★
Sidley Austin Reviews
Updated Sep 6, 2023
Filter by Topic
Remote Work
Work Life Balance
Coworkers
Benefits
Workplace
Compensation
Culture
Career Development
Management
Senior Leadership
Diversity & Inclusion
Covid 19
Clear All
Full-time, Part-time
English
Verify your email to use filters. Having problems? Resend email
Found 556 of over 617 reviews
74% Recommend to a Friend
89% Approve of CEO
Found 551 of over 617 reviews
Popular
- Popular
- Most Recent
- Highest Rating
- Lowest Rating
Recommend to a Friend
Approve of CEO
Michael Schmidtberger and Yvette Ostolaza
159 Ratings
Opens the Fishbowl by Glassdoor site in a new window
The latest conversations about Law
Got a burning question about Sidley Austin? Just ask!
On Glassdoor, you can share insights and advice anonymously with Sidley Austin employees and get real answers from people on the inside.
What are your colleagues talking about?
Find your private company bowl on Community, join the hottest conversation with your colleagues anonymously.
Top Review Highlights by Sentiment
Excerpts from user reviews, not authored by Glassdoor
Pros
Cons
- "Unfortunately, problem resolution stops at the secretarial management level, where if you reach out to them for support, they are not equipped with conflict resolution." (in 15 reviews)
- "Depending on your direct manager, it can be a supportive environment with great resources." (in 5 reviews)
Ratings by Demographics
This rating reflects the overall rating of Sidley Austin and is not affected by filters.
Race / Ethnicity
- Race / Ethnicity
- Gender
- Sexual Orientation
- Disability
- Parent or Family Caregiver
- Veteran Status
Want more demographic options?
- 5.0Aug 24, 2023Operations AssistantCurrent EmployeeChicago, IL
Pros
great work environment, nice people
Cons
none, i really like the company
- 3.0Sep 6, 2023Senior HRIS ManagerFormer Employee
Pros
The pay was good. The bonuses were below average, but reliable each year and at the holidays. The learning and development team had very robust systems and supported staff and lawyers regularly for any kind of training needs. Their team was amazing! The recruiting team was also very good to work with. They coordinated interviews well and if there were conflicts they found ways around it.
Cons
The work culture in HR, IT, and Accounting was very poor. A LOT of working hours with no regard to work-life balance. Over the last 18 months, when positions became vacant (voluntarily or involuntarily), it was very hard to get them approved to replace the role. The hiring freeze made it extremely challenging to do our jobs effectively. There is also a very strong "bully" culture. Sidley likes to call it "being direct," but directors especially throw their weight and titles around and demand results without negotiating priorities or discussing the request. The organization took a big step towards addressing wellness by creating a new Wellness Director position and hiring it quickly when a notable Partner had committed suicide which was a pretty large news story. While I believe the firm had the best intentions, this position and the wellness efforts have almost exclusively focused on the lawyer side. Nobody is looking at the toll the work culture and attitudes are taking on other support staff besides legal secretaries. I regularly worked 50-60 hours per week, questioned why deadlines were being missed, and when I told leadership we were overwhelmed and needed help I was told to "figure it out." Many people on my team regularly did not eat lunch and worked in the evenings to try to keep up with the work. This was not a safe work environment or an employee-friendly culture. Management is now far more focused on people coming back into the office and commuting than the work product being delivered, and losing 1-2 hours each day to commuting is frowned upon during performance evaluations. There is a clear lack of leadership, lack of support, and because of the notoriety of the firm name and status as a top global law firm this bully culture is tolerated. Not all teams have the same work culture, so before you use this as a reason not to work at Sidley you should definitely ask a lot of questions and get a good feel for whether you can truly handle that work environment. Sidley will tell you "it's the same everywhere" or "that's just the legal profession" but that has not been my experience.
3
Join the Sidley Austin team
Sidley Austin Reviews FAQs
Sidley Austin has an overall rating of 4.1 out of 5, based on over 617 reviews left anonymously by employees. 74% of employees would recommend working at Sidley Austin to a friend and 69% have a positive outlook for the business. This rating has decreased by -1% over the last 12 months.
74% of Sidley Austin employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews. Employees also rated Sidley Austin 3.5 out of 5 for work life balance, 4.0 for culture and values and 3.7 for career opportunities.
According to reviews on Glassdoor, employees commonly mention the pros of working at Sidley Austin to be culture, career development, benefits and the cons to be management, work life balance.
