DLA Piper FAQ

Good benefit package incl. medical insurance.

HR department and senior office management

Listen and give staff a chance to prove themselves. Don’t use passive aggressive techniques to undermine individuals.

Good medical benefit and coverage. Good opportunities for career progression.

Lack of support. Demanding billable hours and target.

Opportunity to work directly with partners and initiate business development opportunities through diverse approaches

High turnover in the supporting departments.

Free parking, Keurig coffee maker

Leadership only cares about bottom line maximization, at detriment to employee morale. Raises and bonuses only go to upper management or higher. There are plenty of directors and managers who do not manage any employees, and only a few people who do the actual work. There is no mentorship of any kind. People are only looking out for themselves. Plenty of sexual harassment deserving of punches to the face has occurred, but people are afraid to say anything since it's all a "boys club". The latest DLA Piper headlines are not a surprise. They cut trash pickup to every other day to save money. Water was shutoff in the building, but they still made everyone come in to work, with port-a-potties outside in the cold. Don't work here. It used to be nice to work here a long time ago. Not anymore.

Quit

Contract attorneys were given a great deal of flexibility in terms of hours and working from home as needed. People in the office were friendly even if they weren't working with you. The hourly rate for contract attorneys was very competitive. The work could be tedious but once you had worked there for a while, they will trust you with increased responsibility and more interesting assignments. They gave me two-weeks notice when my contract position ended and let me keep working during those two weeks which they didn't have to do but I appreciated it.

Contract work was limited to the specific case you were hired for so if that case slowed down there wasn't work from other cases to pick up the slack so your hours would go down. Contract attorneys had no billable hour requirements but since you are paid by the hour, fewer hours meant less pay. Though most of the contract attorneys in the office were there much longer than an average contract position, contract attorneys were also the first to go if the case you're assigned to slows down or there are budgetary issues or if a global pandemic hits but that is to be expected from a contract attorney position.