Pluspunten
amazing, talented people to work with. Culture has lots of personality and people are encouraged to be themselves. The firm is "chocca block" full of intelligent, ambitious, creative down to earth types. Highly entrepreneurial and innovative environment to work in. They develop business advisors not just lawyers. A fantastic place for lawyers to start and/or develop their career. The investment in the training and development of fee earners is excellent, evidenced by the firm's Academy initiative. Management really care about their fee earners, especially those who have worked with them for many years. Loyalty and commitment is rewarded. Lots of good work for the lawyers - it's a great place to develop a legal career. Fantastic facilities for clients and staff as well as the usual in terms of benefits.
Minpunten
the same is not true if you are in a support role. You're not valued as much by the business or the partners if you're in a business support role. This was not true until two years ago and was why the firm did so well in the Sunday Times Best Companies in previous years. Everyone was seen as being part of the success of the firm. Inclusivity rather exclusivity reigned supreme. Not anymore... Some partners have a bad attitude, treating support staff like servants to command at their beck and call rather than human beings with equal rights as people. Chronic neglect of training/development for business support functions. No focussed strategy to training business support professionals, only basic soft and general skills training is made available. Therefore, Mishcon is purely a stepping stone to better things for the more discerning, ambitious business support professional. Mishcon has become a highly politicised environment caused by the hiring of a number of senior individuals from highly politicised environments. The core values used to matter above all else. That is no longer true. Inconsistent quality in management and development of people in teams across the business. Lots of evidence that the firm has grown too fast, too soon with little to no evidence of proactive management on how core values/culture will be maintained. Senior management publicly pat themselves on the back in the press for excellent financial performance year on year, but take little to no interest in what it's like for those on the ground. Issues with bullies in senior management, i.e. those who "do not live the core values", are not proactively addressed; while others that do are taken for granted. People are very unhappy. This is particularly evidenced by several key "Mishcon" people who embodied the values leaving over recent years.