Baker & McKenzie Names New Asia Head
Summary: Hong Kong based Milton Cheng has been named the managing partner for Baker & McKenzie's China, Hong Kong, Korea and Vietnam offices. Cheng, until now, ...
Baker McKenzie
Main Office: 300 East Randolph Street, Suite 5000 | Chicago | IL | 60601
Phone: 312-861-8000 | Fax: 312-861-2899
Website: https://www.bakermckenzie.com
Year of establishment
1949
Number of partners
1400
Number of offices
73
Partner to associate ratio
0.80
Biggest office
Chicago
Percentage of women attorneys
41.50
Number of attorneys
3582
Percentage of minority attorneys
3.50
Number of associates
1710
Percentage of LGBT attorneys
1.10
Baker McKenzie Reviews
view allReviewed on May 19, 2024
What would you, or others, like to see changed at employer?
Advice of the Firm: Chance to work with great co-workers, service high profile companies and individuals, and gain excellent experience one of the highest grossing firms in the world.
What were the things that you liked most about this employer?
Trade in Your Social Life for a Great Working Environment
What did you not like about this institution?
The long hours at this firm are dispiriting, especially if you're like me and are hoping to have a social life outside of working at the firm. The senior management may need a spring cleaning and refocus their role and involvement in the rest of the staff's work.
Career Opportunities:
Compensation & Benefits:
Work/Life Balance:
Senior Management:
Culture & Values:
Current or former employee?:
Current Employee
Length of Employment:
10+ years
Reviewed on May 19, 2024
What would you, or others, like to see changed at employer?
Treat your workers more like equals and less like monetary goals.
What were the things that you liked most about this employer?
Most of the staff are friendly and supportive. You will build your network here. The environment is professional. Management is competent.
What did you not like about this institution?
The large size can be overwhelming to those who prefer a smaller sized firm. All they care about money and pleasure.
Career Opportunities:
Compensation & Benefits:
Work/Life Balance:
Senior Management:
Culture & Values:
Current or former employee?:
Current Employee
Length of Employment:
10+ years
Overview
Headline: Unlock Your Potential with Baker & McKenzie: A Global Law Firm for the 21st Century For attorneys seeking an exciting, global opportunity, Baker & McKenzie is the premier law firm of the 21st century. As the first truly global law firm, established in 1949, they have a history of bringing leading corporations across the world into the integrated global market. With over 4,200 locally admitted lawyers in 77 offices across the world, they have the global resources to meet the needs of their clients. The firm is renowned for its “fluency” across borders, issues, and practices. Their diverse community of 60 nationalities has the knowledge and experience to understand the nuances of any local market. This unique combination of expertise and experience allows them to provide world-class service tailored to each client’s needs. In the Bay Area, attorneys can benefit from the firm’s expertise in the technology sector. As the heart of the tech world, the Bay Area offers a unique opportunity to work with some of the biggest names in the industry. At Baker & McKenzie, attorneys can use their business acumen and legal knowledge to help clients develop new products and navigate the complex legal and regulatory landscape. At Baker & McKenzie, attorneys can also benefit from the firm’s commitment to professional development and career advancement. The firm offers a variety of programs to help attorneys develop their legal skills and gain additional expertise in specialized areas. Through these programs, attorneys can develop the knowledge and experience needed to advance their careers. For attorneys looking for an exciting and challenging opportunity in the Bay Area, Baker & McKenzie is the perfect place to unlock your potential. With their global resources, commitment to professional development, and expertise in the technology sector, they are the perfect partner to help you take your career to the next level.
Practice Areas
Baker McKenzie practices law in the following areas and works with its clients to provide the best possible legal solutions.
- Antitrust & Competition
- Automotive
- Banking & Finance
- Capital Markets
- Corporate Compliance
- Dispute Resolution
- Employment
- Energy Mining & Infrastructure
- Environmental
- Financial Institutions
- Information Technology & Communications
- Insurance
- Intellectual Property
- Mergers & Acquisitions
- Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare
- Private Equity
- Real Estate
- Tax
- Trade & Commerce
Hiring Criteria
Baker McKenzie follows the set of hiring criteria outlined below.
While a degree from a top law school with high grades helps, Baker & McKenzie is known to base its hiring decision more on the personality of the candidate and how closely his/her mindset fits the requirements of the firm. On-campus interviews are the choice for the law firm to hire new associates.
Offers are based on interest and requirements in specific practice areas like trade, litigation, immigration etcetera, but the firm always has prime focus on international mindset and experiences and expertise in more than one area of law practice. Students of international law or those with experience of internships in foreign countries have better chances.
Amicable personalities are preferred more than those with overtly aggressive personalities. The team-player mentality is more sought after in new associates than that of the individual hero.
Pro bono
Baker & McKenzie is actively involved in Pro Bono & community service programs. It is the first law firm to receive the Corporate Pro Bono Partnering Award from the Pro Bono Institute.
As the firm declares on its website: "Our pro bono mission is to deliver first-class legal services to the underserved and disadvantaged by fostering an environment that encourages and promotes service and to promote and sponsor activities that provide opportunities for all Firm personnel, independently, and in partnership with our clients, to contribute to the well-being of the communities in which we practice and live."
Baker & McKenzie is involved in Pro bono work across a vast range of projects. It's just crossed more than ten years in campaigning for breast cancer awareness. It often files amicus briefs for children's rights, as it did recently on behalf of the Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth at Northwestern University School of Law, arguing the vulnerability of children during police interrogations. It holds webinars and supports books on pro bono programs, and is sufficiently recognized for the pro-bono director of the firm to attend White House Summit as part of Congressionally-appointed LSC Obstacles Task Force.
Notable cases
- Baker & McKenzie won a case against the IRS on behalf of Symantec Corporation in 2009. Symantec was accused of not paying $1 billion in taxes for its VERITAS Software Corporation, which it had acquired in 2005. The case ended up in the U.S. Tax Court where Baker & McKenzie claimed that the ruling by IRS was arbitrary and unreasonable.
- Baker & McKenzie wrote the amicus brief in 2006 in the Winkelman v. Parma City School District cases. The firm wrote it for the Council of Parent Attorneys & Advocates (COPA), and later COPA's amicus briefs. The firm in its briefs supported the rights of parents who had kids with disabilities to proceed without counsel in court cases involving enforcement of IDEA and their right to an appropriate public education. The Supreme Court gave a unanimous decision in favor of the parents' group.
- Baker & McKenzie represented five luxury and fashion brands in 2005 in their case against the landlord of the Silk Market Shopping mall in Beijing. The Chinese courts found the landlord jointly and severally liable for not doing enough to stop the vendors selling counterfeit goods. This was a first in Chinese judicial history.
Search Law Firm Jobs in Chicago
Legal Jobs in Chicago and Near Locations
Diversity
Write a reviewThe high focus on maintaining diversity is essential to the existence of Baker & McKenzie's success since true internationalization across 43 countries brings along cultural conflicts and the need to successfully manage diversity in the workplace.
The consistent efforts of the company over diversity are easily reflected in its revenue, of course, but it is also recognized by the industry. It has been named for the 8th consecutive times as "Top Law Firm for Diversity" by MultiCultural Law Magazine. In 2009, Baker & McKenzie won the Starbucks Excellence in Diversity Award.
Baker & McKenzie was also recognized by the Working Mother magazine in 2008 as one of the Best Law Firms for Women. The firm is a member of Diversity Champions since 2005, and in 2009 it joined the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity.
Summer Associate Program
The summer associate program of Baker & McKenzie is intended to introduce potential hires to real life experience at the firm, orientation, and primary screening. As the law firm declares clearly on its website: "The Summer Program is designed to introduce law students who have completed their second year of law school to the practice of law and to allow Firm representatives and summer associates to become mutually acquainted for the purpose of evaluating the desirability of future employment."
Academic accomplishments, intellectual thirst, commercial orientation and respect and appreciation for global cultural differences matter in the selection of summer associates. Summer associates also introduce students to real client-work and the work offered is of "the same character as that performed by the attorneys."
Associates are introduced and exposed to research, writing, depositions, hearings and trials and client interaction. The law firm also has extensive professional training programs and summer associates have a chance to participate.
Working for the Baker McKenzie
There is a pressure on billable work, however incentives are not blindly based upon billable hours but many other factors are taken into account for bonuses. There are many offices and practice groups and sometimes things can be quite disparate between concurrent groups in the same firm - in one business and incentives may be growing by leaps and bounds, while in another things might be going at a snail's pace. But individual performance gets noticed quickly, as the environment is highly competitive.
Baker & McKenzie is one of the best places to start your associate life with its lack of pretensions. The company is known to respect work-life balance and team performance. Associates get exposure to high-profile clients and gather experience from being part of teams handling extremely important transactions involving massive stakes.
The way to work within Baker & McKenzie, and the keys to success, follow the principles of individual growth within large multinational corporations and not the principles of employee growth followed in boutique law firms.
Baker & McKenzie is one of the best places to start your associate life with its lack of pretensions. The company is known to respect work-life balance and team performance. Associates get exposure to high-profile clients and gather experience from being part of teams handling extremely important transactions involving massive stakes.
The way to work within Baker & McKenzie, and the keys to success, follow the principles of individual growth within large multinational corporations and not the principles of employee growth followed in boutique law firms.
Articles
Baker & McKenzie Does It Again!
Summary: Baker & McKenzie has just been named the world’s strongest law firm brand for the fifth consecutive year. The law firm ranked top on each of the meas...
Baker & McKenzie Elects Michael Smith Managing Partner in Chicago Office
Summary: Leading real estate attorney Michael Sawyer Smith elected as Managing Partner of Baker & McKenzie's Chicago office....
More Law Firms in Chicago
Arnstein & Lehr LLP.
Arnstein & Lehr LLP is one of the country’s oldest and most respected law firms. Since its founding in 1893, we have been serving clients – large and small – throughout the United States and in many foreign countries. Arnstein & Lehr today offers clients a sophisticated, full-service practice that addresses their diverse and complex needs with vision, expertise and a commitment to quality and service....
Barack Ferrazzano Kirschbaum & Nagelberg LLP
The founding vision of Barack Ferrazzano in 1984 was to create a new model that departed from the standard "mega-firm" approaches and, instead, focused on delivering efficient, team-oriented services of the highest quality. Our founding partners - two highly respected law professors at Northwestern University and two former members of a prominent Chicago firm - were soon joined by like-minded colleagues also seeking an alternative to the large law firm environment. We have grown steadily ever si...
Chapman & Cutler LLP
Since its founding in 1913, Chapman and Cutler LLP has focused on finance. The firm has represented market participants in all aspects of banking, corporate finance and securities and public finance transactions since its inception. That mission and focus continue to this day....
Legal Recruiters in Chicago
BCG Attorney Search
Focused exclusively on attorney placements, BCG has built a strong reputation for matching lawyers with top-tier law firms across the country. They’re known for their rigorous vetting process and have placed thousands of attorneys, earning them a spot as one of the most influential recruiters in the legal field. Since the year 2000, the founder of BCG Attorney Search, Harrison Barnes, and his expert legal recruiters have placed thousands of attorneys and are at the top of their field in servicing attorneys. These businesses include the largest and most popular legal job site in the world,...
Chicago Legal Search, Ltd.
We are a diversity-owned and managed Chicago-based company with a long-standing reputation as a trusted-advisor and recruiting partner within the legal community. We have a 30+ year demonstrated commitment to diversity and inclusion within the Chicago legal workforce. Our recruiters work with candidates to understand both their career and personal aspirations to make strategic decisions, which increases the likelihood of a successful, long-term fit with a new employer....
Mendelsohn Legal, Inc.
MENDELSOHN LEGAL, a top legal recruiter, places partners, associates, paralegals and support staff in law firms and in corporate legal departments. Our search and legal placement services are highly focused and multi-layered — we go beyond traditional search methodologies to understand the goals of those initiating the search and then work tenaciously to complete the engagement quickly and successfully....
