Akin

The Legal 500 Future Lawyers verdict on Akin

Trainees chose Akin for its ‘high-quality multi-jurisdictional work’, and for its ‘strengths in practice areas such as financial restructuring, funds and financial regulation’. Thanks to a small cohort, trainees receive ‘more direct contact with partners’ and are trusted with a ‘very large amount of responsibility’ in the form of ‘associate and counsel-level work’ The firm is a Future Lawyers winner for quality of work, client contact, salary, sustainability and diversity and inclusion. Akin rewards proactivity: ‘if you take the initiative and express interest, there is scope to get involved in work you’re interested in’. There’s no doubt that ‘everyone wants you to do well’ here. ‘Excellence is promoted, from top to bottom’ at Akin, and lawyers ‘all take pride in our work’, which in turn ‘leads to fast improvement and development’. As is perhaps to be expected of a US-headquartered firm, ‘the expectation to be billing at all times’ can be stressful. ‘Working very late hours on the weekend, not knowing when I would ever finish!’ and a ‘lack of predictability in working days and hours’ are considered some of the worst things about working at Akin. Another frustration is that the office is ‘not particularly social’, due to ‘some pretty low office attendance at times’, which can make it ‘difficult to develop good working relationships’. Thankfully, the quality of work more than makes up for any downsides elsewhere. ‘Attending a trial in Switzerland’ and ‘playing a significant role within a small deal team in my first seat, including having direct contact with clients’ made trainees feel valued. For a ‘highly-rewarding training contract experience’, full of ‘interesting and diverse matters to work on’ complete with ‘plenty of exposure to senior lawyers’, consider Akin.

A day in the life of... James Lack, trainee, Akin

Departments to date: Hedge funds

University: Manchester University

Degree: Nuclear Engineering (MEng), GDL, LPC LLM

9.00am: I arrive at the office and check my emails for any developments on client matters, as well as market news and knowledge management updates from the BVCA, AIMA, and The Lawyer. Recent interesting updates have covered a prospective court case regarding taxation of carried interest, and the progression of AIFMD II.

9.30am: It’s the hedge funds departmental daily catch up. All of the team members talk briefly about an interesting matter they’re working on in the
coming days, then the partners share any client and firm news, as well as technical know-how.

10.00am: I send follow-up emails on various matters and other administrative tasks. I also draft the agenda for today’s 5pm weekly catch-up call with one of our clients.

10.30am: I start work on drafting tasks. These comprise the majority of my work in hedge funds, and I’ve worked on fund offering documents, subscription documents, procurement agreements, investment advisory agreements, AIFM agreements, CPO delegation agreements, side letters, directors written resolutions, fund launch minutes, and limited partnership agreements – basically the entire suite of fund documents. Sometimes I’m making amendments to existing documents, others I’m creating totally new documents for a fund launch. Being trusted to work on the most important agreements and seeing your work approved by seniors is definitely a highlight of the job.

12.30pm: Lunch with other trainees in the staff cafe. A few of us usually meet, depending upon who’s in the office and available, and chat about our work and seat rotations, as well as current affairs and what’s going on in our personal lives.

1.30pm: After lunch I chat with my supervisor or other team members to ask questions about the work I’m doing and about funds law generally.

1.45pm: I continue my drafting from the morning. Often, if my supervisor has calls with clients during the afternoon, I listen in to these too – funds law involves a lot of problem-solving, so it’s interesting to hear issues being discussed and decisions being made, and you learn a lot about specific regulatory issues when you hear them come up in a practical context.

3.15pm: Coffee run with hedge funds team colleagues.

3.30pm: I finish drafting the documents I’m working on. I then run ‘redlines’ – a colour-coded comparison – against the base precedent or previous draft, and print those out and review them, which I find makes it easier to spot any small errors or corrections, to make sure it’s perfect.

4.30pm: I draft an email to the client, explaining what I’ve done, listing all of the documents I’m sending, and asking for review/approval. I send this to my supervisor to review the documents and the email before it goes to the client. Seeing amendments made to the work you’ve done by more experienced lawyers I find to be a great way of learning and improving.

5.00pm: The weekly client catch-up call is usually led by the partners, so I attend to listen and take notes. It’s interesting to listen in on how all of that client’s matters are progressing, and there’s often something new to learn, particularly from the US partners when they talk about US regulatory issues.

5.30pm: I send out my client email, with any amendments from my supervisor, with the documents I’ve drafted during the day.

5.45pm: I discuss today’s work with my supervisor, for any feedback and advice he might have, and talk about prospective projects I might work on next. I finish off by filing my emails from the day.

6.30pm: The funds group has regular social events with the private equity team, as well as with clients, offshore law firms and charitable events. Today, we’re going go-boating near Canary Wharf, with go-karting, rounders and drinks events having featured in the past.

About the firm

The firm: Akin is a global law firm with more than 900 lawyers and advisors who pride themselves on dedication to their clients and their communities. With 17 offices worldwide, the firm is renowned for numerous market-leading practices, its strengths in complex transactions and restructurings, high-stakes litigation, public policy and regulatory matters, and its unyielding pro bono commitment.

The firm is intentional about fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace where all employees are supported and given the tools to succeed. Akin is focused on recruiting and nurturing the next generation of exceptional legal talent and is proud that its recruitment and professional development efforts are recognised as among the best in the industry.

The clients: Apollo, Bain Capital, Barings, Carlyle, Coller Capital, Elliott, Endava, Ericsson, GIC, Helios, ICG, LetterOne, Mubadala, Nexperia, Oaktree, Olin Corporation, PGIM, Taconic, VEON, Vivo Energy and Vitol.

The deals: Acted for the successful appellants in the landmark Court of Appeal case which overturned the High Court’s decision sanctioning the Adler restructuring plan; advising Mubadala Capital on its acquisition of a majority stake in Bugaboo Group; advised Intrum AB on its agreement to sell a material portion of its investment portfolio to affiliates of Cerberus Capital Management LP for more than €1bn; advised leading software growth equity firm Expedition Growth Capital on the fundraising of its second fund, Expedition Growth Capital II, at the hard cap of €250m; advised Nexperia B.V. on the $177m sale of Newport Wafer Fab, the UK’s largest semiconductor manufacturer, to Vishay Intertechnology Inc; advised Kennedy Lewis Investment Management and KKR in relation to a multi-year, multi-jurisdiction auto asset financing arrangement with innovative credit platform Optio Investment Partners; advised LetterOne on an agreement to transfer the majority of Wintershall Dea’s non-Russia-related upstream business to Harbour Energy plc for $11.2bn.

Partner in charge: Sebastian Rice

Other offices: Abu Dhabi, Boston, Dallas, Dubai, Fort Worth, Geneva, Hong Kong, Houston, Irvine, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Antonio, San Francisco, Singapore, Washington DC.

Who we are: Akin’s London office is the hub of the firm’s international offices, partnering with clients from established industries and cutting-edge markets to deliver creative solutions to business-critical issues, helping them seize opportunities and anticipate challenges. Driven by the firm’s forward-thinking leadership, Akin has built a strong culture of innovation and collaboration as well as a talented and diverse workforce committed to the success of its clients and each other.

What we do: Market-leading practices include financial restructuring, corporate transactions (including mergers and acquisitions and joint ventures), private equity, finance (including debt finance and project finance), energy including renewables, debt and equity capital markets, financial services regulatory, disputes, international arbitration, investment funds (including hedge and private equity funds and secondaries transactions), international trade – including in relation to the new National Security & Investment law – as well as EU/UK competition, share incentives and tax.

What we’re looking for: We seek team players who demonstrate enthusiasm and an interest in the commercial world, as well as intellectual curiosity and a focus on solutions. We recruit up to eight trainees every year, so you’ll be integral to the team from day one. To succeed, you’ll enjoy deep thinking in an immersive learning model and be keen to take on early responsibility within a fast-paced business law environment.

What you’ll do: You’ll experience on-the-job experiential learning which will allow you to develop a keen commercial awareness and to take on responsibility and ownership of tasks for each practice area you work in. Examples of tasks you may be involved in during your training include, but are not restricted to, legal research, preparing client communications, attending client meetings, organising deal closing checklists and preparing trial bundles. You’ll receive supportive supervision from England and Wales-qualified practitioners with valuable ongoing feedback and two substantive evaluations during each seat.

You will attend regular practice group and office-wide training on relevant areas of law and practical skills. You will also join webinars and training sessions run by external consultants to aid your professional development throughout your two-year training programme and beyond.

Akin prides itself on a friendly, approachable culture and a strong support network. Our trainee development team and dedicated development partners will coach and guide you throughout the two years. We also have a buddy system, providing you with a peer mentor who can tell you things that formal training can’t and junior associate mentors to support you within each practice area. We have an in-house ‘Be Well’ counselling service which offers unlimited one-on-one support, as well as regular group training sessions.

Perks: Season ticket loan, health insurance, critical illness insurance, life insurance, travel insurance, dental insurance, pension, annual eye exam, employee assistance programme, onsite mental health services, Lexxic support, cycle scheme, discounted ClassPass, Peloton and gym rates, fitness reimbursement programme, virtual clinic service.

Sponsorship

Successful applicants will be required to complete the PGDL (if applicable) and LLM Legal Practice (SQE1&2) to equip them with essential skills prior to starting their qualifying work experience. Our legal education provider is The University of Law and studies will be funded by the firm. We provide a maintenance grant of £20,000 per year of study to our future trainees.

Seat options

Corporate/M&A; finance; financial restructuring; litigation; financial regulation; competition; international trade; investment funds; tax/incentives; some client secondment opportunities.

Tips from the recruiter

1. Do your research: candidates should attend our events, read our recruitment brochure, watch our videos, listen to our podcasts and read our client alerts and press. We want to see genuine interest in the firm and evidence that a candidate has been proactive in finding that information beyond the graduate recruitment website.
2. Attend online application and interview workshops: for more details and to register, please visit the ‘Meet Us’ page of our graduate recruitment website.

Diversity and inclusion