Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe
Interesting selling points
- The firm is known for its work with clients in the energy and infrastructure, financial and technology sectors.
- Chambers and Partners has awarded the firm Band 1 for its Private Equity: Venture Capital Investment department and a Band 2 ranking for its Energy & Natural Resources: Power, Renewables & Alternative Energy department.
- Interesting range of service areas, including AI and machine learning, fintech, impact finance and investment, sports law, and technology transactions.
- Notable clients include Hornsea One, Currencycloud, KPMG, PayPal, ABN AMRO Ventures and Mosaic Capital.
- The firm’s training contract consists of six four-month seats, so is more flexible than the classic four seat training contract.
- Relatively small trainee pool of 10 trainees per year.
- Trainees have access to the firm’s unique training offering - the Orrick University - which hosts over 350 substantive legal and business skills courses that can be accessed on demand.
- Orrick has its own technology offerings including Orrick Labs, Orrick CaseStream and Orrick Analytics.
We cover these selling points in more detail below, alongside other relevant firm facts and characteristics.
Practice areas / services
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe is a full-service law firm, with a broad range of practice areas including:
- Antitrust & Competition
- Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning
- Automotive Technology & Mobility
- Banking & Finance
- Capital Markets
- Class Action Defense
- Competition & Benefits
- Complex Litigation & Dispute Resolution
- Cyber, Privacy & Data Innovation
- eDiscovery & Information Governance
- Employment Law & Litigation
- Energy
- Environmental, Social & Corporate Governance (ESG)
- Financial & Fintech Advisory (FFA)
- Financial Services Litigation
- Fintech
- Funds
- Impact Finance and Investment
- Infrastructure
- Insurance Recovery
- Intellectual Property
- International Arbitration & Dispute Resolution
- International Trade & Investment
- Investigations
- Life Sciences
- Mass Torts & Product Liability
- Mergers & Acquisition
- Patents
- Pay Equity
- Private Equity
- Public Finance
- Public Policy
- Real Estate
- Restructuring
- Securities Litigation
- Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs)
- Sports Law
- Strategic Advisory & Government Enforcement (SAGE)
- Structured Finance
- Supreme Court & Appellate
- Tax
- Tax Advocacy
- Technology Companies Group
- Technology Transactions
- Trade Secrets Litigation
- Trademark, Copyright & Media
- Trials
- White Collar, Investigations, Securities, Litigation & Compliance
Chambers and Partners, a leading analyst of the legal market, has awarded Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe its highest ‘Band 1’ ranking for its Private Equity: Venture Capital Investment department and a Band 2 ranking for its Energy & Natural Resources: Power, Renewables & Alternative Energy department. See here for more information.
Key sectors / industries
Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe has a number of high-profile clients, but its most profitable come from the following sectors:
Work
Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe works with a range of interesting and high profile clients, for example:
- PayPal: Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe represented PayPal Ventures on its investment in the $135 million Series B financing of LayerZero Labs.
- ABN AMRO: The firm advised ABN AMRO Ventures on the sale of the European open banking platform Tink to Visa for $2.1 billion.
- Mosaic Capital: Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe advised Mosaic Capital on the funding round for Highview Power, which raised £300 million.
- Currencycloud: the firm advised Currencycloud, a London based global platform that enables banks and fintechs to provide innovative foreign exchange solutions for cross-border payments, on its acquisition by Visa for up to £700 million.
Click here to learn more about Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe’s work on more recent deals and cases |
Offices / global footprint / expansion
Headquarters: San Francisco, 405 Howard Street.
Offices: The firm has 25 offices worldwide, including 12 offices in the US and various offices across Europe, including an office in London.
Insights, internships and other opportunities
The firm offers a vacation scheme which takes place in the summer. It gives participants the opportunity to spend time in the London office and get an insight into what life as a trainee is like. It is a two-week scheme where participants spend time in two of the firm’s London practices. The scheme is the primary way to apply for a training contract, but the firm also considers direct training contract applications.
Training contract
Each year the firm takes on around 10 trainees. Trainees sit in six four-month seats, including a compulsory contentious seat. Seat options include Antitrust/competition, Banking & Finance, Cyber, Privacy & Data Innovation, Employment Law, Energy & Infrastructure, International Arbitration, Litigation & Dispute Resolution, M&A and Private Equity, Restructuring, Tax & Incentives, Technology Companies Group, and Technology Transactions.
During each seat, a trainee is supervised by a partner and throughout the training contract, trainees are supported by coaching and mentoring. There is a dedicated trainee partner who heads the UK trainee programme who helps to ensure trainees receive a varied set of assignments and skill-building opportunities. Trainees can also access the Orrick University, which has over 350 substantive legal and business skills courses.
Click here to learn more about Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe’s training contract |
Secondments
Trainees may apply for a client secondment depending on business need. There are no international secondments.
Technology and innovation
Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe believes that “every company” must play a part in the tech space in order to compete. In line with this mindset, the firm’s work in this area includes:
- Orrick CaseStream: this is a legal tech offering which the firm developed in-house. It is designed to support more effective and efficient case management, and better collaboration between the firm’s lawyers and client teams.
- Orrick Labs: the firm launched this initiative to accelerate the development of customised technology solutions. The lab is made up of in-house technologists who look for opportunities to help the firm to become more efficient, whilst improving quality and reducing human error.
- Orrick Analytics: the firm established a team of lawyers, statisticians and other professionals to come together to speed up and enhance the accuracy of document reviews for clients. The team works together using sophisticated technology.
Corporate social responsibility
The firm is not just committed to fighting for equality in principle, but also in practice. This is reflected in its pro bono work, which includes:
- Orrick Racial Justice Fellowship: in 2021, the firm set up the fellowship to enable experienced lawyers to devote an entire year, full-time and fully compensated, to work on civil rights, racial justice and economic empowerment issues at various organisations.
- East London Business Alliance (ELBA): in 2022, the firm announced a partnership with ELBA to help with community responsibility initiatives, including supporting local schools and universities to educate people regarding their basic legal rights, and to help individuals develop employability skills.
- Refugee Legal Support and Safe Passage International: alongside 13 other law firms, Orrick has helped to launch this large-scale offering of pro bono representation for Afghan refugees as they try to find safe routes to sanctuary and reunite with family members in the UK following the Taliban takeover.
Diversity and inclusion
The firm believes its commitment to equality and equity has to be reflected in what the firm says, how it acts, and what it values as an institution. As such, its diversity and inclusion initiatives include:
- DEI Advisory Board: The firm works in collaboration with the world’s best companies to hold itself accountable for diversity and inclusion matters. These boards are led by a chairman from the firm and are composed of leaders of corporate legal departments and industry experts. The boards meet regularly to share best practices, benchmark the firm, and give candid feedback on the firm’s progress.
- Affinity Groups: these groups take action and advocate for change within the firm and connect with wider communities outside of the firm. These groups include Asian Pacific lawyers, Black Lawyers of Orrick, Latinx Lawyers and LGBTQ+ lawyers, to name but a few.
- Allyship Training: the firm offers allyship training for all employees, which addresses intersectionality, remote mentoring and sponsorship, as well as strategies for becoming a better ally and prioritising wellness. Leaders at the firm also receive specialised ally training on top of this.