Company: EY
Date: 2014-06-04
Overall rating: 1/5
Employment status: former
Experience level: Junior

Would never, ever recommend working at Egan LLP (EY's Immigration Law firm)
Pros: The only good thing about working at this firm was some of the other clerks at the office. We bonded a lot over the sheer crappiness of our jobs, and I'm still close friends with several of my old coworkers. Oh, and there was often free food, and the company parties were good since we tagged along with EY.
Cons: There are so many cons I hardly know where to start... I guess it makes sense to begin at the top. The partners of this firm are obsessed with numbers above all else. They ignore crucial problems with firm processes and the overall culture of the firm unless there is some immediate financial consequence. Staff are overworked, miserable, haven't had a raise in years, and are quitting in droves? As long as the partners are still raking it in, nobody will bat an eye at the insane rate of turnover. Just look at the job listings... Egan is ALWAYS hiring. They can't retain staff because they pay ridiculously low salaries, expect people to put in massive overtime, and treat their staff as disposable. 

Many of the lawyers at this firm are absolutely incompetent. Of course they are, a firm that is this poorly run and disorganized has no hope of retaining top talent. They manage to (barely) keep things running by snagging accounts with companies that already use EY for other purposes, and are given the benefit of the doubt because of the association with EY, but the actual quality of legal advice and work is really . While I was there, some lawyers did extremely unethical things that would get them in big trouble with the law society if they only knew. For example, making huge mistakes on clients' applications, then covering them up... all in a day's work at Egan. 

I already mentioned the laughable compensation. The salaries are very, very low for the amount of work and the high level of responsibility that the clerks are expected to take on. The partner would act really put out anytime staff requested compensation for overtime too. For Christmas, a senior partner came around and let us each pick ONE chocolate from an opened box. That was all we got in terms of a Christmas gift or bonus.