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INTERNATIONAL LAW FIRMS

International Law firms have a global dimension, which means that they have offices abroad and tend to deal with cross border jurisdictional legal issues.  Their Clients are often large multinational blue chip companies and they are exposed to high profile deals and legal work at the forefront of business news.   These firms are major players in the global economy and commercial world.

With winning new business becoming ever more competitive, International Law firms continue to invest in improving the services they offer Clients.   In order to provide the highest levels of service externally these firms look to ensure the same internally and Professional Support Staff (including Finance, Human Resources, IT/Systems, Marketing amongst others) are provided with a high degree of support and training to ensure the best level of services internally to the Lawyers.  

The general school of thought of working in an International Law firm is that you accept career progression, training & development, exposure to challenging work and opportunity in favour of variety of the role, although this is not always the case.

This is mainly a reflection of the volume of work in specific roles generated in working for a large firm and that these firms have very large finance teams that segregate finance into specific work areas of experience and responsibility.   It is accepted that this segregation normally focuses an individuals work remit to a more specific area than his/her counterpart in a small to medium size Law firm.   There are obviously exceptions to this in every firm depending on an individuals skill-set and the role on offer.  

International Law firms often split their Finance Team according to experience and responsibility as follows:  

- Cashiering (Often split between Client & Office Account)

- Purchase Ledger/Accounts Payable (Often separate to Professional Fees Ledger)

- Revenue/Billing (Often Billing separate from Revenue Control)

- Credit Control

- Management Accounting

- Financial Accounting

- Finance Systems

- Payroll

- Client Matter/File Management

- Conflicts  

Individuals that secure a role with an International Law firm can expect to receive a professional induction to the firm and regular reviews/appraisals during the course of their employment.   These firms invest heavily in staff training & development and where possible will encourage internal career progression for individuals that display commitment and ability.  

Depending on the role you accept within the firm you will find the culture of excellence dictates hardwork and potentially long hours.   The reward for this is a competitive salary and very competitive staff benefits, this being an area that has come under much review in the last 2/3 years.   Firms in the International market keep a close eye on the market rates for employees and whilst it would be unusual to receive an over inflated market salary, due to the fact that there are often other team members to take into consideration, you can usually be confident that the salaries are very competitive.  

Examples include:

Linklaters
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
Clifford Chance
Herbert Smith

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