Berry Appleman & Leiden Reviews

Pros

BAL will hire people with little to no office experience so its a great place to start. If you're lucky enough to get a real desk its a nice workspace. I was fortunate enough to have a very good transparent relationship with my direct manager. I think it's very easy to transition to a new role or move up the ladder, you have ton of resources for growth. Co workers are friendly.

Cons

We are always being pushed to 'be exceptional' yet the firm does not reciprocate. Pay, health insurance, and other benefits for non salaried employees are just ok. Below average when it comes to vacation days. Additionally strange things are micro managed, partner approval is required if you want to skip lunch and leave 30 minutes early to get to an appointment. There is definitely a problem when it comes to workload. Overtime is not something that gets approved much anymore and there is simply to much to do and respond to given our service agreements with clients so just about everyone eats hours to avoid not meeting performance metrics .

Pros

Open environment to make a change. If something isn't working or there could be improvements, leadership is open to hearing your thoughts and may actually implement your plan. I have never worked a company/firm where this was the case at a manager and below level.

Cons

On the flip side, if you aren't open to change, this may not be the place for you. BAL is regularly looking at their processes/ structure and testing them to create a constantly improving environment.

Pros

The best part of BAL is the people. I worked at both the Dallas and Tysons Corner locations, and the people I met along the way made everything worthwhile. An added bonus in the Dallas office is the vast scope of coworkers and continued injections of energy from the likes of Jeremy Fudge! The company culture is something I still miss and haven't found anywhere before or since!

Cons

As an administrative assistant, the work can be very repetitive, and you're so busy there is little time to take advantage of the trainings offered during the day to grow further.

Pros

I’d rate somewhere between 3-4 stars. BAL really cares about employees and truly puts in effort to connect with employees and improve. This is a great place to start out as there is plenty of support, training and structure.

Cons

I found the structure to be suffocating and inefficient at times. As someone who came to the role with an immigration background, I had to completely conform to BAL’s methods and disregard my prior experience as it had no place on my team. I felt some of the trainings and internal structure were elementary in approach and too much “hand holding”. No room for personal initiative, creativity or growth which is why I ultimately left.

Pros

some of the people, until they burn out and leave. Average employee tenure here is 2 years. The pro is you can eventually escape.

Cons

This place is rotting to the core with incompetent, duplicitous, and inhumane management. If you work hard and outwork low performers by 2-3X casework, but forget to suck up to the right people, you will definitely make less than low performers. Pay in general is significantly below market. Attorneys are underpaid by at least 5 figures compared to their rival firms. If anything goes wrong middle management never takes accountability, always points to the attorneys. The firm's crown jewel of an account is being run into the ground as dozens of people have left in just a year. The client can tell when 4 legal teams introduce themselves for a case that should take 3 months, and say their predecessors are working on a new project. LOL! Oh and paralegals are told not to work extra without overtime, but also have to explain overtime, and know too much OT will hinder their chances of promotions (out-billing the average billing per pl by more than 250% is irrelevant).