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Reed Smith

Interesting selling points

  • Band 1 Chambers and Partners rankings for its Commodities: Derivatives & Energy Trading, Commodities: Physicals, Insurance: Mainly Policyholders and Shipping departments. 
  • Advises clients across a broad range of interesting industries, including cannabis and higher education.
  • Worked on some ground-breaking matters, such as advising PPC Renewables on one of the largest single-site solar photovoltaic projects in Europe, and Microsoft on its acquisition of Metaswitch Networks, a leading provider of virtualised network software and voice, data and communications solutions for operators
  • Truly international, with 31 offices across 11 countries.
  • Dedicated innovation hub: counts innovation-related work towards billable hours targets and offers a potential innovation seat for trainees who express an interest in innovation.
  • Strong commitment to sustainability. Lawyers can count 25 hours of environmental leadership and advocacy training each month towards their hours targets.
  • The firm is involved in a number of pro bono projects including Kids In Need of Defense, the Domestic Abuse Alliance and the Ukraine Refugee Project.
  • Also, offers a pro bono seat to its trainees.

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

Practice areas / services

Reed Smith is a full-service law firm, with a broad range of practice areas including:

  • Corporate
  • Emerging Technologies
  • Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG)
  • Finance
  • Intellectual Property
  • Labor, Employment & Benefits
  • Litigation & Dispute Resolution
  • Managed Care
  • On Chain: Crypto and Digital Assets
  • Private Equity
  • Real Estate
  • Regulatory & Investigations
  • Restructuring & Insolvency
  • Retail and Consumer Goods
  • Tax, Private Client Services and Executive Compensation

Chambers and Partners, a leading analyst of the legal market, has awarded Reed Smith its highest ‘Band 1’ ranking for the following departments: Commodities: Derivatives & Energy Trading, Commodities: Physicals, Insurance: Mainly Policyholders and Shipping. See here for more information.

Key sectors / industries

Reed Smith services a broad range of industries, with some of its highest-value clients operating in the following sectors:

In addition, Reed Smith services the following industries: cannabis; entertainment and media; higher education; life sciences; real estate; retail and consumer goods.

Work

Reed Smith has advised on ground-breaking, complex and cross-border transactions over the past few decades. Some notable examples include:

  • Microsoft: The firm advised Microsoft on its acquisition of Metaswitch Networks, a leading provider of virtualised network software and voice, data and communications solutions for operators.
  • ITV plc: advised ITV plc on the sale of its interest in BritBox International to BBC Studios for £255 million.
  • PPC Renewables: The firm advised PPC Renewables on one of the largest single-site solar photovoltaic projects in Europe.

Older examples

Offices / global footprint / expansion

Headquarters: Broadgate Tower, 1 Blossom Yard, London, E1 6RS

Offices: Reed Smith has 31 offices across 11 countries, including offices in Abu Dhabi, Pittsburgh and Frankfurt.

Insights, internships and other opportunities

Reed Smith offers a variety of opportunities for students wishing to explore law as a future career. These include its First Year Scheme, a 3-day scheme programme aimed at underrepresented groups in law, offering the opportunity to be fast tracked through the vacation scheme; a spring and summer vacation scheme, in which candidates get the opportunity to spend 2-3 weeks in Reed Smith’s office; and the training contract itself, which includes SQE funding.

Training contract

Reed Smith offers a four-seat training contract, with each seat lasting six months. During their training contracts, trainees can choose seats from the following practice areas: pro bono; corporate; tech and data; entertainment and media; financial industry group; global commercial disputes; global regulatory enforcement; labour and employment; real estate; transportation; and energy and natural resources. There are also sometimes opportunities to sit in the innovation team.

Secondments

Trainees can apply for a 6 month secondment. International secondments are available in Dubai and Paris, and client secondment are also available in the final 6 months of the training contract (previously including secondments at Barclays and Amazon).

Technology and innovation

Reed Smith is committed to utilising technology to provide clients with flexible and innovative legal services, with related initiatives including:

  • Draft Constructor: Reed Smith’s market leading system for auto-generating drafts of routinely used forms and documents.
  • Gravity Stack: a driving force behind Reed Smith’s legal tech offering, Gravity Stack provides innovative solutions for project management, e-discovery and data privacy.
  • OuRSite: Reed Smith offers this extranet where clients can collaborate on everything from simple document sharing to customised deal, case and contract management systems.
Corporate social responsibility

Reed Smith offers a pro bono seat, making pro bono advice an essential part of its work. Recent projects have included:

  • Kids in Need of Defense (KIND): Reed Smith in the US and the UK works with KIND. The firm’s lawyers prepare applications for children and their families. The firm also serves on KIND’s advisory boards. 
  • Domestic Abuse Response Alliance: The firm’s lawyers in the UK provide pro bono advice and representation to survivors of domestic abuse in need of protective injunctions. 
  • Ukraine Refugee Project: Reed Smith lawyers volunteer to travel to Warsaw, Poland to provide free legal advice to people escaping the conflict in Ukraine and wishing to relocate to the UK. 

Diversity and inclusion

As part of its ‘All Rise’ initiative, Reed Smith has launched a variety of initiatives to achieve its diversity, equity and inclusion mission. To give a few examples:

  • Reed Smith Disability Inclusion Virtual Summit: Since 2019, Reed Smith has hosted a Disability Inclusion Virtual Summit which is a flagship event to celebrate International Day of Persons with Disabilities. It provides a platform for discussion and progress. 
  • Women’s Initiative Network of Reed Smith (WINRS): This is the firm’s internal network focused on how to more effectively develop, reward, engage and attract women lawyers. It has a number of working groups which are focused on doing this.
  • Multicultural Network: Reed Smith launched its Multicultural Network in 2015 and relaunched it in 2018. The network forms part of the firm’s wider diversity and inclusion strategy.