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    Ropes & Gray Reviews

    Updated June 23, 2017
    139 reviews

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    Full-timePart-time
    3.9
    StarStarStarStarStar
    Rating TrendsRating Trends
    Recommend to a friend
    Approve of CEO
    Ropes & Gray Chairman R. Bradford (Brad) Malt
    R. Bradford (Brad) Malt
    61 Ratings

    139 Employee Reviews

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    Pros

    • Great environment, excellent benefits, decent work/life balance and competitive with salary (in 10 reviews)

    • Although working in a law firm is stressful, this is the least stressful firm you can work for (in 8 reviews)

    Cons

    • Long hours, expected to be on-call 24/7 (in 18 reviews)

    • Work / life balance can be difficult at times (in 8 reviews)

    More Pros and Cons

    1. Helpful (1)

      "Associate Experience"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Associate in Boston, MA
      Former Employee - Associate in Boston, MA
      Recommends
      Neutral Outlook
      No opinion of CEO

      I worked at Ropes & Gray full-time (More than 3 years)

      Pros

      Great training opportunities, extremely smart colleagues who are generally very collegial.

      Reasonable billable hours requirements including good pro bono opportunities

      Cons

      Black box of information about management. Although there have been improvements, it's still an institution preoccupied with pedigree and double ivy degrees

      Advice to Management

      Continue the work that you are doing with the alumnae network and attorney support programs; consider ways to make the path to partnership a bit more transparent

    2. Helpful (1)

      "Practice Development"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee in Boston, MA
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee in Boston, MA
      Positive Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I worked at Ropes & Gray full-time (More than 3 years)

      Pros

      Challenging work, dedicated and knowledgeable managers.

      Cons

      Long hours, expected to be on-call 24/7. Little opportunity for professional development.

      Advice to Management

      Allow more work from home options.

      3. Join the Ropes & Gray team
      See Our Latest Jobs

    3. "Needs work"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee in New York, NY
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee in New York, NY
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook

      I have been working at Ropes & Gray full-time (More than 8 years)

      Pros

      Forward-thinking, people oriented firm. Nice offices and up-to-date technology. Interesting clientele, great benefits and salaries are competitive.

      Cons

      Senior management are not equipped for their jobs and there is no oversight. Who's minding the store? No one.

      Advice to Management

      Go out and find new chiefs.

    4. "Great upscale environment with even better benefits"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Foreign Filing Paralegal in Boston, MA
      Current Employee - Foreign Filing Paralegal in Boston, MA
      Approves of CEO

      I have been working at Ropes & Gray full-time (More than a year)

      Pros

      Great environment, excellent benefits, decent work/life balance and competitive with salary

      Cons

      Being in the Prudential can be difficult during the holidays trying to get around everyone shopping, and can be a long commute

    5. Helpful (2)

      "Legal Executive Assistant"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Legal Executive Assistant in San Francisco, CA
      Current Employee - Legal Executive Assistant in San Francisco, CA

      I have been working at Ropes & Gray full-time (More than 3 years)

      Pros

      Great benefits. Awesome attorneys. Work/life balance.

      Cons

      None that I can think of.

    6. Helpful (1)

      "Practice Development Assistant"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Practice Development Assistant in Boston, MA
      Current Employee - Practice Development Assistant in Boston, MA
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      No opinion of CEO

      I have been working at Ropes & Gray full-time (More than a year)

      Pros

      - great team
      - good benefits
      - free dinner after 7:30pm (boston office)
      - no micro-managing
      - good work/life balance

      Cons

      - should be more career development/mentoring
      - PDAs should have the ability to work remotely
      - Base salary should be higher
      - promotion timeline unclear
      - not a lot of distinction between roles

      Advice to Management

      - make requirements for each role distinct and clear so that a person in a higher role is actually more qualified than the person in the immediate role under them
      - provide more flexible work hours for staff
      - provide more opportunities for mobility/office tranfers

    7. "Corporate Case Intern"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      Former Employee - Corporate Case Assistant in Boston, MA
      Former Employee - Corporate Case Assistant in Boston, MA

      I worked at Ropes & Gray (More than 10 years)

      Pros

      Great pay, good exposure to legal work

      Cons

      long hours and overworked, grumpy associates

    8. Helpful (2)

      "Legal Secretary"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee in Chicago, IL
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee in Chicago, IL
      Doesn't Recommend

      I worked at Ropes & Gray full-time

      Pros

      Compensation and benefits. Coffee. Location.

      Cons

      Attorneys were rude. Management was terrible. Terrible place to work.

    9. Helpful (2)

      "good firm -"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee in San Francisco, CA
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee in San Francisco, CA
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I worked at Ropes & Gray full-time

      Pros

      The firm has very good orientation programs for new hires as well as ongoing training for current employees at every career level.

      Cons

      As with many law firms of this size, the tremendous amount of bureaucracy and middle management at Ropes slows down forward progress. Secretarial staff is overpaid and underworked.

      Advice to Management

      Departments across the firm should work together and not lose sight of the product they are hired to provide to the client: quality legal services.

    10. "Associate Attorney"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Associate in New York, NY
      Current Employee - Associate in New York, NY
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I have been working at Ropes & Gray full-time (More than 3 years)

      Pros

      Great people and culture - maintains top of the market compensation.

      Cons

      Chasing ever-increasing profits per partner

    Showing 139 of 143 reviews
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