In the headlights
The last couple of years have been busy for Norton Rose. A merger with Australian firm Deacons in January 2010 gave it a large Asia-Pacific practice and offices in all five major Australian cities. Then, in June 2011, it announced two more mergers – with Canada’s Ogilvy Renault and South Africa’s Deneys Reitz. Norton Rose was already very strong in Europe and the Middle East, and was making progress in Africa and Asia, so what we have now is a firm with 39 offices and 2,600 lawyers spanning five continents. Commenting on the firm’s expansion, head of HR Lak Purewal told us: “The legal sector is contracting. The niche players continue to have a role but, increasingly, global law firms are emerging, and we see ourselves as one of those. In the past 18 months we have been going where we think our clients want us to go.” There is no real secret about the strategy to be completely global, and it looks like a US merger will be the next step, but that’s probably “not going to happen for another couple of years,” Purewal informed us. However, as London-based energy partner Richard Metcalf recently highlighted: “In the longer term we can’t do what we want to do, and be where we want to be, without having a serious, credible, leading practice in the US.”
In London, working out of an office in the More London complex, the firm is a titan of all things finance. Its asset finance team is especially formidable, gaining a sweep of top-tier Chambers rankings. That said, the corporate and dispute resolution teams are also very highly regarded – only a couple of notches off the magic circle – and there are all sorts of other excellent practice areas for trainees to explore. The six key industry sectors or “headlights” of this firm are: financial institutions; energy; infrastructure, mining and commodities; transport; technology and innovation; and pharmaceuticals and life sciences.
Everything's rosey
Norton Rose is primarily focused on finance and corporate work, so if that doesn’t appeal, you may be better suited looking elsewhere. Trainees are generally required to spend at least two of their six seats in banking, as the group's “need for trainees tends to trump personal preferences.” Overall trainees were satisfied with the allocation system, stating that despite “always being a bit of a lottery,” it is nevertheless “getting better.” One of the pluses of the six-seat system is that spending four months in an undesired seat “is not a significant loss.” The training contract can also be made more flexible by ditching a litigation seat in favour of a two-week course which satisfies the SRA requirement.
“You are more or less expected to do a seat abroad,” said one trainee, although they made it equally clear that no one is forced to go. However, for most we spoke to, the international possibilities were a big enticement when choosing NR. “The overseas opportunities are hard to beat,” claimed one source, “and there’s a big demand for people to go out there. It’s a very easy, smooth process – they organise everything, you just have to pack a case.” Trainees anticipated that with the mergers there will be even more scope for international travel in the future, but they already have a vast array of options to choose from. Trainees found that when abroad, they had a “much greater level of responsibility,” and could “really get down to the nitty-gritty” on deals. Some had enjoyed their experience so much that they were enquiring if they could qualify into the office to which they had been seconded. There are a host of client secondments for stay-at-homes, and they receive just as much praise as overseas seats.
Fly like a fish!
Due to the fact that banking is such a huge part of life at NR, we asked one trainee to break it down for us. “Well, there are the asset finance teams, so shipping, rail and aviation finance; as well as two general banking teams, split into bonds and acquisition finance; then two project finance teams, split between energy and infrastructure, and mining; and then two corporate finance teams.” All clear?
Shipping finance is one of those “teams that has the reputation for being a bit more stressful,” with trainees documenting long hours and “high pressure while juggling a lot of different deals.” The team typically acts for banks on loans for newbuilds or purchases of ships. The deals are often multi-jurisdictional, with one trainee recalling a matter in which they helped to “negotiate with four counsels from separate jurisdictions.” Aviation finance is just as busy. Trainees felt that “by the end of the seat you pretty much know what is going on,” and described how the team works for financiers of an aircraft (often the bank), but also airlines (including easyJet and Flybe) that are buying planes. Again, trainees were surprised by the amount of early responsibility allocated to them: “There was a plane that I did all the financing for, with little supervision – I really was allowed to swim like a fish with it!” Fly like a bird, surely?
Sources who had visited one of the general banking teams found that “your ability to get involved isn’t that great, as the deals are huge.” They had spent their time drafting security documents, getting documents signed, proof-reading and bibling. Spending a seat in one of the project finance teams was viewed much more favourably, and trainees had worked on the administration of energy companies and delved into both the construction and financial side of certain projects: “I was left to close a restructuring of a previous project, which involved me liaising with lawyers in New York and Canada, and making sure that conditions precedent were met.” One trainee confidently asserted that “the team plays a role in almost every major project around the world, so consequently you learn a lot and the partners are always keen to get you involved.”
Mega-mergers the team has worked on of late include the £10bn merger of Orange and T-Mobile and the one between British Airways and Iberia. In a pure corporate seat, verification is the name of the game. It's “laborious and boring, but at the same time it is something you can take on yourself and run with. On the bright side you get a lot of client contact when requesting information that needs to be confirmed.” Trainees found the seat “super-busy,” entering the department at a time when a significant transaction was going on, and therefore spent time compiling “a prospectus in preparation for a demerger – I didn’t go home for three days!”
The dispute resolution department handles many finance-related cases. Trainees found themselves representing large financial institutions and companies in disputes arising from the credit crunch: “A lot of joint ventures have failed, companies are falling out and debts are not being paid – there’s often a problem in the system for debt repayment, so it’s about resolving that.” There are some “mundane but nonetheless important” things to be done, such as disclosure exercises, but trainees never felt they were “just thrown into a corner.” In insurance litigation, a trainee was “taken to a client meeting in the first week,” and was involved in a lot of cases where there had been fraud: “It’s real detective work, as you are picking apart artificial evidence and getting to grips with all the facts and information relevant to the case.”
“It’s not just run-of-the-mill commercial property deals,” stated one source of the real estate team. “There are a lot of innovative matters as well. I’ve been working on one concerning wind farms, which ties in nicely with the firm’s focus on energy and renewables.” Property litigation comes with a good degree of responsibility, and trainees are “put in charge of lots of small matters which require quite a bit of research.” Among various other seats are employment; tax; competition/EC; planning and environment; and incentives and pensions. Read more about them on our website.
Seeking: a merger of equals
The layoffs that cut a swathe through the legal profession in 2009 are now fading into the past, but we think it's worth remembering the fact that at that time NR went to great lengths to avoid making anyone redundant, introducing a flex-time system and sabbaticals in order to save jobs. Basically, this is a firm that, when it says it cares about its staff, isn't simply paying lip-service. “You are not meaningless here: you don't feel like a hamster on a wheel in isolation,” said one trainee. “People here are very open and take the time to explain things.” Trainees were especially pleased with the quality of their appraisals and the availability of a partner mentor throughout the training contract. Do remember, though, that this is a massive City firm and the 'friendly' culture is just as well considering that trainees will be expected to put in some “grinding” hours. Trainees are given BlackBerrys, and there is 24-hour IT support and night secretarial support for a reason. Most of our interviewees had the anecdotes of “a 43-hour stint” or “staying until 2am doing admin” or “only having time to buy Christmas presents at Waterloo.” At the same time, these anecdotes were not grumbles: our sources accepted the long hours as necessary.
When asked about a potential US merger, our sources were divided as to what it would do for Norton Rose as it currently stands. Some felt that it “would make sense to merge with a US firm” and that NR was in a good position to do so. Others were a little more apprehensive: “It would have to be more a merger of equals, and I would hope that we would maintain our culture.” One thing is for sure: to be a trainee at NR you will need to have that “international outlook coupled with an entrepreneurial spirit,” as Lak Purewal made clear: “The message that we want to send out is one of international global leadership, and we want people with an appetite for that.”
Trainees said NR's “famed culture of being a friendly place with little overt sense of hierarchy” is “promoted with office-wide events.” Most recently, a summer party in the grounds of the Tower of London celebrated the South African and Canadian additions to the NR network, with South African bands playing to get “everyone in the right spirit.” The previous year's 'summer sizzler' at the Honourable Artillery Company had fairground rides, dodgems and a photo booth: “I distinctly remember being in the photo booth having my photo taken with an associate, a senior partner and a bongo,” recalled one trainee.
The trainee social budget is “back up” and a recent trip out to a bar in South London was remembered for “free-flowing booze and cocktails aplenty.” However, “non-alcoholic-oriented events are encouraged too.” We know from experience that this is a particularly sporty firm with lots of teams to join, while “the choir is constantly winning awards.” Many of our sources also provided pro bono advice at the Tooting and Tower Hamlet Law Centres.
And finally...
If you are on the lookout for training on a global scale, with particular emphasis on finance and corporate matters, then NR is likely to tick your boxes. In 2011, 40 out of 46 qualifiers stayed with the firm.