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Overview

Introduction

Innovation is the name of the game at Orrick—from the energy, tech, and finance clients the firm counsels, to its impactful wellbeing initiatives, to its modern technology tools. Associates who are down to earth, collaborative, and forward thinking will fit right in at this progressive firm. With offices in over 25 markets across the United States, Europe, and Asia, Orrick is a legal powerhouse with a dedication to pro bono, diversity, and competitive compensation.

Firm Stats


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Total No. Attorneys (2023)

1K - 1.5K

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No. of Partners Named (2023)

16

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Featured Rankings

Vault Law 100
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No. of 1st Year Associates Hired (2023)

47


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No. of Summer Associates (2023)

59 total (39 2Ls; 18 1Ls; 2 SEOs)


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Base Salary

1st year: $215,000
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Vault Verdict

Whatever an associate might want in a law firm—high-quality work, a great work environment, or top-notch technology—Orrick has it. The firm recruits beyond the top law schools and looks for intelligent, hard-working team players who have grit. Firm settings are friendly, supportive, and welcoming. Partners treat associates as equals and, through open-door policies and feedback, help them gain experience and grow. Beyond training academies and catalogs of training sessions offered by the firm, partners step in with on-the-job guidance. Lateral hires are oriented well and made to feel like part of the team quickly. Project work ranges from basic to level appropriate to challenging, all of which help associates develop professionally. Assignment coordinators help distribute work fair...

Firm's Response

We’re thinking differently about legal careers for top talent.

Orrick lawyers focus on one or more sectors: Tech & Innovation, Life Sciences and Healthtech; Renewable Energy & Energytech; and Finance & Fintech. Within sector, you’ll have a practice focus: transactional, litigation or regulatory.<...

About the Firm

Orrick is a global firm of more than 1,100 attorneys that is fiercely committed to teamwork and innovation. The firm has dozens of offices across the globe, including in California, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, Texas, Washington, West Virginia, and Washington, DC.

It All Began with a Break-Up

In the late 1800s, W.S. Goodfellow and his partners John J. Jarboe and Ralph C. Harrison walked away from their San Francisco firm, Jarboe, Harrison & Goodfellow. Goodfellow then teamed up with Charles Eells to form Goodfellow & Eells. The firm helped organize the Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company after San Francisco’s catastrophic earthquake and fire in 1906 and also worked on water rights matters. In 1910, William H. Orrick joined the firm, and over the years, George Herringto...

Associate Reviews

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  • “Orrick's culture is second to none. Colleagues are friendly, supportive, collegial, and terrific teammates. We socialize weekly in the office these days, with office lunches and regularly coordinated happy hours.”
  • “Orrick takes its culture and being a 'best place to work' very seriously, and it shows. The environment is welcoming and respectful. For the most part, people are actually friends with each other. There are regular firm-sponsored events that allow staff and lawyers to interact more, but otherwise, people tend to be very respectful of personal and family time—it's a nice balance.”
  • “The culture at Orrick is great, especially for BigLaw. The team is made up of incredibly smart, hardworking, and supportive people, who don't feel a need to constantly prove how smart they are. I have been with the firm almost two years now, and I can count the number of negative interactions I've had on one hand.”
  • “The firm's culture is very comfortable, pleasant, and warm as far as BigLaw firms go. I think it is like the Disneyland of BigLaw. People are very respectful and considerate, and I feel very comfortable. Partners treat associates like equals here. Highly recommend working here.”

Why Work Here


Seven Stats about Orrick

1.     We focus on serving the Technology & Innovation, Energy & Infrastructure and Finance sectors. Globally.

2.     We give our associates the opportunity to chart your own course. It means early responsibility. World-class training. And the chance to make a social impact.

3.     We were named the #1 most innovative law firm in North America in 2017 by Financial Times, for the second year in a row.

4.     We’re on Fortune’s list of 100 Best Companies to Work For (#31), and we rank #4 for job satisfaction by AmLaw in 2018. In part, that’s because we don’t have a one-size-fits-all approach to how our lawyers work. Instead, we offer agile working. This includes flexible work arrangements, job sharing and remote working.

Diversity at Orrick

"Orrick has a long-standing commitment to improve the diversity and inclusion of our firm and the legal profession. Our goal is to be the most diverse and inclusive firm among our Tech & Innovation, Energy & Infrastructure, and Finance law firm peers. To support this goal, we continue to increase the diversity of our leadership team, our partnership, our client teams and our summer associate classes. Most recently and most exciting, we have focused on innovative ways to collaborate more closely with corporate legal departments who share our..."

Getting Hired Here

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  • “The firm has a nationwide hiring program now, which is different from the more local system that was in place before. Orrick looks for genuinely good, smart people with grit. They want team players who are pleasant to work with. Diversity is important, as is personality, grades, and prior work experience. There are no particular feeder schools from which the firm frequently hires. There is training, and there are guidelines for folks who interview candidates.”
  • “We try to hire candidates with a unique skill set and excellent attitude. I believe the firm appreciates those items more than grades or the law school you're coming from.”
  • “The firm is focused on an intelligent, motivated, hard-working, collegial, and diverse candidate, who is looking to excel in a collegial manner, and in a diverse, forward-looking setting. Don't know of any feeder schools, and I did not receive guidelines to interview candidates.”
  • “Orrick is truly holistic in every way, making it a point to explore schools outside the top 20. The reason is because Orrick knows that great attorneys can come from anywhere.”

Perks & Benefits


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