- While hours may not be as intense as some US firms, it's at the higher end, especially when considering pay. This also could vary from team to team, and probably is generally in line with other comparable firms. On the flip side, part of the same balancing act is whether you care about doing the most interesting / difficult cases - which typically come with longer hours no matter where you are. Encroachment upon personal times (e.g. evenings and weekends) may vary from department to department, but from my experience at least there's some attempt at balancing it across the team, and at least partners come with that apologetic facial expression when telling you you might have to spend a bit of time over the weekend - whether genuine or not. However even if not, I find that preferable to the expectation that they are entitled to it.
- On progression, Freshfields moved to a "milestone" structure a couple of years ago that's supposed to be performance based. However in practice, I find the speed of progression still stubbornly consistent - everyone still typically moves forward in the queue. While I don't mind this - or indeed the old PQE-based system - it does create a sense of needing to sharp-elbow your way to the front with some people, and makes the whole process of promotion (especially at the senior associate stage) rather murky. Partnership prospects are probably worse as compared to some other places.