Destiny Manifest
This is a top-ten firm for gross revenue in the USA, but if you're wondering why you haven't heard of Kirkland's London office, then wonder no more. Though it opened in the mid-90s, its training contract only launched in 2009. The first intake was small, but the number of trainees has increased rapidly. Its first six trainees reached qualification in 2011 (all were offered NQ jobs and all accepted) and Kirkland hopes to double its annual intake to 12 in the near future. “One of the reasons I applied,” one of the trailblazers explained, “was it was new and experimental – not school-like, as you might find in some larger firms.” As the scheme beds down, don't expect the firm's desire to conquer all before it to diminish. Pioneering spirit and self-belief are the backbones of the Kirkland experience.
Chicago-born, the firm has more than 1,500 lawyers across the globe. Its other US offices are in Los Angeles, New York, Palo Alto, San Francisco and Washington, DC, while it has two in Europe (London and Munich) and two in Asia (Hong Kong and Shanghai). With just over 100 lawyers, the British office is the largest outside the States by some margin, but it is small compared with the likes of those in Chicago and New York. Read more about the US side of the business at www.chambers-associate.com.
Frontier-less
Private equity houses make up the bulk of Kirkland's clientele. What is this type of work all about? Well, during the recession, Kirkland helped equity houses buy out failing companies and turn them around. These companies become part of the house's portfolio, which it will work on improving before making an exit and selling the company on. Trainees praised the Chambers UK top-ranked private funds department, which handles this sort of work. If their main duty in the seat was “transaction management,” then they also appreciated being kept “very involved,” through “getting us in on conference calls or cc-ing us in on vital e-mails.” The firm often continues to work for organisations which it helped restructure. “Whatever you do,” advised a trainee, “make sure you're with a partner who is setting up a fund. It's the most interesting thing.”
The corporate department is the office's largest. “It has a non-hierarchical structure, and you can work for whoever you want,” sources explained. “If you work for someone, and they like you, you'll fall in with their team.” Trainees will probably work on acquisitions, and the balance between smallish ($20m or so) deals “which give you a better understanding of the business” and larger FT-headlining deals is present. Even if trainees are on the edge of huge matters, they will “see clients directly, and take client calls” as well as working on the unavoidable due diligence. One source had worked on bond issues, and “worked with a senior associate to go through the bond prospectus with the client.”
The banking and finance practice provides an “intense” experience and received rave reviews. “It's really current and you get so involved. It makes me want to learn,” said one. “If you're willing to put in the hours, there's no limit. I got fantastic exposure – I was commenting and drafting security documents, negotiating, and running conference calls with banks and clients,” added another. “It's tough, but at one point I was managing 18 different jurisdictions.” The hours are long: “In a normal week, you'll get out at 8 or 9pm. Sometimes I'd be in from 6am to 3am, and all-nighters are common, as you need to keep the momentum going. If you leave it overnight, the other side will find something else to negotiate about.” Kirkland recently advised Bain Capital and Advent International on their financing of their acquisition of WorldPay from RBS – probably the largest LBO since the financial crisis.
Arbitration has a more steady pace of life: “It's more relaxed, and there's time to talk things through.” The work, as you might expect, is “very international” – the team can “potentially be acting for a whole country” as well as major corporates. Kirkland UK doesn't rely on its US counterparts for work, but when the Americans occasionally come over, “they bring this kind of confidence. It makes it more interesting, and it really comes home to you that you are doing international law.”
The restructuring team recently advised a German eyewear manufacturer in “a landmark matter,” and also on the European aspects of the $2.2bn restructuring of Reader's Digest. As a trainee, “you do some court-related stuff, some drafting and bits of research.”
Take what you want
Kirkland trainees have basically been able to shape their own training contract. Feedback “is very important to the firm,” and second-years “have changed things for the year below.” For example, “the firm wasn't going to offer any international seats, but we pushed hard and made it quite clear what we wanted.” Kirkland subsequently posted trainees to New York and Hong Kong, and in fact one trainee qualified into the latter office in 2011. The secondments are radically different (“thousands of lawyers in New York versus an office of ten in Hong Kong”), but a great experience. “I was treated like a junior associate,” said one source. “Walking into a room full of potential clients can be daunting but it's not something I would have had the chance to do had I stayed in London.”
“People here have the desire to go out and become partners: they take their own initiative. If someone's not busy, they go and get more work because they want to learn. A lot of people say law is boring but the work we get is really interesting.” Kirkland trainees are obsessed with what they practise and have no qualms about their “difficult” hours: accepting without fuss that they "might walk into the office on Tuesday morning and not leave until Thursday evening.” It goes without saying that only the dedicated need apply. “The most convincing people are those who say, 'I’ve tried this, that and the other: I know this is what I want to do.'” All our sources had attended top universities, but Oxbridge is by no means the sole provider of trainees. “They focus on personality a lot more,” said one. “You need the basics, academically speaking, but once I was in the interview, no one talked about my degree or A levels.”
Workin' in the Gherkin
“What sets us apart is that you can approach anyone over any matter. We work hard but we're laid back.” Trainees praised the “lack of social hierarchy” at Kirkland and the meritocratic system that means “you are very much in charge of your own future.” Rather than trainee camaraderie, sources assured us they count “associates, partners, secretaries and paralegals” as close friends. “I've had partners bring me coffee, and I've brought coffee to my secretary,” said one. “There's no distinction, especially when it comes to being a trainee at the bottom of the pile. We're not separate.”
Kirkland is generous with its social budget – corporate credit cards with tabs of £500 are readily proffered – but events are generally left up to trainees to organise. Said one second-year: “We all went out to celebrate qualification, but the last time before that was Christmas 2009.” There is still a sense of community during the working day. “You'd think the opposite,” explained one, “but because it's not open-plan, it's more social.” “You'll walk into someone's office,” confirmed another, “and talk for 40 minutes on a point of law.” Those offices will have panoramic views of London: Kirkland is located in the iconic Gherkin tower. “It's like walking into the future.”
And finally...
Kirkland's first trainees feel a real “bond” with their firm and clearly like it a lot, but bear in mind that this is one for people looking for a hardcore City experience.