Weil Gotshal & Manges (London)

Our view...

Weil, Gotshal & Manges is, along with Shearman and Sterling, probably the most anglicised of the US firms over here - and so probably the most likely to be here for the long haul. Insiders report that the hours are long, but no worse than at other big name City practices and generally not at the absurd levels sometimes rumoured to be found at smaller US offices over here.

2006 was the tenth anniversary of the firm's London office, and the teething troubles of departing partners are now a distant memory. Turnover for the office has rocketed - it stood at £52million in 2005. Even when the economy took a dip and other firms suffered, Weils managed to pick up the restructuring work on Enron, Global Crossing, WorldCom and Parmalat - it's been coining it. Bonuses for US associates have been top of the tree for the second year running - up to $40,000 last year - and London salaries jumped in June 2007 to stellar rates: how many NQs are going to grumble at £90k?

WGM has been recruiting like crazy, and it stunned the City in February 2006 by poaching star private equity partner Marco Compagnoni from Lovells. With around 130 lawyers over here it's one of the biggest US offices in the City. Clients for which the firm has recently acted include Citibank, Bank of America, Bear Stearns, CSFB, Lehman Bros, Apax and GE - the work is as high profile as anywhere.

The practice is concentrated on profitable corporate and finance work, so if property or litigation is your thing you'll need to look elsewhere. Bear in mind that however committed it is to the UK, decisions affecting your future are still made by partners thousands of miles away - back in 2002 the London Project Finance department was closed on the orders of New York.

Still, the firm is very keen to stress that it is in London to stay, and its global corporate head has relocated from New York to London to emphasise this. The fact that London is its fastest growing office (and the largest after New York), and that the office has generated significant profits for the last four years would also seem to support this. If hard-core corporate work is your bag, the combination of cash and clients make for a good deal. Plus, as one assistant comments, you get the benefit of "working for a firm with the same name as an infection spread by rats". Which is nice.

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