Your Career at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP

Innovation 

Orrick is a growing, thriving, innovative place to work. With more than 1,100 lawyers in 23 offices throughout North America, Europe, and Asia, we are committed to strategically expanding our global platform to better serve our clients. In 2009, in a move that completely reengineers the traditional law firm model, Orrick rolled out its “New Talent Model.” Rather than move associates along based on their time at the firm, Orrick associates advance at their own pace based upon their developing skill set. Laura Saklad, Orrick’s Chief Lawyer Development Officer explains: “The traditional associate lockstep staffing and compensation model is based upon out-dated assumptions. Our new Talent Model recognizes that not all associates advance at the same pace, tenure is not a proxy for advancing skill, and clients should not bear the cost of training associates. In the end, our goal is to deploy the right lawyer or professional for the right task at the right cost.”
This model offers a more customized experience for each attorney and far greater staffing flexibility for partners managing client engagements.

The Partner Track

Orrick has three levels of associates (Associate, Managing Associate and Senior Associate), with performance thresholds for advancement from one level to the next and with corresponding compensation levels and billing rates. Guided by the practice groups’ benchmarks and the firm’s articulated Criteria for Advancement, associates receive detailed feedback about their progress, and robust training and mentoring to support the development of skills needed to provide outstanding client service. In addition, all associates are paired with Talent Model Mentors to help them create career plans that will support their development and career progression. Mentors also work with assigning partners to make sure assignments and training programs are consistent with each associate’s development needs.

Custom Track

This track was created for lawyers who have outstanding skills yet desire a less traditional path to partnership or do not aspire to partnership at all. Associates on the custom track set a different pace for advancement or customize a long-term role that enables them to contribute in a meaningful way, but does not necessarily lead toward partnership with the firm. If desired, associates may move to the custom track for a time and return to the partner track.

Career Associates/Legal Team Professionals Track

Orrick has reengineered the way work is delivered in each Practice Group and identified specific tasks and processes that can be disaggregated from complex legal work and executed by highly skilled, yet lower cost, career associates and other legal professional resources. Career Associate responsibilities include document review, legal research, basic drafting and due diligence, among others. Examples of other legal professional roles include patent agents and analysts, eDiscovery experts, and scientific advisors. Most career attorneys are based at Orrick’s Global Operation Center in Wheeling, West Virginia, or work remotely.

Culture of Learning and Mentoring

Orrick is committed to its attorneys’ career development and encourages lifelong learning through a steadfast focus on training and mentoring. Extensive litigation training, including deposition and motion practice, and corporate training, including more than 40 sessions on issues ranging from due diligence to specific deal orchestration, are the standard for firm associates. Young lawyers develop mentoring relationships with partners and attorneys to help them settle into their chosen field.

World-Class Working Environments

Location matters. Orrick wants its employees and clients, upon entering each office, to feel like they are somewhere special. Orrick’s offices are in the most state of the art and prominent buildings in key cities around the world. Orrick’s signature "O" adorns the entrance to many of the office buildings in which the firm resides.

Work/Life Balance

Orrick works hard to maintain a culture where attorneys and staff want to build exciting and lasting careers. To help lawyers maintain a balance between their professional and personal lives, Orrick has implemented an Alternative Work Arrangements Policy as well as an On-Ramping Program.

Alternative work arrangements are tailored to meet specific circumstances and monitored to ensure that the arrangement remains effective. The goal of the policy is to give practice groups and attorneys guidance in creating reduced hours work schedules in situations where an associate or of counsel, for personal reasons, does not wish to retain a full-time schedule.

The Firm’s partner-in-charge of the Alternative Work Arrangements leads meetings with all alternative work arrangement lawyers to talk about concerns and opportunities, consults one-on-one with lawyers considering alternative work arrangements, mentors and supports lawyers on alternative work arrangements, and actively participates in industry groups to ensure Orrick is implementing programs that are consistent with best practices in our industry.

The firm also has in place an On-Ramping Program, designed to serve the needs of attorneys who, after taking time off to focus on childcare, have returned to the workforce and are adjusting to new work and home life balance demands.

The Company We Keep

From Fortune 100 companies and major financial corporations to governmental entities and startups, Orrick's world-class client list ensures that our lawyers have opportunities to engage in client work that moves markets and makes headlines. Orrick's deep, long-term client relationships and culture of teamwork enable their lawyers to develop intimate knowledge of clients' businesses and legal needs, which translates into better service and better results. Orrick clients include Acer, Bank of America, Cisco Systems, Citi, Deutsche Bank, DHL, eBay, Facebook, Fiat, Finmeccanica, Fujitsu, Goldman Sachs, Intel, J.P. Morgan Chase, Levi Strauss, Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, NVIDIA, Oracle, PG&E, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Renault, Sears, Telenor, Total, and Vivendi.

Contact Info

Office- Name, Email Address, Title,  Telephone Number

Los Angeles-  Kat Davis, kdavis@orrick.com, Recruiting Manager, (213) 612-2309

New York- Jennifer Brown, jbrown@orrick.com, Recruiting Manager, (212) 506-3553

Orange County- Kat Davis, kdavis@orrick.com, Recruiting Manager, (213) 612-2309

Sacramento- Linda Partmann, lpartmann@orrick.com, Recruiting Administrator, (916) 329-7936

San Francisco- Jenny Li, jeli@orrick.com, Recruiting Manager, (415) 773-5722

Seattle/Portland- Linda Partmann, lpartmann@orrick.com, Recruiting Administrator, (916) 329-7936

Silicon Valley- Michelle Lockhart, mlockhart@orrick.com,  Recruiting Manager (650) 614-7392

Washington DC- Marissa Chepenik, mchepenik@orrick.com, Recruiting Manager, (202) 339-8611