Some Law Firm Perks Are Totally Bonkers
Sonia Hickey, Contributing writer
Law firms are known for offering a wide range of perks to attract and retain top talent, but some of these benefits stand out as particularly unusual or extravagant as the war to make law firms and exciting and rewarding place to be continues to rage.
The range of law firm perks is generally inclusive of matters like healthcare (which varies greatly among firms), gym membership, meal allowances and the like.
But the major big law firms and boutiques are often anxious to go further with perks that will help both in the in-office and work-from-home (WFH) associates.
Firms increasingly provide counselling and stress management courses and programs, hardly surprising given the depression and substance abuse issues afflicting the profession. A UK survey from UK Law Gazette found that 75 percent of surveyed UK firms offer stress counselling sessions to staff. (In the same survey in 2001, over 90 per cent of UK firms also offered gym membership or in-house gym usage.
Kirkland & Ellis for instance has a wide range of perks, but as one Reddit poster noted the relative costs to the firms providing perks is nothing compared to the benefits from high fee-charging efforts: With even first years billing at effectively $11-12 per minute ($700/hour) the cost of free food or a concierge or basically any other perk is just laughably small compared to having the associate bill an additional 0.1 or 0.25 or whatever.
Luxurious offices are always an attraction, particularly for firms seeking to bring their workers ‘home’ to the office. London’s Mishcon de Reya’s office (see below) is described as “palatial” with a client lounge comparable to a high-end hotel lobby according to Roll on Friday. But luxury and cool breakout rooms, meeting rooms and lounges are not unusual in big law firms.
The Law Gazette in 2001 (the early days of perks-gone-mad) showed an array of employee benefits, ranging from standard offerings to unique perks.
Here are some of the weirdest office perks offered by law firms:
Luxurious Getaways and Retreats
Tropical Escapes: Fenwick & West provides all associates with a one-week trip to Hawaii each year, including flights and accommodations for two people.
Global Sports Events: Baker McKenzie hosts a global soccer tournament, flying associate teams from around the world to locations like Belfast or Milan to play and socialize. In 2024 it was Amsterdam when nearly 400 Baker McKenzie footballers and supporters descended upon the city in a competition hosted by the mega-firm’s Amsterdam office.
Lavish Firm Meetings: Boies Schiller Flexner holds its annual meeting at the Ritz Carlton in Key Biscayne, where lawyers from all offices gather with their families for a weekend of dining, dancing, and drinks and it comes with top recommendations for its healthcare perks.
Breakout Time: Orrick gives you 40 hours of billable credit “unplug time” during a vacation, and will assist with lawyers to provide ‘cover’ while you take your breakout time and recharge the batteries for another onset of billing target preparation.
Unique On-Site Amenities
Swimming Pool: Clifford Chance boasts a swimming pool in their Canary Wharf offices, along with various leisure facilities, gym, aerobics studio, treatment facilities and also (of course) including a hairdresser and dry-cleaning service.
Cereal Bar: Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner offered its employees a cereal bar for their exclusive use and most big law firm offer a range of food, cafe and cafeteria options for staffers.
Futsal Pitch: A&O Shearman offer a range of gym and other facilities including free towels and a multi-purpose sports hall where you can play basketball, 3-a-side football, futsal and table tennis
Unusual Services and Activities
Concierge Service: Some top US firms, like Kirkland & Ellis and Ropes & Gray, offer a “Concierge” service where lawyers essentially have a personal assistant on call for tasks ranging from buying family Christmas presents to helping with home moves. Anything to keep lawyers at their desks, you see?
Disney Club Membership: Lovells proudly offers corporate membership to the Disney Club as its perk going beyond the often Mickey Mouse nature of quirky perks.
Free Music Lessons: UK law firm Travers Smith provides free music lessons to its lawyers if they want to take up the offer – presumably to provide relaxation-via-music to their busy days.
As you might imagine, the cash-rich Middle East companies, particularly those in Saudi Arabia, seeking to attract US or UK lawyers provide equally cash-rich incentives, such as luxury housing, generous relocation allowances, private school fees and up to 48 days’ paid leave and public holidays each year.
Wellness and Health Perks
On-Site Masseurs: Nearly half of the surveyed firms in the UK survey (46 percent) have masseurs available for their staff.
Homeopathy Services: Some firms offer access to homeopathic treatments as part of their health benefits package, healthcare and fitness perks being top-of-mind for the law firm of today.
Personal Trainer: Irell provides a personal trainer who comes to their gym, offering one free session per week to employees to tone themselves for all that time at the standing desks.
Quirky Financial Benefits
Profit-Sharing in 401(k): Susman Godfrey makes substantial profit-sharing contributions to associates’ 401(k) accounts.
Beehives – You may remember the Times report from some time ago about the perk offered to London law firm Lewis Silkin’s rooftop beehives at their Chancery Lane offices. Just what the value of the ‘perk’ might be is unknown, but it provided a glimpse of the firm culture – maybe.
Client Referral Bonus: Kramer Levin offers associates 7 percent of receivables for bringing in clients as a special referral bonus.
Unusual Work Arrangements
Global Experience Program: Quinn Emanuel sponsors associates to work anywhere in the world for a week, as long as there’s an internet connection[1].
Military Service Support: Orrick provides 7 hours of billable-hour credit for each regular business day that a military reserve member is out of the office for training[1].
Perks like these demonstrate the lengths to which law firms will go to differentiate themselves and create an attractive work environment for their employees. While some may seem extravagant, they serve to balance the demanding nature of legal work and foster employee satisfaction and loyalty.
