• Chambers and Partners has awarded the firm Band 2 rankings for its Banking & Finance and Investment Funds departments.
• Known for its work advising clients in the Healthcare & Life Science industry. 
• Notable clients include Virgin Media O2, Bain Capital, Liberty Global, Google, Partners Group and TransMedics Group.
• The firm offers a training contract for a candidate fluent in English and Japanese to train in the London office and then relocate once qualified to the Tokyo office. 
• The firm has a dedicated Life Sciences practice, which trainees can apply to sit in.
• Relatively small trainee intake.
• Ropes & Gray focuses on developing legal tech solutions for its clients via its Insight Lab. 
• The firm has a mission – supported by its diversity and inclusion strategy - to promote a more inclusive workplace, in part through establishing a number of employee networks. 

We cover these selling points in more detail below, alongside other relevant firm facts and characteristics.

Practice areas / services

Ropes & Gray has a broad range of practice areas including: 

• Advanced E-Discovery and AI Strategy 
• Alternative Asset Opportunities 
• Analytics & Behavorial Science Consulting (R&G Insights Lab) 
• Anti-Corruption/International Risk 
• Antitrust 
• Appellate & Supreme Court 
• Asset Management 
• Business Restructuring 
• Capital Markets/Governance 
• Charitable Foundations 
• Commercial Litigation 
• Corporate & Securities Litigation 
• Cryptocurrency & Blockchain 
• Data, Privacy & Cybersecurity 
• DE&I Counseling and Investigations 
• Derivatives & Commodities 
• Emerging Companies & Venture Capital 
• Employment, Executive Compensation & Employee Benefits 
• Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) 
• ERISA 
• Family Offices 
• Finance 
• Government Enforcement/White Collar Criminal Defense 
• Health Care 
• Higher Education 
• Intellectual Property 
• Investment Management 
• Life Sciences 
• Litigation & Enforcement 
• Mergers & Acquisitions 
• National Security & Foreign Investment 
• Private Equity 
• Private Funds and Regulatory Compliance for Private Funds 
• Real Estate Investments & Transactions 
• Securities & Futures Enforcement 
• Shareholder Engagement 
• Sponsor Solutions 
• Tax 
• Technology 

Chambers and Partners, a leading analyst of the legal market, has awarded Ropes & Gray its ‘Band 2’ ranking for the following departments: Banking & Finance: Borrowers: Big-Ticket and Investment Funds: Private Equity: Secondaries. See here for more information

Key sectors / industries

Ropes & Gray services a broad range of sectors, with its most high profile clients operating in the following sectors: 

• Financial Institutions 
• Financial Services 
• Healthcare & Life Sciences 
• Private Equity 
• Technology

In addition, Ropes & Gray services the following industries: Asset Management, Cryptocurrency & Blockchain, Higher Education, Infrastructure, Manufacturing & Industrial Services, Real Estate, Retail & Consumer Brands and Sports.  

Work

Some of Ropes and Gray’s most notable work includes: 

• Liberty Global: The firm advised Liberty Global on its acquisition of shares held by Warner Bros. Discovery in Formula E. 
• Virgin Media O2: Ropes & Gray advised Virgin Media O2 on two high-yield bond insurances. 
• Bain Capital: The firm represented Bain Capital in an over $200 million strategic growth investment in Serán Bioscience.

Offices / global footprint / expansion

Headquarters: Boston, Prudential Tower. 

Offices: The firm has 13 offices across the globe including in Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong, Dublin, Chicago and San Francisco to name but a few. Its London office is at 60 Ludgate Hill. 

Insights, internships and other opportunities

The firm offers a two-week spring or summer vacation scheme. The vacation scheme includes the opportunity to undertake practice group and client work, be mentored by a member of the firm, and supported by a trainee buddy. The vacation scheme also includes an assessment for the firm’s training contract, where vac schemers are asked to research and write a short blog post, and work together in small groups to research and present a mock pitch presentation using live client examples. 

Alongside the vacation scheme, the firm has a podcast called “Trainee Insights”, which offers insights into life as a trainee or junior lawyer at Ropes & Gray (click here to listen). The firm has also published a “Legal Lingo Directory” to help aspiring and junior lawyers understand key commercial law terms. 

Training contract

The firm recruits around 12 trainees to its London office per year, all from its vacation scheme. Trainees are able to attend social events and receive, on a monthly basis, a copy of the future trainee London Bulletin from the moment they join the firm. 

Ropes & Gray’s training contract includes training such as a two-week comprehensive and interactive training camp and a legal and skills training programme. It also features a structured performance review system every three months and a Trainee Liaison Committee, which enables trainees to provide feedback on the training contract. 

The training contract has four-seats, with a focus on transactional work (a seat in private equity is mandatory). Alongside this, trainees can also sit in leveraged finance, real estate, tax, anti-corruption and international risk, asset management, antitrust, data, privacy and cybersecurity, business restructuring, special situations, and life sciences. 

Secondments

Every six months, one of the firm’s trainees gets the opportunity to go to the firm’s Hong Kong office as part of the firm’s Global Opportunities Programme. There is also an opportunity for a candidate fluent in English and Japanese to participate in the London office training contract and have a guaranteed seat at the Tokyo office. Meanwhile, client secondments depend on business need at the time of rotation. 

Ropes & Gray describes pro bono and community work as being “integral” to the firm. This is evidenced by a number of its initiatives and commitments, including:

• Racial Justice Pro Bono Opportunities Network: This network was launched within the firm and focuses on addressing both near-term racial injustice and longer-term systemic change. 
• BeWELL Programme: This programme supports employees by offering them resources, education and compassionate support to enhance the emotional (myMind), physical (myHealth) and financial (myWealth) health of employees. The programme includes resilience training, mindfulness mediations, physical fitness challenges, presentations on retirement planning, and more. 
• QLegal Clinic: The firm supervises postgraduate law students from Queen Mary University advising entrepreneurs and collaborating with the Imperial College tech hub to provide assistance to sustainable start-ups. 
• Kids in Need of Defense UK (KIND UK): The firm partners with KIND UK to help undocumented minors obtain citizenship or leave to remain in the UK. 

Diversity and inclusion

Ropes & Gray describes its D&I strategy as one of its “most important missions”. This commitment is reflected in examples including: 

• Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee: The committee works within the London office to build cultural awareness and cultural competence through programmes that focus on understanding bias, discrimination and racism, and building allyship. 
• Attorney Forums/Resource Networks: The firm has a variety of forums and resource networks, including its Multicultural Forum, Women's Forum and LGBTQ+ Forum. 
• Identifying potential within those from diverse backgrounds: The firm has partnered with Rare Recruitment, using its Contextual Recruitment System to recruit trainees. It has also partnered with Sponsors of Educational Opportunity London (SEO) and is a Corporate Sponsor of the Black Solicitors Network.