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    Ropes & Gray Reviews

    Updated May 15, 2018
    159 reviews

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    Full-timePart-time
    4.0
    StarStarStarStarStar
    Rating TrendsRating Trends
    Recommend to a friend
    Approve of CEO
    Ropes & Gray Chairman R. Bradford (Brad) Malt
    R. Bradford (Brad) Malt
    73 Ratings

    159 Employee Reviews

    Sort: PopularRatingDate
    Pros

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

    • Interesting clientele, great benefits and salaries are competitive (in 11 reviews)

    Cons

    • Long hours at times but comes with the territory (in 21 reviews)

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

    More Pros and Cons

    1. "Associate"

      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
      Neutral Outlook

      I have been working at Ropes & Gray full-time (More than 5 years)

      Pros

      Great colleagues, good client base seems well hedged for volatility. Culturally, probably as good as it gets culturally for biglaw.

      Cons

      Long hours like any other big law firm. Promotion and management process is not transparent.

    2. "Best/Worst of Times"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee

      I worked at Ropes & Gray full-time

      Pros

      Learned a lot, made great connections and name goes a long way

      Cons

      Often abandoned/set up to fail (the fact that I didn't notwithstanding)

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

    3. "Elite, but progressive"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee

      I have been working at Ropes & Gray full-time

      Pros

      Proudly progressive firm!

      Cons

      BigLaw failures of communication.

    4. "Great place to practice in biglaw, if you must practice in biglaw"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I have been working at Ropes & Gray full-time

      Pros

      No strong face time requirements (so flexible hours), increasing number of non-partner-track attorney options.

      Cons

      Still biglaw - client demands often come with tight turnaround times, unreasonable expectations, etc.

      Advice to Management

      More transparency.

    5. "Supportive and pleasant environment."

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

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

      Pros

      Best benefits and perks, health care, tuition reimbursement. Well defined path for professional development and learning for all levels of support staff.

      Cons

      Sometimes pulled in too many directions with minimal outlets to hand off overflow work but this is the nature of the beast. Some policies while good for client security micromanage and limit staff ability to get tasks done more efficiently.

      Advice to Management

      Business is good but just make sure to provide assistance so that talented employees won’t get burnt out. Otherwise very well run firm.

    6. "The “lifestyle firm” reputation is (generally) true"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      Former Employee - Patent Agent in New York, NY
      Former Employee - Patent Agent in New York, NY
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      Approves of CEO

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

      Pros

      Good, solid training at a bigLaw. Hours requirement (<2000) is lower than many peer firms. Of course, some practices are busier than others, but I’ve heard stories in which even if you don’t hit the target, you still get a bonus. That information is a bit dated now, so take it as a healthy pinch of salt.

      Cons

      When work dries up or the financials don’t work out, you’ll see a lot of personnel movements. Some of these can be fairly sudden. A partner who just assigned you work two hours ago might appear in a firm-wide memo indicating his resignation effective immediately. But that comes with the territory of big law I guess.

      Advice to Management

      N/A. Management recently changed.

    7. "Training"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee in New York, NY
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee in New York, NY
      Doesn't Recommend
      Negative Outlook
      Approves of CEO

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

      Pros

      Location and the staff. The benefits are good and its diverse.

      Cons

      Poor management. They tend to micromanage

      Advice to Management

      Stop micro managing

    8. "Former associate"

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

      I worked at Ropes & Gray full-time (More than 5 years)

      Pros

      Great benefits and pay and great associates. Often top work that makes the news. Great office facilities. I received great training from senior associates and partners.

      Cons

      Some egomaniacal partners. Some partners with little to no social skills. Long periods go with little or no works/uneven distribution of work.

      Advice to Management

      Teach leadership skills and emotional intelligence to partners.

    9. "IT Manager"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I have been working at Ropes & Gray full-time (More than 10 years)

      Pros

      great benefits, collegial, competitive

      Cons

      large work load, complex technical environment

    10. "Overall, good place to work"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      No opinion of CEO

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

      Pros

      Good benefits, work can be challenging

      Cons

      Admin groups tend to work in silos and often do not consider how their work impacts others.

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