews

Pros

Great people to work with.
Good pay and benefits.

Cons

They should offer to fund higher education.
Pay for training to help with internal advancement.

Advice to Senior Management

Better communication and respect for one another would make it a much better workplace.

Pros

- generous vacation/personal days allowance
- good benefits options
- promotional opportunities available, depending on your field
- no guilt trips for taking time off (in my experience)

Cons

- slow pace of any changes (including the numerous layers of approval that must be met before anything new is implemented) is frustrating and counter-productive
- streamlining is needed in many areas
- too many processes just for the sake of process

Advice to Senior Management

Although the law firm community is notoriously slow when it comes to making changes, the firm needs to rethink its structure and become leaner in order to stay competitive.

Pros

high level of professionalism, very competent lawyers with strong skill sets -- particularly in litigation, diverse and interesting cases in many different locations,

Cons

management positions and promotions are far too political, even for a law firm setting; senior management is selected without regard to leadership skills, over emphasis on affirmative action issues to the detriment

Advice to Senior Management

reform voting process for selecting senior managment from among the partners; work to cultivate leaders from younger partners; promotions should not be affimative action based,

Pros

Mayer Brown provides its employees with training regularly to stay up-to-date on software changes. Even in difficult economic times, bonuses were given (and much appreciated).

Cons

Years ago Mayer Brown changed to the full time work week of 37.5 hours stating that "all Firms would be moving in that direction." That has not happened to other Firms.

Advice to Senior Management

Rather than cut staff, consider offering the 35 hour work week, of course with a salary reduction. Another avenue to cut costs--offer voluntary non-paid leave.

Pros

Good competive salary and benefits

Cons

Extremely long hours which is typical of firms this size.

Pros

Good medical benefits and competitive salaries

Cons

never knowing if you are getting laid off

Advice to Senior Management

treat everyone like they are your prosective employer

Pros

Diverse workforce, decent technology, great reputation and good foot in the door. Great place to learn about legal industry. Good pay.

Cons

Impossible to advance. Promotions aren't given out. Bonus structure and benefits are not good. CIO is incompetent and only goal is to cut worksforce budget.

Advice to Senior Management

Learn how to manage. This company is too top heavy. Not necessary for 6 levels of management.

Pros

Good compensation. Some deals are interesting deals with large multinational clients.

Cons

The partners have no idea how to manage a law firm. Recent layoffs were apparently entirely random. High turnover, even for a law firm.

Advice to Senior Management

Management in Houston should stop acting like a satellite office of Chicago.

Pros

They are willing to expend resources to achieve their goals. Also a fairly sophisticated operation in terms of systems and business practices.

Cons

Many decision makers have been promoted well beyond their ability to be competent and have effectively retired in place. Departmental silos promote waste and inhibit opportunities for adding value for the customer. The US and UK IT operations have never fully merged. No one with the correct skill set is looking at the environment for added value or for re-working with more efficient technology, some systems are highly bloated.

Advice to Senior Management

Recognize that the single largest impediment to progress in the IT department is you (directed to Senior IT Management).

Pros

The starting pay for legal secretaries is very competitive, depending of course on experience. They offer some benefits that small firms cannot afford to offer.

Cons

As far as staff are concerned, there are way too many people that are used to doing things the way they were done 20 years ago. The attorneys are allowed to waste support staff's time on unnecessary assignments, just to seem busy. Many of the secretaries are unproductive. The attorneys who whine and moan the most get the best treatment. The supervisors are too busy being catty and gossiping to do something about the unproductive staff.

Advice to Senior Management

Get rid of the tons of unnecessary managers and supervisors and assistant managers, etc. etc.