Looking Feder afield
Founded in Los Angeles in 1951, Paul Hastings has expanded to become a global heavyweight, now employing approximately 1,000 lawyers worldwide. It has nine offices in the USA and nine elsewhere. Global chief of real estate Philip Feder recently became head of the UK office, showing the firm’s commitment to the City. “We want to spearhead growth with a deep focus on London,” Feder told us. Read more on how this office is key to Paul Hastings’ future plans in the bonus features.
Despite being on the scene since 1997, Paul Hastings still needs to make a big push before it can claim to be a serious force in the City. It gains considerably fewer rankings in Chambers UK than other US firms of a comparable size in London; however, our parent publication does recognise its skills and achievements in real estate finance and capital markets work. Finance is most certainly Paul Hastings’ main focus in the Big Smoke. Training partner Christian Parker says that potential trainees must have “a serious interest in finance, as you may find yourself immersed in that for 16 hours a day.”
Although firm-wide revenue fell almost 10% in 2009, the London office saw turnover rise 40% to £25m. This was in part due to the hire of a seven-partner team from fellow US firm Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft. They brought a number of trainees with them and it seems they have settled in well. “There were lots of social events aimed at integration,” said one ex-Cads trainee. “We definitely feel part of the Paul Hastings culture: they did as much as they could.” The new hires have given the firm greater strength in several areas and a positive consequence for trainees has been the creation of new seats in restructuring and capital markets, as well as bigger regulation and banking/finance teams. Paul Hastings’ existing seats included project finance; real estate; litigation; employment; corporate/M&A; and tax.
A finance romance
No seat is compulsory and trainees are pretty happy with the way they are allocated to the different departments every six months. There are four seats in capital markets, which means that everyone will spend time in this department in one way or another. Capital markets is divided into sub-teams for investment management, commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) and structured funds. But even if your seat is in a particular sub-team, “you get to do a mixture of things.” In CMBS, for example, trainees might look at “distressed deals needing restructuring, liquidations and servicing underlying loans.” Structured funds work could include “working for an investment bank, changing the terms and conditions of notes so that bond-holders didn’t make redemptions.” One source felt the work was “very hands-on,” adding: “Clients would call me directly for some of the questions.” Trainees do find themselves “dropped in at the deep end.” “I was asked to do a first draft of a document in my second week,” one recalled, “although I knew who to ask for help when I was struggling.”
The project finance team handles a great deal of infrastructure work in Southeastern Europe, recently representing the Republika Srpska (a constituent part of Bosnia & Herzegovina) in the construction of over 400 km of motorway. The firm also acts for companies with air and seaport projects in Croatia. This is “the seat to do if you are interested in working overseas, or if you want to travel: people have spent time in Croatia and Bosnia” and have met “high-powered representatives of those countries.” Although there are no overseas seats, sources also spoke of trips to Brussels and Luxembourg during deals.
Lately, the corporate team has mainly represented investment managers on joint ventures, acquisitions, debt financing and bankruptcy. The workload demands long hours. Said one source: “I’m pretty much always here past 7pm and usually here until about 8pm; we’ve done some pretty long all-nighters, perhaps about three or four of those in the last year.” Clients include Amgen, Visa International and Société Générale.
The magnificent seven
The Cadwalader Seven included a litigation partner and a financial services expert, bringing Paul Hastings new contentious powers. Litigation centres on banking and finance, and the team represented some of Lehman’s creditors after its collapse. Regulatory work is “quite topical” and has lately included matters relating to “the Payments Services Directive, which has just been implemented.” There’s “lots of client contact, but you’re expected to work hard and to have the ethic and the drive to get yourself that exposure.”
In employment, lawyers only act for employers – typically investment banks and other financial institutions, insurers and life sciences companies. “I worked on a potential litigation and wrote memos to clients,” one trainee recalled. There are also pro bono matters to attend to, for example “helping a respondent defend a claim of unfair dismissal.” Trainees are given greater autonomy on pro bono cases and see it as “a good way of learning.”
The Cadwalader team brought with it a secondment to Credit Suisse. Another one in the HR/legal department at Bank of America Merrill Lynch is available through Paul Hastings’ employment department, and we understand that position has been a very interesting one, not least because of the bank’s merger. Newly qualified lawyers might also have the chance to go on secondment to the likes of Wells Fargo or Société Générale.
Bigger, longer and Uncle Sam
The atmosphere at Paul Hastings is “entrepreneurial and go-get-it” so trainees have to be pretty tough. “You need to be robust here, as well as flexible and easy to get along with.” There is “lots of ambition: everyone is quite driven.” Although one source admitted that “among the trainees there are competitive people,” another claimed that you “don’t need to be aggressive” to get ahead. What you must do is “show that you’re keen,” and helping out with business development is a good way of demonstrating your eagerness. In terms of the work, it’s accepted that while “you’ll be challenged and there is nowhere to hide,” colleagues are “supportive” and the firm is very good in terms of “approachability and a friendly culture.” Trainees say that “there are quite a few eccentric partners and there will be the occasional e-mail which gets a giggle, but that’s as extreme as it gets.” All this chimes with what office chief Phil Feder tells us about the work culture: “We’re in this together: no one is exempt from working hard.”
The dreaded (to us at least) phrase “work hard, play hard” came up, with one source explaining that “you’re expected to put in the hours, but I haven’t had to miss out on anything in my private life.” Others said their social life did sometimes take a back seat. One trainee summarised: “You need to be available – we’re given BlackBerrys on day one for a reason.” The fact that there is “more a focus on work” means firm social events are not constant. “We do have drinks every few months or so, but it’s not a particularly frequent occurrence.” Phil Feder did invite all London lawyers to a Thanksgiving party at his house, however. One of our sources revealed that there are “quite a few American lawyers and it does feel like an American firm.” Trainees have a social budget of their own, which in the past has been spent on cookery classes and a casino night. There is a football team and tennis and squash competitions, and lawyers are “keen to go out for a drink on special occasions.”
Four out of the seven qualifiers stayed on with the firm in 2010 and took advantage of the generous pay packet on offer. Trainees start on £40,000 and earn £80,000 on qualification.
And finally...
Paul Hastings offers a refreshing and challenging training that would suit someone interested in top finance clients and willing to show their worth through hard graft.
Note: Paul Hastings did not feature in the most recent edition of the Student Guide. This article was written and researched in April 2010.