What is the difference between working at a top-tier firm and mid-tier firm?

When I was at university I had no real concept of what the difference between working at a top-tier firm and a mid-tier firm would be. Now that I have worked at both a top-tier firm and a mid-tier firm in Sydney, I would like to highlight the main differences to help those deciding what kind of commercial law firm they would like to work at. This is only my perspective and relates to my experience working at a top-tier firm in workplace relations and mergers and acquisitions and working at a mid-tier firm in property, family law and commercial disputes and insolvency.

Areas of law

When I talk about top-tier firms in this article, I am talking about the big six - Allens, Ashurst, Clayton Utz, Freehills, Mallesons and Minter Ellison. Top-tier firms really focus on Mergers & Acquisitions (“M&A”) because they represent large multinationals that are most active in the M&A environment. M&A teams traditionally brought in the most money for top-tiers and subsequently the M&A Partners were the most powerful equity partners at the firm. They still are, but the GFC muted the market for a while and it is still recovering. This focus on M&A is fantastic if you would like a career in M&A. At most top-tier firms, undertaking at least one M&A rotation is compulsory for law graduates, and if you do a summer clerkship at a top-tier firm you are likely to do a rotation in M&A. There is also a high likelihood you would settle in an M&A team permanently after your graduate rotations. This may not be so good if you are not at all interested in M&A.

There are many more mid-tier firms in Sydney than top-tier firms. When I talk about mid-tier firms in this article I am including larger mid-tier firms like Gadens and Corrs Chambers Westgarth and smaller mid-tier firms like Mills Oakley. It is rare to find a mid-tier firm with a focus on M&A. Like top-tier firms, mid-tier firms tend to offer full commercial law services. In my experience, the “hero” teams at mid-tiers that bring in the most money tend to be insurance, banking and finance and commercial advisory. As a law graduate you are more likely to settle in a “hero” team that has capacity to take you and is busy, so be sure to find out who the strong teams at your firm are.

Type of clients

Top-tier firms represent multinational clients as well as the largest national clients such as the Big Four banks, though some mid-tiers increasingly attract Big Four work.  While mid-tier firms also tend to have large, commercial clients, they are mostly national. Mid-tiers will also represent smaller companies and may also represent individuals. 

Type of work

The type of work offered to junior lawyers is impacted by the type of clients the firm represents. Working in litigation at a mid-tier as a law graduate I was able to run Local Court Small Claims Division matters and appear for directions and pre-trial reviews. Having smaller clients and package billing meant that these opportunities to directly improve my advocacy skills were given to me. At a top-tier firm, these opportunities would not exist, because of larger clients and top-tier billing structures. In a litigation team at a top-tier, you may appear for return of subpoena matters, but this could barely constitute advocacy practice. In a top-tier litigation team, you would be working on large litigation matters, which as a junior lawyer would involve a lot of discovery along with drafting affidavits and preparing briefs for barristers. At a mid-tier firm you would still be involved with due diligence and discovery matters, but the matters are generally not as large, so you would not be working on one discovery project for four weeks in a row.

Billable hours

As a law graduate there is no distinct pattern between your billable hours and whether you are at a top-tier firm. At my mid-tier firm graduates had to bill 3 hours a day, and increased commensurate to your experience. I know one top tier firm starts graduates at 4 billable hours a day, which is similar. There are other mid-tier firms that have their law graduates on 7 billable hours a day. Having being a law graduate and understanding the amount of unbillable work you do in a day, this would be difficult to achieve. This is contrary to the general hype that as a law graduate at a top tier you will be expected to bill many more hours than if you worked at a mid-tier.

Colleagues

While I admit this is generalising, the junior lawyers at top-tier firms tend to be sourced almost exclusively from the University of Sydney and UNSW. At a more senior level, your colleagues will be more varied, as they could have come from interstate and overseas. At a junior level at mid-tiers there tends to be much more variety in colleagues. This is not necessarily good or bad, but is something you should know.

Perks

If you are motivated by job perks, top-tier firms are where it is at. While perks have been scaled back post-GFC most top-tier firms will offer taxis home after work, free dinner after 6pm, in-house cafeterias, fruit bowls, free or subsidised gym memberships, weekly massages, as well as paying for relevant higher study. Mid-tier firms do not compare when it comes to perks, which didn’t really bother me.

Culture

Talking about firm culture is risky because not all top-tier firms have the same culture and not all mid-tier firms have the same culture. Culture also varies within a firm from team to team. When I was working at a mid-tier firm I did prefer the culture, as the teams I was in were more extroverted, open and friendly. Again, this was a reflection on the teams I was in rather than because it was a mid-tier firm.

Prestige

Does prestige matter to you? Within the legal profession there is a bit of worshipping those who work at top tier firms. If you were motivated to study law because of the prestige or recognition factor, top-tier firms can satisfy your needs.

College of Law

It is undeniable that top-tier firms do College of Law better. They have paid for in-house sessions and integrate your work load with your study load. At mid-tier firms there can be a mix of admitted and not-admitted law graduates. At my mid-tier I was the only graduate who had not been admitted. I organised and paid for College of Law myself and had to fight for study leave prior to exams.

Career development and advancement

Top-tier firms tend to have the most comprehensive career development programs for junior lawyers that continue after the graduate experience and stretch up to 4 years PQE. Mid-tiers traditionally favour on the job training and do not have as many targeted training programs for junior lawyers. However, while I have no personal experience with this yet, I have been told mid-tiers tend to be more flexible in promoting promising lawyers to Associate and Senior Associate levels, whereas at top-tiers, there are relatively set prerequisite years before promotion.

Choice of area you settle in

Top-tier firms are larger and may be able to absorb your wishes to settle in a particular area of law more readily than mid-tier firms. Teams at top-tier firms are established and well connected to other teams within the firm, so a Partner who is backing you can easily ask another team you would like to settle in to take you on for a rotation. However, top-tier firms do tend to focus on M&A which is where many of their graduates settle, which limit choice. Many mid-tier firms have experienced significant growth the past few years. This growth has often come by poaching teams from different firms. As a result, there can be less collegiality between teams within the firm, as teams are recently arrived and insular. This can make it hard for law graduates to obtain the rotations they would really like, as a Partner backing you will not yet have developed connections with these new teams.

These are my perceptions from working at a top-tier and mid-tier in Sydney. Please share your views and experiences in the comments section.