Management at Clifford Chance

Direct managers have been amazing, very responsive to requests for leave and requests for any additional support you need. Performance feedback, praise and recognition for the work you have done and your achievements have also been consistent and positive. Indirect managers are mixed in terms of performance feedback, praise and recognition for work. There is a flat work structure, so you might work to up to 15 different people in each seat. Like in any workplace, some are great and others need a bit more work on giving feedback and praise, and not taking credit for the work of others.

I have had varying managers. Some managers have been great at delegating/ training and providing mentoring as well. Some mentors have been less involved but I have had the opportunity to seek feedback and support from other team members. I believe more senior associate/ supervisor training could be provided.

As a grad, often your manager is a senior associate or counsel. These managers all have different management styles. Due to the firm's structure, grads aren't siloed into working with one particular partner and senior associate, and you will often work on a range of matters with different team members. Depending on what you are working on, you may be working closely with your supervisor on one matter, and be working without your supervisor at all on another matter. For this reason, your supervisor has a pivotal role in communicating feedback from a range of stakeholders. I have personally found most of my supervisors have been great with communication, feedback, praise and recognition. As the firm is very busy, a key challenge can be just finding the time with your supervisor to have those conversations.

You have 'three conversations' during each seat you do every 6-months and then when you finish the grad program and become an associate it's 3-conversations each year to assess performance and provide feedback although you can also do this outside the formal three conversations as well. When you start you are provided with a buddy (who are associates) who help you and everyone is really nice and patient and generally want to see you succeed. It is generally a pretty safe environment to speak up in as well and people listen and take feedback seriously (from all levels).

Law firms can often be hierarchical. Most people are very approachable.

Clifford Chance does not have a hierarchical structure and advocates open-door policy. I feel that I can speak to anyone regardless of their role or position about my work or personal issues.

This depends on the individual person. Everyone is generally nice and will answer any questions you may have but if there are specific areas which you are not getting from a particular supervisor, there are always other people to learn from.

Most partners are very accessible and happy to talk / invest time in your development. Good work is often recognised and valued.

The communication from the overall management of the firm is standard. When it comes to formal performance feedback, it is a little bit relaxed and we haven't received anything formal yet. However, informal feedback is easily accessible and we get good amount of praise and constructive feedback during day to day work.

Managers generally are strong lawyers but poor management skills, and often fail to give performance feedback or communicate with the team. Depends on the team, within finance there is better feedback and praise / recognition of work done but still room for improvement.

We are given buddies and work closely with our partners.

Very good communication streams with more senior lawyers, open door policy and good feedback.

Good deeds often go unpraised and are not celebrated or marked. Managers are generally accessible, however sometimes difficult to reach.

Managers are accessible and offer assistance when requested.

Great internal communication.

Partners that you work for are generally accessible. Feedback is generally okay but could be improved.

Different seniors have different strengths/weaknesses in this regard, but overall the Perth office has a good culture of teaching its juniors.

I have a fantastic manager who is incredibly intelligent and supportive.