Ropes & Gray LLP - True Picture

East Coast export Ropes boats a diverse makeup and a host of private equity Gray matter.

Ropes & Gray training contract review 2025

The Firm



You’d be hard-pressed to find a city in the US which feels as familiar to a Brit than Boston. For instance, the cobbled streets, bendy roads (a real rarity in the US), beautiful historical buildings and, of course, a shared love of pubs. It makes sense then that London became a home away from home for Bostonian giant Ropes & Gray. Back on home soil, Ropes stands shoulder to shoulder with the US elite. But by contrast, Ropes stands out in the Boston market with strengths in private equity and life science work. This was not lost on any of the interviewees we spoke to, as one source told us that when they were looking for a firm: “I wanted a firm with a big name, big clients, and did interesting work.” Indeed, the firm has done a good job at exporting this prowess across the pond, as our colleagues over at Chambers UK give Ropes London office top billing in areas like banking & finance, private equity buyouts, and financial crime.

“I wanted a firm with a big name, big clients, and did interesting work.”

But Ropes is also doing a good job of shaking up the London legal scene, having one of the highest proportion of female partners to male, sitting at around 37%. One trainee told us that, “you do see the results of a lot of their initiatives. The firm hires from a wide variety of universities, it’s not just an Oxbridge Russell Group kind of firm.” Like most US firms in London, the firm’s smaller intake of only twelve trainees per year offered a nice change from lots of big players within the Square Mile. So, what does it takes to make it at Ropes as one of its twelve disciples? Aside from the obvious qualifications, we heard from trainees that the ideal candidate is trustworthy, genuine, personable, and reliable.

The Seats



Interviewees told us that seat selection is a relatively informal process, given the small intake and it often just involves a chat with graduate recruitment. Though, newbies said there was no harm in reaching out to partners in the teams they were interested in, because as one put it: “it’s good to be proactive.” Trainees were then invited to rank three preferences a month or two before changeover. As in many firms, third and fourth seater’s choices are prioritised, and the first seat of the training contract is allocated by the firm. Ropes offers client secondments to Liberty Global, there is also an antitrust secondment to Dublin as well as a Tokyo training contract route for those who have the language skills.

“You’re certainly not boxed in – you can actually do impactful work.”

Private equity was said to be “the meat and two veg” for the firm, and many of our interviewees had spent time in this department. Given it’s a transactional seat, sources felt they were put to their paces. For instance, some listed a range of work liketransaction management, coordinating due diligence, and compiling due diligence reports as well as board lists, ancillary documents, and liaising directly with clients. Trainees explained that “you’re certainly not boxed in – you can actually do impactful work.” There’s “usually four people working on a case: a trainee, a mid-level, a senior associate, and a partner,” assisting with things like “mid-market and large private equity buyouts.” Case in point, the group recently advised BPEA Private Equity Fund in partnership with its portfolio company, Tricor, in its $6.5billion merger with Vistra.

Another big team at Ropes is the finance department, where according to one source, trainees are “able to take ownership of corporate authorisations and run simple processes and accessions.” Interviewees described the group as a “high-yield team,” though trainees typically sit within the leveraged finance strand of the wider department, where “the kind of work you do is both lender and borrower side.” Particularly, trainees noted that there is “lots of debt work,” so typical tasks included managing document lists and helping out with refinancing. Clients doting the roster will be familiar, like JP Morgan, BNP Paribas, and Deutsche Bank with banking a clear focus for the group too on the lender side. Over on the borrower side, the team has worked with Virgin Media O2, Altice France, and Liberty Latin America, with the case of the latter involving advising the company in connection with the largest sustainability-linked bond for the digital infrastructure sector in Costa Rica.

“There’s a big pharma side to the work too.”

Trainees within Ropes’ antitrustgroup said it was a general split between merger controls and investigatory matters. Sources listed a number of themes their daily work touched on, like “running multijurisdictional analysis, flagging potential concerns, and checking whether there are overlaps between private equity firm portfolios and activities.” Naturally, “there’s a big pharma side to the work too,” stated one trainee, and common trainee tasks included “getting involved in research and writing articles.” Clients included big names such as Bloomberg, Monster Energy, and Legends Hospitality. Trainees did note that tasks gradually increased as trainees progressed through the seat, though trainees made sure to note that there was a “good level of challenge” from the “substantive transactional work.” On the more transactional side trainees typically “help out with private equity deals and investigations” while also looking at the “more theoretical side of antitrust” such as “theories of harm.” Recently, the group recently represented Japan’s largest steelmaker Nippon Steel Corporation in its $14.9 billion acquisition of U.S. Steel.

Litigation trainees made sure to specify that work here was within the anti-corruption and international risk team. So, work involving anti-corruption, anti-bribery, and money laundering happened to crop up plenty of times. Trainees also look at “sanctions risks for clients looking to make investments” by “conducting investigations on their behalf.” Due to the nature of some of the work, lots of client names were confidential. However, the group did recently serve as global counsel to Next Alt over the company’s co-founder who was arrested on allegations of fraud, money laundering, and tax evasion. Sources told us that the work was a “blend of investigations and deal work,” and noted that there was a focus on M&A, with opportunities to “take notes on interviews with whistleblowers or witnesses, evaluate information, and pose due diligence questions.” Interviewees felt that there was a “real chance to focus more on the research and advisory side.” Overall, trainees pointed out they could take on “lots of responsibility” in this team as “tasks are very frontloaded for juniors.” For instance, some indicated that “you’ll be sending emails to clients directly.”

Newbies on the asset management team will sit in two of the three sub teams: funds or regulatory. Insiders were keen to highlights that it is a “super friendly team,” and that the work was “very transactional” here, and as a result, had experienced “up and down” patches dependent on the state of the market. One trainee noted that “work had dried up” a little at the time of writing, though this is of course not always the case. The type of matters typically involved “work around financial regulations,” so interviewees said their days involved “updating a lot of documents, looking at deals, and conducting anti-money laundering checks.” The groups works with names such as UBS and Invesco, and recently they acted for the Aksia Group – an Italian private equity fund manager – on the establishment of an additional private equity fund.

Trainee Life



It’s not just all hard work, as “they do really reward you,” noted one source. As another trainee expressed, “people here really support you, they value your input, and you really feel like you’re part of the team.” As a result, “that really instils confidence in juniors.” You’ll also be relieved to hear the firm “doesn’t have that kind of intimidating scaryculture associated with a lot of law firms,” as we were told that “I’ve never come across any characters I feel I can’t work with.” One helpful source summed up the culture in three adjectives: “positive, friendly, and supportive.” We did hear that social life depends on the team you are in and had waned in recent times within some, so this was an area some newbies did feel could be improved. But the firm does host Christmas and summer parties, and trainees get an additional budget to organise their own events, as well as the socials within specific teams.

“We also have a barista on hand on Mondays and we get free lunches on Wednesdays!”

The London office is situated in Ludgate Hill, a stone’s throw from the Chambers Student offices – so take our word for it when we say it’s a nice part of the City! Trainees found Ropes’ Monday to Thursday mandatory in-office policy easy to live up to, particularly with the office roof terrace which is perfect for summer lunches outside. Of course, when the weather was not on form, the office had plenty of perks to keep trainees happy: “we also have a barista on hand on Mondays and we get free lunches on Wednesdays!” beamed one trainee. Not only that, but Ropes provides a £32 Deliveroo allowance for those staying later in the office. The generosity doesn’t stop there, as trainees are also given £150 every two years for personal work equipment for things like “tech, monitors, and keyboards.”

Trainees noted that sometimes hours at Ropes can be long, but they also conceded that daily working patterns depended on the team and the matters being worked on. Though, many of our sources seemed to settle on a twelve-hour day from 9am-9pm. Private equity and antitrust seemed to be the seats with the most demanding hours of them all, with the odd 1am finishes. But on other seats, “I don’t think the hours are brutal!” noted one source – “sometimes I’m off home at 5:45pm.” But regardless of the how many hours they actually end up working, trainees can relocate and work any time after 5:30pm at home. It’s not all billables though, as Ropes also has a 20-hour target of pro bono work annually for trainees with “lots of opportunities where you can get involved as much or as little as you want.” We heard of work examples like Lawyers Without Borders, writing pamphlets on EU directives, and memos on governments.

Newbies at Ropes sit in the same space as their supervisors, and our interviewees had nothing but praise to dish out for theirs. Mid-seat and end-of-seat reviews are expectedly the norm, but trainees can ask supervisors for feedback “at any time.” At the same time, we also heard that “a lot of supervisors were hands-offish in a good way – they let you carry on with your work and they don’t monopolise you.” Though they always tend to be on hand, so “you can just chat about whatever and have a conversation about anything.” Trainees are also assigned trainee buddies at the beginning of the training contract to guide newbies through the initial stages of life at the firm – “it naturally tapers off, but it’s very useful at the beginning!” A mix of training sessions follow this, with firm-wide sessions offered on navigating professional life, covering topics like “emotional intelligence and working in a multi-generational environment.” On top of this is a bit of team specific training too, this takes place in the first month of each seat on top of “trying things out and learning on the job.”

Diversity, equity & inclusion remains a huge priority for the firm. Seymour notes “we have the greatest number of female equity partners of any top firm in the UK.” Trainees also gave some shoutouts to groups like the LGBTQ+ and BAME societies, who “put up posts and circulate literature internally” on topics to facilitate inclusion. When the time arrives to think about qualification, “there’s a level of informality,” where “people just chat and meet for coffees” with teams, partners, and associates. Usually there isn’t an interview, “but this might depend on how popular a particular department is.” One recent grumble about the process was that it happened too late, with trainees noting that they only found out whether they’d gotten the spot without much contingency time left to look for other spots elsewhere. Though, Seymour notes that the firm has paid attention to this and as a result, “we’ve brought it forward to two weeksbefore the rest of the market to give our trainees that little bit of extra time they need.” For those who do stay on, the NQ salary of £165k certainly sweetens the deal. The firm did not disclose the number of qualifiers.

Climbing the rope…

The firm engages in the BRidge to the City scheme in partnership with Bloomberg, which aims to promote social mobility for first-year students from diverse and lower socio-economic backgrounds.

How to get a Ropes & Gray training contract



Vac scheme deadline: 31 January 2025

The application process 

Ropes & Gray hires exclusively through its vacation scheme Director of HR & Associate Talent, Europe, Beverley Sorsby, who tells us  “the application form is straightforward; alongside academic results there is only question to answer”.

If candidates are invited to an assessment centre, they’re asked to complete a psychometric test beforehand to generate tailored questions to ask at the interview. Five assessment days are run in March, with around 14 candidates in each. This consists of an interview, a written exercise, a negotiation exercise and an ‘elevator pitch’ scenario. “The assessments are designed to assess key competencies including motivation for a career in corporate law, commercial awareness, as well as oral and written communication and negotiation and presentation skills” Sorsby explains. Interviews are conducted by partners, counsel and HR representatives. 

Ropes & Gray uses Rare Recruitment’s contextual recruitment tool and employs a blind-selection process when screening applications and marking assessments.  “Applicants’ names, personal details and school name are redacted from the application form.  During the assessments the assessors do not have any information about the candidate, which means that interviewers have not seen the application form beforehand, nor have the assessors marking the exercises. This is to reduce any unconscious bias and/or affinity bias that may occur at all stages of the process.

The vacation scheme 

A two-week vacation scheme is run in both spring and summer, with around 14 students attending each. The students are paid a juicy £400 per week. Sorsby says, “We intentionally designed a separate assessment day so that we could use the vacation scheme as an ‘experience’. It gives candidates the opportunity to know what it’s like to be a trainee at the firm including the chance to do real trainee work and  experience the culture of the office ”. Vac schemers are assigned an associate supervisor to “allocate tasks and offer guidance through the scheme.” There are also opportunities to network and socialise with partners, associates, trainees and business support professionals. There are also social events in and out of the office.

Overall, Ropes & Gray is looking for its “future lawyers” – namely people that are motivated and interested in pursuing a career in transactional law, who are collaborative and enjoy working as part of a team, who are entrepreneurial, as well as intellectual, curious and detail-focused. 

Diversity in hiring 

Ropes & Gray tells us that “diversity has been part of our DNA since we launched our office, as evidenced by the fact that we are the UK’s top law firm for gender diversity according to law.com.”

“We are always looking for new ways to search out the best talent and this always means ensuring a diverse pool of applicants from different backgrounds, universities, and careers. As well as running a variety of events that target diverse communities, we have created our social mobility programme, ‘Bridge to the City’, aimed at first-year university students from diverse and underserved low socioeconomic backgrounds in the UK. Successful candidates receive a £20,000 scholarship, long-term mentoring, and a guaranteed vacation scheme at Ropes & Gray.”

Overall, Sorsby said, “continuing to be amongst the most diverse firms in elite law will always be a top priority for us.”

Ropes & Gray LLP

60 Ludgate Hill,
London,
EC4M 7AW
Website www.ropesgray.com

Who we are




Ropes & Gray London is one of the largest offices in the Ropes & Gray network, and the hub of the firm’s EMEA network. We are part of a world-leading US-based global law firm and set up in London in 2010. While we are now an established presence in the UK, we’ve retained all the buzz of our start-up years. It makes us a little bit different: it means we have the stature and resources of a major international law firm combined with the pace, inclusivity and career progression of a specialist firm. Our clients like to work with us. We are, of course, always professional, but we are personal, and personable with it.

What we do




Ropes & Gray is one of London’s leading international law firms for private capital clients. We also advise some of the world’s largest companies on their most challenging issues. We act for sophisticated private capital investors and providers giving them all the legal services they need: from fundraising to transactional deal-making and financing, and from antitrust to compliance, data protection, life sciences, restructuring, real estate, financial regulation and tax. We act for leading European, US and Asian clients, and our London office regularly advises clients on global deals as well as transactions across the EMEA market, often working alongside colleagues from other parts of the Ropes & Gray network.

We have our private capital focus, but we don’t restrict ourselves. Our individual practice areas are also successful in their own right, often outside of the private capital market. In fact, they act for some of the most well-known companies in the world, particularly in the life sciences and healthcare, technology and financial services sectors.

For example, our Litigation & Enforcement team, which specialises in financial crime, global regulation, and risk has been involved in some of the most high-profile and complex cross-border regulatory investigations of recent years.

Meanwhile, our Privacy, Data Protection and Cybersecurity team has helped clients deal with the legal aspects of some of the biggest recent data breaches and cyber incidents, and our Antitrust team regularly advises on complex cases in every major European forum. 

How we do it




Ropes & Gray London provides sophisticated clients with personalised and innovative legal solutions. Our clients value our entrepreneurial spirit, our innovative approach, and our emotional intelligence. They like the fact that our solutions are tailored exactly to their problems and may not be the answers they had initially expected. There is no such thing as a typical Ropes & Gray person. But we all have some things in common: we value individualism, we work well as a team, and we are great to work with.

Training Contract




During your training contract, you will complete four six-month seats, one of which will be in Private Equity. We also offer an international seat in our Hong Kong office. Our training contract is designed to help you reach your potential through constant exposure to high calibre work. In each of your four seats, you will share an office with your supervisor, which means you will always have someone to guide you in your day-to-day work. The small number of trainees we take on means we’re genuinely able to offer early responsibility and challenging work.

Trainees who join us receive the best training available. This is reflected in the standard of both the in-house ‘Trainee Training Programme’ and the practical training overseen by a supervisor. 

Vacation scheme




We run two vacation schemes a year; one in spring and one in summer. The two-week paid schemes are a valuable opportunity for you to experience first-hand what it is like to be a trainee at the firm, and to understand the firm’s culture and expertise. During the two-week scheme you will complete practice group and client work at trainee level. You will also be mentored and supported by your trainee ‘buddy’ and will be invited to an evening event with all our trainee cohort. You can also expect to meet lawyers from each practice group, attend workshops, and you will have the opportunity to interact with our employees at social networking events. We only have one application window, which closes on 31 January 2025. 

Diversity, inclusion and wellbeing




Fostering a diverse and inclusive work environment is one of our most important missions. We are working to build cultural awareness and cultural competence by enhancing programming that focuses on understanding bias, discrimination and racism, and on building allyship. We have several local employee networks, including a Diversity, Equity & Inclusion committee, a Black Affinity Network, a LGBTQ+ Network, Women’s Forum and a Parent’s Network. We are proud that we have the highest gender diverse partnerships of any UK City law firm, with 37% of our partners female. Additionally, 47% of our associates and 50% of our trainees in London are female. We are committed to the well-being of our people. We recognise that commercial law firms can be demanding working environments and have introduced our global programme ‘BeWELL@Ropes & Gray’ to support everyone across the firm in maintaining positive health and wellbeing. The programme is split into three pillars; focusing on mental, physical and financial wellbeing. We offer tangible resources, premier education, as well as compassionate support to enhance the wellbeing of our people. 

Salary, benefits & sponsorship




Trainees start on a salary of £60,000, which increases to £65,000 in their second year, and on qualification will increase to £165,000, plus bonus. We offer full sponsorship of the PGDL and SQE 1 and 2 in addition to an annual maintenance grant of £20,000 per year of study. 

How to apply




Online via our website https://www.ropesgrayrecruiting.com/en/UK 

If you require any additional support throughout the recruitment process, please contact the Early Careers team to have a confidential conversation on 020 3201 1500 or at Londontraineerecruitment@ropesgray.com 

University Law Careers Fairs and Presentations 2024




University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, University of Bristol, University of Exeter, University of Warwick, University of Durham, University of Nottingham, University of Manchester, University of Edinburgh and University of York, Queen Mary University of London, University College London, King’s College London, London School of Economics (presentation only) 

This Firm's Rankings in
UK Guide, 2024

Ranked Departments

    • Banking & Finance: Borrowers: Big-Ticket (Band 2)
    • Banking & Finance: Lenders: Mid-Market (Band 3)
    • Banking & Finance: Sponsors (Band 3)
    • Financial Crime: Corporates (Band 3)
    • Tax (Band 5)
    • Capital Markets: High-Yield Products (Band 3)
    • Private Equity: Buyouts: £500 million and above (Band 4)

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