associate

business development manager

communication specialist

talent coordinator

regulatory affairs specialist

DLA Piper

I was hired to assist a partner as his legal assistant.  I replaced an assistant who was supposed to "train" me; however, she never did as she accepted a position on another floor.
I showed up early on my first day of work to find I had 2 cubicles to clean-up & organize.  The paperwork was thrown all over the floor, the piles were approximately 4 feet high.  I had no chair, no one introduced themselves to me, the phones were ringing yet I couldn't get to the phone as it was underneath the piles of paperwork thrown all over.
I  thought someone was playing a joke on me!
I look up to see the Partner I was supposed to assist standing over me.  He says follow me into my office, so I do.
His office was more of a mess!!  I couldn't even see the carpet as paperwork, files, post-its, etc. was thrown throughout his office.
The guy was not only rude & arrogant but just flat out mean.
I tried to continue to be upbeat & tried to organize all these areas, but the Partner yelled how this is how he likes it!
After a couple days of being treated meanly & ignored by the other assistants, the HR dept. called me to see how I was doing.
I expressed my concerns:  I've never been trained by the former assistant as she took off, I found out that I was the 5th assistant to this Partner in a very short period of time (all of whom "didn't work out"), my work areas are a disaster, the Partner is just mean & rude, I can't read anything he gives me as his handwriting is not legible, I have no one to turn to for any sort of direction because the assistants all act like the "Stepford Wives".
I resigned within 2 weeks of being hired.

DLA Piper has a lot of offices, so certainly there will be differences between them. However, in my position, which allows me to work across multiple offices and interact closely with all levels of staff and attorneys, I must say that this firm is truly a good place to work. 

HR is not just a compliance/paperwork department at DLA. They actually care about people and are always willing to help. They work with management to help them become better managers, and they truly advocate for the people. 

Department managers vary, but on average are very understanding and caring, genuinely trying to help their people succeed. In LA in particular, while not everyone participates, pre-pandemic there were a lot of office activities geared toward bringing people closer together. Even during covid times, there have been many virtual events to keep the connection strong. 

The environment is professional but light-hearted and friendly. Most people greet you with a smile in the hallway, and people at every position level are approachable. It does not seem that there are cliques or hierarchical structures overly present at DLA Los Angeles. 

The offices are gorgeous, DTLA and Century City. Prime locations. Decent benefits and very generous PTO allotment. One thing’s for sure - someone is always willing to listen, even if they can’t help in the particular situation. Like any law firm, there are law firm-specific issues that crop up, but it truly seems that “jerks” don’t last long at DLA if they manage to get through the rigorous interview and screening process. 

Enjoyed working with a team of like minded individuals. We all went above and beyond towards getting the required tasks done for our department. “Direct” managers always had an open door policy and was always willing to receive staff’s input towards making policies better for the workflow.  The family feel and trust built made the work environment more like a second home, where you would not only feel supported, but appreciated.  Recent years, the environment took a turn due to the consistent  structural changes leaving staff feeling overworked, underpaid, and neglected.  Job security within our department became a major concern, so for the majority of us whom sacrificed personal time away from our own family towards meeting the high expectations due to limited staff, was faced with a major disappointment.

Advice - “Upper” management should pay more attention to the workers who put forth the hard work and sweat behind the scenes otherwise the loss of valuable players will continue.  Maybe seeking input from the direct managers within the trenches oppose to relying on marketing statistics will provide realistic insight towards what it takes to keep your employees.

-Typical work day: high volume of work coming in with not enough staff to handle it. Partners are demanding and management is too busy to support all of its employees. 
-what I learned: general terms and procedures in the law industry, some work management, working in new databases. 
-Management: management and the seasoned employees are very knowledgeable and help when they can but, again, the obscene high volume of work makes it difficult to support one another to foster proficiency and excellence. 
-workplace culture: excellence for the attorneys no matter what.  A few phrases that were consistently mentioned in meetings were, “the attorneys keep our lights on so we need to do what it takes to make them happy” , “take your time and make sure your quality is excellent but also make sure you are meeting your production numbers…even if you  need to put in a little extra to make it”, to name a few. 
-hardest part of the job: near impossible to keep up with the work volume. Most of my co-workers (all with families/children) HAD to work 10-12 hours to just make production numbers when they were hired for a 40 hr work week.
-Enjoyable part of the job: the position was remote which does have its perks. I enjoyed learning new terms and processes. 


Enjoyed interacting with different departments in the firm.  Management was always very staff-conscious.  Enjoyed interfacing with other Senior Executives, CEOs and VIPs; assisted with co-coordinating and monitoring workflow activities and Legal Administrative Assistant assignments; assisted with assessing Legal Administrative Assistant skills and identified training needs; worked with Manager on department and firm functions and projects.  Assisted with scheduling of vacations and other absences and prepared daily log sheets for daily assignments while ensuring a smooth workflow for the legal staff.  Handled attorney travel arrangements – both domestic and international.  Managed daily calendar and attorney time records.  Created, transcribed, revised and maintained a variety of legal documents to include charts, subpoenas, pleadings, contracts, deeds, articles of incorporation, exhibits and letters.  Maintained client and billing files, scheduled depositions and closings, answered telephones, sorted and distributed mail, managed e-mails and contact lists for attorneys.  Assisted with work overflow after hours and on weekends.  Other related duties

I worked in the international arbitration group for my first two years, and I loved it. Then those lawyers all left suddenly. Then I worked in the general litigation group which was much less pleasant but still OK. The lawyers were a smart fun group. They kept me hopping. Then they left, too, for various reasons, but all within a year. The firm didn't replace the associates, it just kept taking on partners (laterals). I found out that clients didn't want to pay NY lawyer fees, so they were having lawyers from other offices (DC, Boston, NJ, Chicago, SF) work on NY cases. But NY courts are tricky. As a Sr. Paralegal, I had to teach them about NY procedure. Which would have been fine, except that everything was done on an emergency basis, no face-to-face contact with anyone, no rewarding feeling of being part of a team. Frankly it sucked. I stayed on with only sporadic work, waiting for them to let me go, which they finally did with a nice severance package.

From the very first day I knew I made a mistake. My immediate team was very good but senior management was horrible, with constant and rapid turn over. Leadership at executive level was a cult, and frankly they are not that good to deserve that. 

I would not advise anyone to work there, unless you’re happy being treated as a cog in a wheel, where no one cares about you or your happiness, and you are willing to work for an uncaring or unkind overlord. 

Pay was fair, I will admit. Benefits were below what you would expect, and kept getting cut. When I was there they acted like we were in the 2008/9 financial depression when it came to how to treat staff, when they never understood that everyone could find a new job in a day (or less). I imagine they thought it was an honor to work for them, but really it was not. 

The firm feels like a collection of individual lawyers and law firms with no continuity and no culture.  The NY office constantly feels like a ghost town because so many people work remotely.  The lawyers working on any given case seem totally random - one minute you could be working with the best partner in the firm, the next, the worst.  Associates generally do not feel that they are mentored and there is very little opportunity for advancement because 99% of the partners lateral in.  On the plus side, associates get much more experience doing things like writing dispositive motions and working on arbitrations and trials than at other firms.  Also, the co-managing partners of the NY office are making some improvements to make the office more friendly, warm, and collegial.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The company offers great benefits but does not value work-life balance as much as it claims. The company is focused on profits and not so much on the staff’s wellbeing. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
I am doing the work of 2-4 people at any given time and am mentally and physically stressed by it. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Profits over everything else. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Demanding and exhausting. Often you are stuck in front of your computer from the moment you sit down until the moment you realise you haven't had lunch, but it's hard to walk away because you know there will be a ton of work waiting for you when you return.

The attorneys you work for will be either "Mean Girls" or "Heathers" depending on your generation (and theirs).
Your manager will be in a completely different part of the country and will have no idea what you do or the challenges you face on a daily basis.
You will beg, literally beg, for help from IT, Litigation Support, and other departments and never receive it.
Your supervisor will have his favorites and they will get your hours.
Young attorneys will try to take billable work from you.
You will be encouraged to backstab other staff to take their billable hours.
You will be worked until they have no further use for you, then you will be fired.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Associate 1 salary reported	$412,500 per year
Business development manager 4 salaries reported	$171,020 per year
Communication specialist 4 salaries reported	$43.20 per hour
Talent coordinator 3 salaries reported	$38.89 per hour
Regulatory affairs specialist 2 salaries reported	$192,259 per year

Working at DLA Piper: Company Overview and Reviews

DLA Piper

DLA Piper Ratings

Popular jobs at DLA Piper

Salary Satisfaction

Job Seeker Tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected