Working at Covington

More than 1,300 lawyers practice in Covington’s Beijing, Brussels, Dubai, Frankfurt, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, New York, Palo Alto, San Francisco, Seoul, Shanghai, and Washington offices. Our lawyers are involved in an extraordinary range of practice areas across the globe.

Our distinctively collaborative culture allows us to be truly one team globally, drawing on the diverse experience of lawyers and advisors across the firm by seamlessly sharing insight and expertise.

We know that the character of our future is tied to the quality and energy of those who join us now.

We have achieved, and continue to maintain, the firm’s preeminent position, through our dedication to the highest standards of client service and a genuine commitment to close collaboration with one another.

Client Service

The interests of our clients always comes first, and our mission is to provide the best possible representation to our clients. We bring to this effort exceptional lawyers from diverse backgrounds and experiences, and we combine our skills in handling highly complex corporate and litigation matters with the deep industry expertise grounded in our regulatory practices. We are thoughtful and creative in our approach to problems, dedicated and hardworking, responsive to our clients’ needs, and zealous and ethical in advocating our clients’ positions and achieving their goals.

In serving client needs, we dedicate ourselves to understanding our clients’ businesses and the particular competitive, regulatory, and political environment in which they operate. By appreciating our clients’ individual circumstances, we can better tailor the staffing of matters to meet their needs, and remain focused on achieving results that bear in mind their particular legal and business objectives. The depth of our expertise – both in substantive law and the industries in which our clients compete – gives us the ability to deliver service of the highest quality. Our culture of cooperation and cross-teaming enhances our ability to deliver such service. Our dedication to client service has yielded results and a reputation that we are proud of. Nothing is more important to us than upholding this tradition of providing the best possible client service and the reputation we have thus earned.

Collegiality and Collaboration

For us, collegiality means that we have a deep respect for all our colleagues, from the newest administrative assistant to the most senior partner. Everyone here is treated as a professional colleague. We are all on a first-name basis.

Our collegial atmosphere fosters the kind of teamwork that is central to our focus on client service. Clients do not “belong” to individual lawyers, they are clients of the firm. We draw on the skills and substantive expertise of all our professionals in a variety of practice areas and at different levels of seniority to provide the best possible service to our clients. This approach to practice not only contributes to excellence and efficiency in services but also to professional satisfaction and personal friendships among our lawyers. This close collaboration is one of the things that we believe distinguishes us from other firms.

We invite you to learn more about diversity at Covington by visiting our firm Diversity section.

We invite you to learn more about the firm's public service activities by visiting the firm's Pro Bono section.

Covington’s offices have a collegial atmosphere reflecting a common bond of mutual respect and shared values. Many matters are staffed by only two or three lawyers, and associates have ample opportunities to work directly with partners, including on the larger cases and cutting-edge transactions that form an important part of our practice. Associates are encouraged to assume as much responsibility as possible, commensurate with their experience and training. The work is sophisticated and challenging, and we make a concerted effort to involve all of our associates in every aspect of the matters to which they have been assigned.

Much of our work is national and international in scope, cutting across a number of practice areas and requiring the collaboration of lawyers in two or more offices. Our lawyers regularly work with and visit lawyers in our other offices. We have practice group retreats on a regular basis that bring together in one city all the lawyers in the group from each of our offices. In addition, we have a firm-wide “new associate” retreat each year and other opportunities in which lawyers from our various offices meet, discuss their practices, and get to know one another.

We have a firmwide Associates Advisory Committee, which includes associate and partner representatives from each of our offices. The Associates Advisory Committee considers matters of particular relevance to associates and makes recommendations to the firm’s Management Committee.

Covington offers all lawyers sophisticated technology throughout the firm to help facilitate their work. Through advanced communication technology, highly secure remote VPN access from anywhere in the world, one of the world’s most comprehensive private law libraries, and other advanced research and document retrieval capabilities, Covington provides attorneys with the tools they need for success.

To retain the talented lawyers we recruit, we work hard to provide them with the resources, experience and support necessary to succeed. This means assisting lawyers with their professional development and career satisfaction.

Here are some of the initiatives we have taken to further these goals:

Mentoring Program. During the first three years at the firm, all associates are assigned a formal mentor to help guide and support their careers.

Training Programs. We offer an ongoing series of training and educational programs for our lawyers, including intensive trial practice, deposition, oral skills, and writing programs. The firm also provides a series of seminars for associates on topics ranging from litigation and negotiation skills to professional ethics and relationships with clients.

Associate Evaluations. The firm provides a formal performance evaluation for every associate each year. These evaluations serve several purposes. First and foremost, they are intended to supplement day-to-day feedback by ensuring that each associate receives periodic assessments of his or her work, including identification of strengths and weaknesses and suggestions for development. In addition, the evaluation reports provide the firm with valuable information regarding the progress and needs of individual lawyers; this information is used in arranging future assignments and legal education programs. The annual evaluation sessions also provide an opportunity to review individual career development issues, assignments, and associates’ concerns about any aspect of life at the firm.

Managing Partners for Legal Personnel. Several partners, distributed among the firm’s US offices, serve as managing partners for legal personnel, or MPLPs. The MPLPs have overall responsibility for associate assignments, coordinating junior associate evaluations and reviews, awarding associate bonuses, and proposing and implementing policies and procedures affecting associates. The MPLPs are supported by our Director of Attorney and Alumni Relations.

Associate Advisory Committee. This committee, which is comprised of both associates and partners, provides an organized way for the firm’s management and associates to exchange views and perspectives.

Associate Ombudspersons. A senior lawyer in each of the firm's offices serves as Associate Ombudsperson to provide confidential advice to any associate upon request.