At McGuireWoods, our attorneys and staff can expect to be part of a diverse culture built on respect, unwavering client service and a collective desire for professional excellence. With an exciting work environment that features new and innovative technologies, career advancement training, top-of-the-line benefits options, and the opportunity to engage with our many communities across the United States and overseas, our employees gain the experience they need to excel as part of one of the world’s most sought-after law firms.
An evolving career is a strong career, and we encourage our employees to take advantage of the professional development services offered to them, including training and advancement opportunities designed to encourage leadership, promote collaboration and teach better use of technology. McGuireWoods employees benefit from on-the-job training, in-house seminars, courses in continuing legal education and an array of career development programs through Practising Law Institute.
McGuireWoods dedicates substantial resources to supporting new lawyers and integrating lateral attorneys and their clients into the firm. For students, our summer programs offer individual training and experience working directly with our lawyers, while on-campus interviews connect recruiters with potential employees. For new associates and staff, a McGuireWoods career offers a healthy work/life balance, competitive salaries and full benefits, and a rich culture built on our deep commitment to diversity and inclusion.
Our departments, industry groups, client teams, offices and committees provide many opportunities for lawyers to help drive the firm’s success and shape its future. Our attorneys benefit from cutting-edge technology support, marketing and business development, professional development and knowledge management. We also enrich our local communities through volunteerism, fundraising, scholarships, sponsorships and a thriving pro bono program.
Our lawyers are McGuireWoods’ most valuable resource, and incorporating lateral associates and partners only strengthens our legal teams. In recent years, the firm has welcomed into its ranks leading international lawyers and recent corporate counsel, former state and U.S. prosecutors and agency officials, and former U.S. Supreme Court clerks.
Overview
A thriving, full-service firm, McGuireWoods has 1,100 lawyers in 21 offices worldwide. Over our 186-year history, we have earned our clients’ loyalty with deep and broad legal expertise, a passion for understanding their businesses and markets, innovative delivery of business-minded solutions, and award-winning client service.
Many of the firm’s practices enjoy nationwide recognition and consistently are ranked among the industry elite by Thomson Reuters, Chambers and Partners and BTI Consulting Group, among others. Our worldwide presence has grown with the addition of offices in London, Dallas, Houston, Austin and San Francisco. In 2015, we formed a strategic alliance with Shanghai firm FuJae Partners. And we can augment our legal services with public affairs expertise through our affiliate, McGuireWoods Consulting.
Initiatives
Pro Bono and Community Service
The firm regularly donates to more than 300 nonprofit organizations throughout the world, and our lawyers give thousands of pro bono hours on an annual basis to assist the underprivileged on death penalty cases, child support enforcement prosecutions, housing law cases, battered spouse representations, wills and powers of attorney, court-appointed criminal defense, and general counseling for nonprofit groups.
To support better collaboration and communication with clients, and afford greater transparency, McGuireWoods developed and implemented a proprietary legal project management program called ClientSync. This system plans and tracks budgets, appropriately delegates tasks, manages client communications and derives feedback from clients.
Alternative Fee Arrangements (AFAs)
McGuireWoods is a pioneer in the creative use of alternatives to the billable hour, offering much-needed certainty to our clients’ spending on outside counsel. BTI Consulting Group has recognized us among an elite group of law firms that are absolutely the best at “making alternative fee arrangements the successful cost control tool they were intended to be.”
McGuireWoods offers tremendous opportunities to minority law students, like its Diversity Scholarship Program and the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity 1L Scholars Program. The firm also participates in the Charlotte Legal Diversity Clerkship Program and sponsors an internship program in partnership with the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association. McGuireWoods is consistently recognized for its diversity initiatives.
- Chambers Diversity and Inclusion Awards
– USA Veterans Program of the Year: Highly Commended, 2020
– USA Pro Bono Program of the Year: Finalist, 2020
- Los Angeles Business Journal Best Law Firms 2019: Recognized for diversity, talent and exceptional client service
- Financial Times’ 2019 North America Innovative Lawyers report: Honored for helping pass the HAVEN Act, reversing an inequity in the law that harmed service members facing financial distress
- Chicago Committee, Most Partners of Color in Firm Management 2019: Honored for the firm’s percentage of racially or ethnically diverse lawyers who are firm department chairs or hold positions on the firm’s management or executive committee
For more information, read our Diversity & Inclusion brochure.