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    Ropes & Gray Reviews

    Updated July 16, 2018
    162 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
    75 Ratings

    162 Employee Reviews

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    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. "Demanding but rewarding"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee

      I have been working at Ropes & Gray full-time

      Pros

      Strong team dynamic and good internal resources

      Cons

      Expectation of being available/responsive outside of work hours

    2. "Great Place to Work"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I have been working at Ropes & Gray full-time

      Pros

      Co-workers are friendly and will help when needed, cafe is a great plus, comfortable work setting

      Cons

      No big cons here fortunately

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

    3. Helpful (1)

      "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)

    4. Helpful (1)

      "Great benefits; no room for growth (staff review)"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Doesn't Recommend
      Neutral Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I worked at Ropes & Gray full-time (More than a year)

      Pros

      Lots of free food and events.
      Annual Dec firm party (they go ALL out),
      Cafe has a good selection, and is supplemented by company, so fairly affordable
      Good location, nice building, clean bathrooms

      Cons

      No room for growth (you have to ask for a raise or promotion and nag until someone does something)
      No transparency (my director promoted 2 new managers who started at the firm 8 mths prior. This is NOT best practices. You know a manager that new doesn't know anything right? Her specialist and assistant are still guiding her.
      The director doesn't care about anyone. She is always trying to look good to partners and senior management, but doesn't care about morale. If you don't care about your team, why do they have to work hard for you?
      Don't get promoted even when you work hard (told me I had to wait a few more months b/c I was one mth shy of 2 yrs, when these managers and specialists get promoted in under a year, and I went above and beyond when they needed me. Absolutely unfair, but that's how they do things.

      Advice to Management

      I've said it a thousand times at this point, but no one cares. Assistants do SO much more than you think - You can replace them with specialists, but continue doing this. Half the team don't do ANY work, and they get away with it. It is SO infuriating to the assistants who actually have to do the work; y'all just delegate.

    5. "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.

    6. "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.

    7. "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.

    8. "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.

    9. "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.

    10. "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

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