Working Hours at Clifford Chance

The hours can be quite rough. Some practice areas promote greater flexible/wfh arrangements, but others prefer you to be in the office full time and only wfh for emergencies/as needed (e.g., a plumber, appointment, etc). It is not uncommon to work late/weekends, although few people remain in the office late and most will log back onto work after their commute home. You get comped Uber Eats if you are in the office after 7:30pm, and a comped Uber ride home after 8pm - this makes staying late a lot more fun vs trudging home at 10pm on the bus and missing dinner.

Due to the nature of the work and client expectations, CC is not very flexible with hours. CC is understanding when it comes to leave, study and important personal arrangements which is great.

Very flexible working hours, as expected in working in an international firm, the hours can be long and irregular, however, there is a lot more flexibility in when you work. The flexibility varies based on teams and supervisor/partners, as do expectations on working from home vs in the office

Flexibility is generally afforded more as you become more senior however they are still pretty good with grads if you need the occasional WFH day but overall it's encouraged you come into the office most days.

Depending on the team you are it can either be flexible (e.g. Banking & Finance chooses to WFH a lot) or there can be expectations that you work in the office everyday (litigation & dispute resolution). When it comes to client deadlines there isn't much flexibility.

As is the case for all top tier law firms, the work hours can often be quite demanding given the nature of the work. The firm offers flexibility in terms of working from home when appropriate.

Work hours can be a little bit unpredictable and depending on the practice area it usually depends on the market. It goes in cycles and in some parts of the year it can be extremely busy and in others more quiet. Generally, the company is very understanding when you have to take leave and hours and there is flexibility around when you work.

Flexible work hours depending on the team, often there is some down time and flexibility but the hours can be long as you are working across time zones and jurisdictions. Also longer hours where there is a filing or deal closing.

Obviously a lot of top firms require that you work longer hours - however, as we have our own phones and laptops flexible working is possible.

It is flexible when work is not busy, however when work needs to be done it is expected that you will stay however long necessary to finish it.

Inflexible around deadlines (understandable). Generally understanding.

I work long hours during busy periods.

I work very long hours at the moment, however, this differs throughout the year depending on what is occurring at what time.

I usually work a 7.5-8 hour day. The company is very understanding of the need to balance work and university.

Hours can range from 8:30am - 6pm on a good day to finishing after 1 or 2am. People generally try to avoid weekend work but sometimes it is required for certain transactions

The nature of the work in different teams means they can afford to be more or less flexible. In litigation seats with fewer, larger deadlines, you can afford to be flexibile in when you do your work. In transnational seats with more, smaller deadlines, there is less flexibility in when things need to be done.

As I do non-transactional work, it is possible to predict when I will be busy and plan accordingly. Once you have proven to be a hard worker, there is more flexibility.