The urge to merge
K&L Gates is the product of many mergers, the first being the marriage of two massive American firms back in 2007. Kirkpatrick & Lockhart, an East Coast firm with a penchant for European expansion, merged with the West Coast's Preston Gates & Ellis, famous for its name partner, none other than Bill Gates's dad.
Kirkpatrick & Lockhart already had a London outpost, thanks to a 2005 merger with City mid-sizer Nicholson Graham & Jones. This office retained most of its lawyers post-merger, retained its traditional strengths in corporate and property, and retained its comfortable, cosy atmosphere. What it did gain was a huge international network and all sorts of fancy new clients to play with.
The words comfortable and cosy don't imply a particularly dynamic firm. But internationally, K&L is still expanding rapidly, especially in Europe. "The momentum is electric at the moment," says director of HR and development, Tina Two. "There's a real buzz surrounding possibilities and opportunities. The firm has never had any bank debt: all of our growth has been sustained by partner profits, which is why we have been able to grow quickly despite the recession." Since 2009, offices have opened in Frankfurt, Moscow, Warsaw and Brussels. The most recent round of promotions saw 44 new partners made up across three continents, while whole teams have been hired from Clifford Chance and Simmons & Simmons to grow the Paris and Tokyo offices respectively. Admittedly, all this change is happening overseas, but even back in London, things are happening. A relocation from Cannon Street to one of the poshest new addresses in the City –One New Change – has given trainees a boost.
Towers of strength
The London office is full-service. Trainees have less choice of their first seat, but subsequent “flexible chats” with the HR team ensure trainees are placed where they most want to be. Corporate and property are still the largest departments and therefore require “a certain amount of trainees.” However, trainees emphasised that although these two seats are “likely” destinations, not everybody is obliged to do them. Due to deferrals, there were no second-years at the firm when we called in the summer of 2011. With another intake due to join in September, the first-years envisaged “more flexibility” as a boost in numbers will reduce the onus to spend time in the core departments.
A seat in property comes with “big portfolios and properties,” which can be “initially daunting when you have 40 files that are all yours.” The team regularly acts for and advises a variety of Global 500 and FTSE 100 corporations, as well as middle-market companies, entrepreneurs and public sector utilities. The team recently acted for Leisure Parcs on the sale of the iconic Blackpool Tower. Trainees draft leases, deal with rent review memorandums and often attend meetings with clients. In property, “you need to be organised and keep on top of things, as they tend to trundle on a bit, so you have to be careful not to let them slip away from you,” advised one source.
In corporate, “you never get as much responsibility as you do in property as everything is much bigger – there are huge deals and you work on small parts of them.” Cross-border M&A work has grown recently thanks to the increase of overseas offices, and the department receives numerous instructions from US offices. Trainees found that they were put in charge of amending documents in the run-up to completion and taking care of smaller things like drafting board minutes and agreements – “it sounds dry but actually it's very important. In the end you get to see how that little bit of work helps the entire process,” insisted one trainee, who underscored that “the client is there at the completion: they know who you are and are grateful for your input – it's exciting when it all fits into place.” When it comes to AIM work, trainees deal with the prospectus and work on verification, which involves going through admission documents and verifying all of the information contained with them. “You get to know your client and the company inside out, so you become especially expert in some strange products on certain occasions.”
KYA (Know Your Acronyms)
The projects department has traditional strengths in transport, social infrastructure, energy and construction projects. Building Schools for the Future has been a big source of work in the past, but recently the group has also advised the International Finance Corporation (IFC) on a new PPP project in the state of Gujarat in India, and negotiated a series of contracts relating to the development of a new biomass power plant in Scotland. “I was responsible for about 100 documents,” commented one trainee when discussing their time in the seat. “I was running around proof-reading and making sure that contracts had been filled in correctly. I had a very structured colour co-ordination system – it was beautiful!” If you’re a master at absorbing acronyms then you could be well-suited to projects – “there are so many! You have to memorise a glossary in order to prepare for it all, but everyone really takes the time to explain everything.”
In the litigation department, “there's a lot more client contact,” and trainees go along with partners to interview witnesses or meet counsel: “It's amazing how much you learn from observing the partner's approach and how they ask questions.” Mediation is a growing area for the firm. The competition group, meanwhile, “is relatively young in the firm and has recently grown to a decent size.” Clients include AOL, Halliburton and Formula One Management. Trainees had been involved in cases where global companies had become subject to merger regulations in “30 to 40 jurisdictions,” which meant “looking at the company's turnover, researching the various jurisdictions, applying tests and seeing whether merger filings are necessary.” Trainees can also complete seats in: tax; employment; planning and environment; IP, media and sport; and finance.
We think the lawyer did it
The “very shiny and new” premises K&L now occupies is right on the steps of St Paul's. “We are in the most amazing location,” gushed one source, describing the glorious roof terrace, with views of the Tate Modern, the Shard, the Globe and, well, everything. Unlike in the previous building, all the fee earners are based on one floor, helping to facilitate (as one trainee eloquently put it) “inter-group synergies.” And, of course, “you go downstairs and suddenly you're smack-bang in the middle of a major new shopping centre.”
This office move has “made the firm feel a little more American, in a good way, what with the big open reception and the giant name outside,” but K&L “does feel English as well. There is that English family feel to the place.” The office may well maintain that familial feel, but it also ensures that it is connected globally, with partners coming over from China, Paris and the States in recent months to give presentations and talks.
The trainees are a “tight group” and are still hunting for their new local boozer around the St Paul's area. “We haven't marked our territory yet. We have been drifting around Watling Street and there's a Reflex about ten metres away which is a viable contender." In the meantime, subsidised lunches in the canteen provide the opportunity to catch up and socialise as a group. The firm-wide Christmas party “has been lower-key over the past couple of years” and is usually held in the office; however, in the summer one of the partners invites everybody to their house for a party, and recently a murder mystery night provided a chance for trainees to “meet people that they don't usually work with.”
And finally...
Come to K&L Gates to reap all of the benefits of being part of a huge network but on a much smaller scale. There were no qualifiers in 2011, but in 2010, five out of seven stayed with the firm.