Cooley (UK) LLP

The Legal 500 Future Lawyers verdict on Cooley (UK) LLP

Cooley’s ‘clients in the life sciences and technology space’, including ‘lots of exciting start-up and venture capital firms’ make it a unique place to train. ‘Big-level responsibility’ is the norm at the California-born firm, which boasts sleek offices in the heart of the City of London. ‘Non-hierarchical’ Cooley likes trainees to ‘take initiative’ and will ‘support you if there’s a different area of law you’d like to explore’; there are certainly ‘plentiful opportunities to grow and take ownership of work’ here.  Recruits get ‘hands-on work from the very start, including on the vacation scheme’, which has been dubbed an ‘authentic experience’ and has won the firm a Future Lawyers winner medal. Another gong has been awarded for client contact.  A small trainee intake combined with lean teams make for ‘greater exposure to deals’, and ‘more involvement in substantive work’. The upside to trainees being an integral part of the team is ‘rapid professional development’. The downside is that ‘your workload is often consistently high and it can be difficult to hand work over when you are going away’. As a result, it’s not uncommon for trainees (nor their seniors) to work long hours, nor to have to ‘do all-nighters into my holidays’. To soften the blow, recruits ‘receive strong feedback’ on their work, which helps to ‘validate [their] career choice’. Cooley’s pro bono offering also deserves a mention, respondents ‘couldn’t rate it higher – I feel like I have done a significant amount of my professional development through these opportunities, and there is always something to get involved with, which is all billable’. To train at a forward-thinking firm where the stakes are high but so are the rewards, consider Cooley.

A day in the life of... Humera Khan, second-year trainee, Cooley (UK) LLP

Departments to date: Equity capital markets; Business litigation; Product compliance and product litigation

University: University of Birmingham

Degree: English Literature (2.1)

7.45am: On starting my training I found I am most alert in the morning so I enjoy getting into the office early in order to review my to-do list, organise my emails, and tackle my most complex tasks. Today we are hosting a mock trial for a client which is a pretty unique scenario but it’s going to be an important opportunity to stress-test the merits of the case and help prepare the client for the reality of a high-profile court process. I use this time to ensure the bundles for the mock trial judges are in order.

8.30am: I make my way to the welcome breakfast for the client and counsel where I catch up with them ahead of the proceedings. We discuss last night’s dinner at the Gherkin, as well as our thoughts for the day ahead. Having the opportunity to have direct client contact in this way helps me develop my relationship-building skills, which I’ve come to appreciate as a very important element of a commercial lawyers’ skillset throughout my training so far.

9.00am: The mock trial room is set up and I settle down in my seat to the left of the judges. My role is to screenshare the documents referenced by the advocates throughout their arguments. I use this time to ensure I have all the bundles open and in an order that makes sense, so I can quickly switch between them in real-time. As I helped compile these bundles, I have a very detailed understanding of the documents they each contain (which is a great advantage in this scenario!).

9.15am: I move around the room handing out the core bundles and schedule for the day so each attendee has a copy.

9.30am: Once all the attendees are seated, we make a prompt start.

11.30am: After a productive morning, it is time for a quick break. I pop back down to my desk and skim through my emails. I then head back upstairs with a few minutes to spare and grab an iced tea from our Cooley barista bar.

11.50am: I head back to my seat and we make a prompt start with the next part of the session. My nerves have settled and I feel much more confident in my role. One of the barristers compliments the speed at which I am moving between the documents, which earns me some big smiles and thumbs-up from my Cooley colleagues.

1.30pm: We break for lunch where we sit and enjoy the view from Arthur’s café. It is a beautiful day with the sun shining across London. I sit with the client and engage with their opinions of how the mock trial is going. We then fall into more casual conversation, excitedly exchanging our upcoming summer plans.

2.15pm: We head back to the room for closing arguments. Once the mock trial is over, the judges provide their detailed feedback and thoughts on the merits of the case. It is a fantastic opportunity to hear and learn from these experts in advocacy and how they have constructed their opinions from the evidence and arguments we have submitted.

3.30pm: I say my goodbyes to all in attendance, and after picking up a hot cookie from the barista bar I head back to my desk to review emails and answer messages. I see that I have received feedback on a witness statement I drafted. I run a redline in order to review the minor changes which have been made. I note down my follow-up questions and arrange a time with my supervisor to discuss the work.

4.30pm: I receive a request from a partner asking for my assistance with a white-collar defence matter. I ping back a reply confirming my availability and review the instructions. The task is to pull several documents from our e-discovery platform for the team to review ahead of the client’s upcoming interview with a regulatory body.

5.30pm: I make my way to the partner’s office with a binder containing the documents. We exchange our thoughts and map out next steps. I head back to my desk and with the excitement and satisfaction from the mock trial still with me, I power through the last few tasks on my to-do list.

6.45pm: I shut down my laptop and stop by a fellow trainee’s desk to catch up and discuss weekend plans. I pop back to my desk to finalise my to-do list for tomorrow and attach a sticky-note to my screen as a reminder to file away the bundles from today, and then head home.

About the firm

The firm: Cooley lawyers solve legal issues for entrepreneurs, investors, financial institutions and established companies. Clients partner with Cooley on transformative deals, complex IP and regulatory matters, and high-stakes litigation, often where innovation meets the law. Cooley has over 1,300 lawyers across 19 offices in the US, Asia and Europe, and a total workforce of over 3,000 worldwide.

The clients: Allergy Therapeutics; Brand Watch; Brainlabs; CEPI (Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations); Ebay; Estée Lauder; Exscientia; Fitbit; General Catalyst; Government of the Turks & Caicos Islands; Humio; Immunocore; IQVIA; Meta; Odyssey Marine Exploration; Pizza Hut Restaurants; Snyk; Stanley Black and Decker; Tata Steel; Wizz Air; Zoom Video Communications.

The deals: Advised Exscientia on $510.4m upsized Nasdaq IPO of American Depository Shares and concurrent private placements to Softbank and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; advised late-stage biotechnology company Immunocore on $312.1m equity offering, consisting of $297.1m IPO of American Depository Shares; advised Brand Watch on its sale to Cision for $450m; represented General Catalyst and Accel in their investments in the $475m Series H financing of Monzo; advised Snyk, a cybersecurity software startup, on its $530m Series F financing, bringing the company’s valuation to $8.5bn; represented IQVIA, the world’s largest provider of biopharmaceutical development services, in its dispute with Cardiorentis, a Swiss pharma company which engaged IQVIA to conduct a global clinical trial in over 20 countries to test a heart failure treatment; represented the TCI Government in its civil recovery efforts; represented Odyssey Marine Exploration in an arbitration under Chapter 11 of North American Free Trade Agreement against Mexico (UNCITRAL Rules). See more at www.cooley.com/news.

CEO: Rachel Proffitt

Managing partners (London): Claire Keast-Butler and James Maton.

Other offices: www.cooley.com/about/geographies.

Who we are: A law firm for the future. We are the counsellors, strategists and advocates for today’s and tomorrow’s leaders of the business economy. As advisers to disrupters – particularly in the technology, life sciences and high-growth industries – we see first-hand the power of innovation. We think beyond the limits of technology to encompass leading-edge processes and individual talents for a unique blend that benefits our professionals, our clients and our communities. We seek to meet the evolving needs of our clients by building a community of professionals of the highest calibre who share our vision and embrace our values.

What we do: Cooley’s London office has built out robust practices, including corporate/M&A, finance, venture capital and private equity, capital markets, technology transactions, life sciences partnering, complex high-stakes litigation and international arbitration, IP trademarks, product compliance and product litigation, white-collar defence and investigations, tax, employment, antitrust and competition, and cyber/data/privacy among others. See www.cooley.com/services/practice for global practices and industries.

What we’re looking for: Curious individuals stimulated by solving business and legal challenges. Academic excellence, great analytical skills, a rigorous approach, plus demonstrating plenty of energy, drive, determination and a collaborative approach is key.

What you’ll do: Trainees rotate every six months through contentious and non-contentious areas. Smaller working teams mean exposure, responsibility and the opportunity to contribute in meaningful ways are significant. Extensive internal and external training and development programmes focus on progression as a true business lawyer.

Perks: Gym subsidy/health and fitness reimbursement, private healthcare, virtual GP services, dental plan, life assurance, wellness programme with coaching and therapy sessions, firm-paid massages, pension scheme with company contribution, mortgage surgeries, income protection, STL, employer-sponsored funds for fertility treatments and family-forming services, social and sporting events.

Sponsorship

After training place offer, PGDL/SQE fees plus maintenance bursary while studying £15,500 per course.

Seat options

Business litigation (incorporating commercial disputes, white-collar defence and investigations, international arbitration and employment); product compliance and product litigation (incorporating ESG); IP litigation and trademarks; general corporate (incorporating M&A, capital markets and private companies); life sciences; technology transactions and cyber data privacy; antitrust.

Tips from the recruiter

1. Ensure you can genuinely articulate (in your own words) your motivation to train at Cooley based on specificity and good awareness of what the firm does and why that fits with what you’re looking for.
2. Be reflective and analytical about your experiences (work, academic, other interests) and how they show you have the potential to succeed in a commercial legal career at Cooley.
3. Proofread, proofread, proofread! It’s vital to show you have the discipline of self-checking what you have written – it shows how much you care about the standard of what you produce.

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