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Overview

Introduction

With headquarters in Boston, Foley Hoag is home to more than 300 lawyers who focus on more than a dozen practice areas. Low on hierarchy and big on transparency, the firm attracts lawyers who are collaborative and respectful. Small teams present the attorneys with a plethora of opportunities to spearhead their work, whether that be tackling public international law issues or committing their time to civic engagement. 

Firm Stats


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Total No. Attorneys (2023)

250 - 500

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No. of Partners Named (2023)

5

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Featured Rankings

Vault Law 100
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No. of 1st Year Associates Hired (2022)

22


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No. of Summer Associates (2023)

25 total (20 2Ls; 5 1Ls)


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Base Salary

Base Salary (2023)
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Vault Verdict

Great things—including professional opportunities, pro bono work, and relations with partners—await associates at Foley Hoag. The hiring process emphasizes academic achievement and favors students from law schools near the firm’s Boston headquarters. Candidates should be friendly, collegial, and easygoing to match office settings, where people socialize yet respect personal time. Partners are approachable and they value associates for the work they do. Formal training ebbs after initial, first-year offerings, but helpful and supportive mentors step in to provide guidance to associates wanting to learn. Work assignments are meaningful and interesting, and often include occasions for client interaction. A central staffing system and small teams ensure the even distribution of substa...

About the Firm

Hailing from the land of red socks and chowder, Foley Hoag has stayed close to its Boston roots. With only five locations—in Boston, New York, DC, Denver, and Paris—the firm is smaller than many of its BigLaw competitors. But Foley Hoag has made a name for itself with its strong practice and progressive history.

A Diverse Foundation

Foley Hoag began during the Second World War when Henry Foley and Garrett Hoag set up shop in Boston in 1943. As the firm progressed, so did its commitment to diversity. In 1979, the late Charles J. Beard II was named partner at Foley Hoag, becoming the first African-American to be named partner in a Boston law firm. Beard specialized in cable television regulation and business law and also served for many years on the firm’s Hiring Committee and as the fir...

Associate Reviews

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  • “The atmosphere is extremely collegial and easygoing. It is honestly one of the most social and enjoyable workplaces (as someone with a decade of work experience before starting at a firm) that I've ever worked at.”
  • “People genuinely care about each other and are friends. People chat in the halls about their families and lives, but the closeness is not forced upon you if that is not how you want to balance your work/social life. People go out together to dinners or social events or go to bars after social events and genuinely want to hang out. Overall, it is a positive environment.”
  • “In general: collegial, reasonable, humane, and friendly. … I feel like Foley Hoag is one of the few ‘BigLaw’ firms where people genuinely respect your time and treat you well. Truly a diamond in the rough, a hidden gem, whatever you want to call it. Not a ton of socialization outside of work these days, but I think that's a creature of the pandemic. A lot of events take place at the firm, so folks are able to socialize there. We do have occasional social events.”

Why Work Here


Foley Hoag's Unique Culture

Put simply, “Foley Hoag is a great place to work.” With a unique combination of substantive work, “wonderful” mentors and consistent work-life balance, associates have nothing but positive things to say about life at their firm. “The people are great, the work is interesting, I'm learning all the time, and I am encouraged to maintain something of a life outside the office,” notes a Boston contact. Weekend work, the bane of most associate’s existence, is a rarity at Foley Hoag and any last-minute projects can usually be taken care of from home. A junior contact adds, “Everyone is very kind and helpful, but also very professional. Most partners make associates feel like valuable team members rather than underlings.” The firm’s overall culture, too, is described as “friendly, academic and open,” ensuring that associates consistently feel like “valuable team players rather than underlings.”

Diversity at Foley Hoag LLP

"Foley Hoag's commitment to Diversity & Inclusion traces its roots to the founding of the Firm in 1943. Henry Foley and Garrett Hoag were determined to hire the very best lawyers, based entirely on individual merit and without exclusion -- an attitude that set them apart from others in the Boston legal community of that era. Indeed, Foley Hoag was the first large Boston law firm to promote a Black attorney to the partnership ranks. These twin traditions of excellence and inclusiveness have remained guiding forces in the Firm's culture. We..."

Getting Hired Here

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  • “Grades are important. Boston-based schools such as Harvard, BU, BC, and Northeastern are traditionally where most associates come from, though that is expanding recently. Hyper-competitive people do not fit the culture here, and self-awareness is important.”
  • “Law school is fairly important, but not a deal breaker—probably overall grades and personality will weigh more. The firm does seem to feed pretty heavily from Boston-area schools.”
  • “At Foley, I find that we care most about fit and less so about what it says on your resume or transcript. Certainly, those things are important, but members of the hiring committee often express that their most important consideration when interviewing candidates is ‘Would I enjoy working with this person?’”

Perks & Benefits


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