Allen & Overy

About Allen & Overy LLP:

Allen & Overy is an international legal practice with approximately 5,000 staff, including some 470 partners, working in 36 major centres worldwide."

Our clients include many of the world’s top businesses, financial institutions and governments.We judge our success by the extent to which we satisfy our clients and motivate our people. It is only by doing this that we retain our position in the global elite of international legal practices.

Our worldwide locations
Australia, Belgium, Brazil, China, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovak Republic, Spain, Thailand, UAE, United Kingdom, United States of America.

Careers

Joining Allen & Overy means starting your career in the very top tier of international law. We are one of the largest and most successful legal practices in the world, with approximately 5,000 staff, including over 470 partners, working in 36 major centres worldwide.
"We are currently recruiting for a range of Associate, PSL, Business Development and PA roles within London and internationally".
Working in 36 major centres worldwide, we are leaders in a wide range of practice areas. We are always interested in hearing from talented and ambitious lawyers who are looking for potential opportunities at Allen & Overy. Working alongside leaders in their field in an international legal practice brings enormous challenges and career opportunities. We are also always interested in hearing from professionals who are looking for support career opportunities at Allen & Overy.
To view and apply for current vacancies at Allen & Overy please click here

Working with Us

Employee Assistance Programme
In addition to our in-house medical and psychological counselling service, free advice of a practical nature is now available to London-based employees and their immediate families through the Employee Assistance Programme, giving advice, support and information on home and family issues in complete confidence.
Performance & Career Management
We recognise that around 50% of our people are not lawyers and that we must work hard to retain our best people across the entire firm.
By implementing global performance measurement frameworks, we ensure that we are consistent in the skills, attributes and values that we look for and reward across the firm. Our global competency frameworks encompass the skills, behaviours and personal attributes that define successful performance in any given role within the firm. The frameworks give transparency of performance expectations and development goals to all our staff at all stages of their careers. Our performance review process is supported by an online system which is being rolled out across our global network.
Career Progression & Reward for our London Associates
To provide greater flexibility in career progression, in May 2007 two new career options were introduced: Senior Associate and Counsel. Both are positions into which associates are promoted on merit and, in the case of Counsel, provide an alternative to partner. Not all Allen & Overy lawyers aspire to be partners, for a variety of reasons, yet wish to be recognised for their capabilities and achievements.
In 2006 we introduced London Associate Award Plan (LAAP ), a market-leading award package that rewards high achievement and commitment to the firm. This plan is unique among the top 10 City law firms: not least because the bonuses offered are linked to the value of a partner profit point, to allow associates to join in the success of the firm.
Building on the career and reward structure that we introduced for London associates in 2006, we have continued to look for ways that we can support and retain our best people.
Our Career Management Programme combines self-assessment guided classroom work, coaching and focused discussions between associates and partners. It is designed to increase the engagement, productivity and retention of our mid- level associates at a time that is key both to their careers and to the firm's business model. It also aims to give clarity to the firm's strategic priorities and the associates' role in supporting them.
Improving Flexibility
We are continuously looking at ways to improve flexibility around ways of working. We introduced flexible working policies in 2001 and now more than 11 per cent of our employees work part-time, with many more taking the opportunity to work flexibly on a full-time basis including term - time working, annualised days and job sharing. Around 20 per cent of employees in London now work from home every month.
Taking Time Out
Our Time Out policy allows people to take unpaid leave to pursue other activities, such as travel, study, writing or caring for a relative. We also allow extended holidays overseas and time off between international transfers. We also offer career breaks of up to three years to allow staff to take time out, for example to care for children or undertake further study.

Areas of Expertise:

Corporate & Commercial:

Our global corporate practice brings together more than 700 lawyers worldwide with a client base that includes many of the world's leading corporations, as well as smaller growing businesses.

Our clients value the quality of our people, our global track record and in depth market knowledge, and our commitment to delivering results, whether it is M&A, private equity, equity capital markets, or general commercial or corporate advice we are offering.

We have a reputation for combining the highest quality technical expertise with commercial pragmatism. And because we have grown by hiring individuals rather than through alliances, our clients benefit from a consistent experience and quality, from New York to Asia Pacific, Europe and the Middle East.

Banking:

Allen & Overy is at the heart of the world's banking and financial markets. Few practices can match the quality of our people, the breadth of our client base, our global reach and our top tier position across the full range of financial products. We have been instrumental in nearly all the major developments in the modern financial markets, starting with the first ever eurobond issue in the 1960s.

We advise over 800 corporate and financial institution participants in the financial markets. They entrust us with the full range of their domestic and cross-border transactions. They rely on us for the depth and breadth of our expertise, our intellectual rigour and our proven track record of finding solutions and completing the transactions we work on. We have over 1,000 banking and finance lawyers worldwide working together to demonstrate these qualities in their professional lives

International Capital Markets

The International Capital Markets (ICM) practice comprises one of the world’s leading and most respected groups of lawyers advising on debt, equity, equity-linked and asset-backed securities, derivatives and structured products. With over 60 partners and some 250 associates based in 25 of our offices, we have one of the largest teams of Capital Markets lawyers anywhere in the world.

Our expertise covers a wide range of financial products including debt issuance and commercial paper programmes, debt issues, initial public offerings (IPOs) and other international equity offerings, equity-linked issues, over-the-counter and primary market derivative products, re-packagings and collateralised debt obligations (CDOs), securitisations, tiered capital issues.  Our clients include many of the major international financial institutions, the trustees of securities issues, issuers (debt or equity) and selling shareholders.

Litigation & Dispute Resolution:

As a leading global commercial dispute resolution practice, we provide specialist advice and representation to clients around the world on litigation, arbitration and regulatory matters, as well as on risk management more generally.

Employment & Benefits:

Our integrated Employment, Pensions & Incentives (EPI) department comprises some of the market’s leading practitioners, with over 180 lawyers located across 23 jurisdictions. Consistently highly ranked in the legal tables in each of the three areas, we offer high quality advice on issues such as boardroom disputes, employee discrimination, executive remuneration and tax issues, complex pension arrangements or complex cross-border transactional issues. The EPI practice works as part of an integrated team with our corporate M&A lawyers, not only in carrying out projects, but in winning them too as most large scale M&A transactions involve HR issues which can often be critical to the outcome of a transaction.

Our Employment specialists are involved in both contentious and non-contentious work including workplace issues, such as working conditions, employee relations, HR policies and privacy, restructuring, relationship breakdowns and dispute resolution. Our Pensions specialists handle quality advisory and litigation work, while our Incentives team offers expert advice on equity incentive plans, employment tax issues and corporate governance in the context of executive pay.

Real Estate:

We deliver an all encompassing service to our clients, including construction, environment, sales and acquisitions, lettings and leasing, outsourcing, planning, real estate finance, real estate litigation and regulatory. However, our partners and associates are not just skilled in real estate matters but have wide experience of indirect real estate acquisitions, real estate investment funds, joint ventures and negotiating corporate style documentation. It is our international reach and use of sophisticated structuring techniques for indirect as well as direct real estate investment that differentiates us from many of our competitors and is responsible for our reputation as a high quality real estate investment practice that is seen as one the market’s leading teams.

Tax:

Our award-winning Tax practice offers clients a complete multi-jurisdictional tax advisory service, working closely with other practice areas to advise on the corporate tax implications of transactions and strategies. This means that the range of deals and the variety of work to which the Tax department is exposed is perhaps the greatest of any department in the firm. You will learn not only about the work done by the Tax department but also about the work of other departments. With over half of our lawyers based outside the UK, you are certain to be working with international colleagues and clients on a regular basis.

Our Diversity

Introduction:

It is important to us to attract and retain the most talented people from a wide range of backgrounds and motivate them to perform at the highest level. Our current UK trainee population represents 47 different universities.

A&Out - our LGBT network:

We have an active worldwide LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) forum group for our staff called A&Out, which was formed towards the end of 2006.
A&Out offers support and networking opportunities to A&O staff, as well as focusing on external client relationships within the LGBT community.
A&Out held a summer party in 2008 to mark the progress made since the group's inception, and to provide an opportunity for members of A&Out to network with contacts from clients' and other law firms' LGBT networks.
So far, 370 clients and staff have attended A&Out receptions in London and New York.
A&Out has been actively participating in the legal sector forum for LGBT groups, InterLaw Diversity Forum, which was created in April 2008. InterLaw is an inter-organisational forum for the LGBT networks in law firms and all personnel (lawyers and non-lawyers) of the legal sector. A&O participates in and regularly hosts the InterLaw Forum meetings which aim to organise a range of events, including panel discussions, seminars, and networking opportunities.

A&O has been a member of Stonewall's Diversity Champions programme since 2006. The Programme is Britain's good practice forum in which employers can work with Stonewall, and each other, to promote (lesbian, gay and bisexual) equality in the workplace. As a Diversity Champion A&O has access to best practice, networking opportunities and research. A&O also participates in the annual Stonewall recruitment guide – Starting Out.

Parents and Carers at Allen & Overy

We recognise that our people have important responsibilities outside work and it can often be a challenge to juggle the two.
Since 2006 we have introduced a number of initiatives across our international network to help staff manage these responsibilities, including lunchtime parenting seminars, maternity coaching and access to emergency childcare. These initiatives resulted in Allen & Overy receiving an award for our work on supporting working parents in the 2006 FT Innovation Awards, as well as being ranked Best In Sector for Law in a survey on maternity and paternity benefits carried out by The Guardian in August 2007.
Following feedback from staff around the world, we have increased the scope of these initiatives so that people with similar commitments outside work can network with one another - either 'virtually' or in person.
Parents@A&O is an online social networking tool which brings together parents or parents-to-be from across the firm through a virtual network. It is used as a source of information on all aspects of parenting, some of which comes from Allen & Overy or external parenting experts, but the majority of which comes directly from parents - whether it is information on favourite websites for buying children's clothing or finding a children's party entertainer.
In addition to supporting parents, we recognise that it can be challenging to juggle work with caring responsibilities. Carers@A&O is an online site which aims to provide helpful advice, support and useful information for carers within the firm.. We have ran seminars for staff with caring responsibilities and have created the ‘Buddies for Carers@A&O’ scheme which is intended to enable carers to make contact with another carer who has been or is in a similar situation.

Improving Flexibility

We are continuously looking at ways to improve flexibility around ways of working. We introduced flexible working policies in 2001 and now more than 11 per cent of our employees work part-time, with many more taking the opportunity to work flexibly on a full-time basis including term - time working, annualised days and job sharing.

Finding different people

We are committed to broadening access to the legal profession and one of the ways in which we do this is by giving talented people the opportunity and aspiration for a career in law.
In June 2009 Allen & Overy launched the first ever Smart Start Experience. Thought to be the largest programme of its kind undertaken by a law firm, the scheme gives disadvantaged young people from across London an opportunity to gain a valuable insight into the world of business. Over 100 students aged 16-17 took part in the week-long programme of workshops and challenges, devised and delivered by around 150 Allen & Overy volunteers from right across the business in partnership with the Brokerage Citylink. In 2010 we plan to expand the Smart Start Experience to provide a head start in business for more young people who might not otherwise have the opportunity.

We support the Black Lawyers Directory (BLD) to pilot their ‘Today’s Children, Tomorrow’s Lawyers’ project. Three of our lawyers and trainees took part in a vodcast aimed at giving practical advice to students interested in a career in law. For the past two years we have also hosted an open day for one of the schools involved with the project and ran activities from informal discussions with current trainees, to a negotiation game and a talk from the graduate recruitment team on what law firms look for in successful candidates.

A&O are also main sponsors for Legal Launch Pad (LLP), a project primarily targeted at ethnic minority law students and non-law students at university. The aim of this scheme is to help prepare participants for the legal profession by improving skills, providing information and raising aspirations via training workshops, coaching, mentoring and work placements.
We are a founder sponsor of the Pathways to Law programme, which aims to increase the educational opportunities which can lead to a career in law for young people from non-privileged backgrounds. Our involvement includes the provision of a week-long work placement programme at Allen & Overy.

Are we making progress?

We conduct regular surveys to find out what our people think on a range of issues that affect them. 91% of our people are proud to work for A&O. Our website and latest Annual Report contain information on how we are doing in this area and we are committed to being open about our progress. By monitoring our diversity statistics we are able to track our progress and determine where we are having an impact. Follow this link for information on our UK specific diversity metrics.

We see benchmarking against other organisations as a key way to monitor our progress against achieving our diversity and inclusion aims. For example we have participated in the Black Solicitors' Network Diversity League Table since 2006 - in 2009 Allen & Overy jointly headed up the table for City 10 firms.

We have participated in research into women in leadership for the Lehman Brothers Centre for Women in Business at the London Business School. We received special mention for good practice in key areas around increasing flexibility and parents in the workplace for our initiatives such as maternity coaching, parenting seminars, career breaks and emergency childcare.
We are members or sponsors of the following organisations and work with them to ensure best practice on diversity: Aurora, Black Lawyers Directory, Blind in Business, Employers Forum on Age, Employers Forum on Disability, EmployAbility, Opportunity Now, Stonewall, Employers for Carers and Working Families.
We won the Law Society Award for Excellence in Equality & Diversity in 2007 for our work on diversity and inclusion.
In January 2008 we won the Lawyer HR Awards 2008 for Most Effective Diversity Programme.