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biglaw 6 months in: what's all the bitching about?
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Date: March 22nd, 2012 10:16 PM Author: cerebral puppy death wish Have been billing an average of 45 hours a week, worst week was 60, have run cases with moderate supervision, have had lots of client contact (dinners/etc) So what's all the bitching about? |
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Date: March 22nd, 2012 10:56 PM Author: indecent bronze sweet tailpipe lettuce This is how I felt around that time in the beginning. Give yourself another year. You'll either ramp up to an undesirable level, or you'll get fired.
Also, so many of the stupid annoying aspects of law and partners' idiosyncrasies that you don't even notice yet will start to eat at you.
While I agree that most people are whiny, you will definitely start to enter the suck. |
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Date: March 23rd, 2012 12:21 AM Author: Stimulating Chestnut Center Who the fuck invites 1st years to dinners with clients? I was 6 years in before I got to eat steak with in-house duders. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1905174&forum_id=2#20273603) |
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Date: March 23rd, 2012 9:25 AM Author: vibrant stubborn ceo patrolman no one fucking cares about your ponderosa steakhouse shitlaw dinners steve (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1905174&forum_id=2#20275241) |
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Date: March 23rd, 2012 12:23 AM Author: Slate electric furnace public bath Jobs suck. Most people in biglaw have never had a job before. Do the math. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1905174&forum_id=2#20273617) |
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Date: March 23rd, 2012 9:26 AM Author: Tantric party of the first part community account Greetings, This. |
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Date: March 24th, 2012 8:02 AM Author: insanely creepy pea-brained jew Jobs don't have to suck, but one generally has to sacrifice $. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1905174&forum_id=2#20282996) |
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Date: March 24th, 2012 8:20 AM Author: underhanded curious therapy CR. I was a former BigLawyer, jumped ship to a boutique. Love it ever since. People are chill and the hours (while almost the same as BigLaw on a normal day) do not seem that bad. It is normal for associates or partners to bail at lik 3 pm if they are finished with their work or just want to catch a game.
The work is not as complex as the stuff I was handling at my old firm, but it is still very interesting. I guess BigLaw did prepare me for something.
The pay drop was the biggest difference. I am in the low six-figures, but the bonuses can be pretty good(according to some people).
Edit: This boutique has a few BigLaw refugees. |
Date: March 22nd, 2012 10:18 PM Author: scarlet razzmatazz house psychic the experience differs vastly depending on who you do work for. shocking i know (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1905174&forum_id=2#20272419) |
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Date: March 22nd, 2012 10:20 PM Author: cerebral puppy death wish Makes sense. I get the impression that I am VERY fortunate. Still, I fully expect the stress and shit to increase exponentially over time (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1905174&forum_id=2#20272442) |
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Date: March 22nd, 2012 10:29 PM Author: cerebral puppy death wish (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1905174&forum_id=2#20272514) |
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Date: March 22nd, 2012 10:31 PM Author: federal spot did you bill during dinner? (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1905174&forum_id=2#20272522) |
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Date: March 22nd, 2012 10:36 PM Author: cerebral puppy death wish Nope. The partner who went with me told me I could if I wanted though. I didn't bc he said he wasbt going to. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1905174&forum_id=2#20272570) |
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Date: March 22nd, 2012 10:38 PM Author: federal spot holy shit
i was just joking, i had no idea this was billable |
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Date: March 22nd, 2012 10:39 PM Author: cerebral puppy death wish If you talk about work it is. More common to bill for working lunches. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1905174&forum_id=2#20272610) |
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Date: March 22nd, 2012 10:48 PM Author: jet market Lol (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1905174&forum_id=2#20272707) |
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Date: March 22nd, 2012 11:00 PM Author: federal spot breh im pre-2L summer and did public interest 1L summer
i honestly have no idea what it is like to be an actual lawyer |
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Date: March 22nd, 2012 10:58 PM Author: cowardly hissy fit this amounts to a lot of what the stress is. if you have flexible billing standards, it is tough but nbd. Not billing during dinner, though, jesus. I cannot bill for: talking to other attorneys, travel, any "administrative" tasks. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1905174&forum_id=2#20272779) |
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Date: March 22nd, 2012 11:01 PM Author: cerebral puppy death wish Lol what? Not billing for talking to other attorneys? (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1905174&forum_id=2#20272800) |
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Date: March 23rd, 2012 12:23 AM Author: Stimulating Chestnut Center You crazy. Billing for travel is the best billing there is. Sorry, but me waiting in fucking Cincinnati for some Red Eye to DC is something I will sure as fuck bill you for. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1905174&forum_id=2#20273623) |
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Date: March 23rd, 2012 12:25 AM Author: Slate electric furnace public bath Talking to other attorneys? Dude, I'm tough on myself as far as billing (tend to significantly discount what I actually do because of how inefficient I think I am), but seriously, you wouldn't bill talking to other attorneys? What. The. Fuck. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1905174&forum_id=2#20273649) |
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Date: October 21st, 2016 11:16 AM Author: Flesh State Legal Warrant This is more and more common, probably creeping its way up into the shitty big firms. Definitely true in whatever the fuck xo considers "midlaw" (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1905174&forum_id=2#31696455) |
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Date: March 22nd, 2012 10:32 PM Author: Alcoholic Site first year is highly credited. nobody pays attention to your time, the work is easy (doc review, easy research/drafting), and if you staff yourself right (big, slow moving projects) you can leave every day at 630. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1905174&forum_id=2#20272538) |
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Date: March 22nd, 2012 10:38 PM Author: cerebral puppy death wish Have not had any doc review yet. Have had cases with tight turnarounds, 1 am firedrills, etc. Still not too bad though (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1905174&forum_id=2#20272598) |
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Date: March 22nd, 2012 10:39 PM Author: Contagious location karate 1st year is a joke.
it gets much, much worse with time. |
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Date: March 22nd, 2012 10:41 PM Author: cerebral puppy death wish Nice. Why is this, if you don't mind elaborating? (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1905174&forum_id=2#20272632) |
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Date: March 22nd, 2012 10:49 PM Author: Contagious location karate look at what the people above you are doing. i mean objectively assess it. at least in my experience, more senior ---> more pressure to bill, more responsibility, more travel, more everything.
if you do not start doing those things, your section is under-performing and you are in danger of getting canned, or you are under-performing in which case you will get canned. |
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Date: March 22nd, 2012 10:59 PM Author: cerebral puppy death wish I can tell that 50% of the people more senior to me are slammed with work while the other half are just comfortably chugging along (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1905174&forum_id=2#20272784) |
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Date: October 21st, 2016 11:15 AM Author: 180 apoplectic dingle berry (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1905174&forum_id=2#31696449) |
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Date: March 23rd, 2012 12:25 AM Author: Stimulating Chestnut Center More money, and you know what you are doing so everything take 1/3 the time. I am VASTLY more productive than I was 5 years ago or even 10. If nothing else I know how to delegate which is an art all its own that 1st years don't have any grasp of. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1905174&forum_id=2#20273656) |
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Date: March 22nd, 2012 10:45 PM Author: cerebral puppy death wish (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1905174&forum_id=2#20272678) |
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Date: March 22nd, 2012 10:47 PM Author: cerebral puppy death wish (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1905174&forum_id=2#20272694) |
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Date: March 22nd, 2012 11:05 PM Author: Internet-worthy high-end native i think the biggest problem comes when you realize there's nothing to look forward to and that you're essentially on a never-ending treadmill (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1905174&forum_id=2#20272831) |
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Date: March 23rd, 2012 12:20 AM Author: Slate electric furnace public bath Oh, so you're saying it's a job? (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1905174&forum_id=2#20273591) |
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Date: March 23rd, 2012 12:24 AM Author: Internet-worthy high-end native well, unlike other jobs - it only gets worse with time (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1905174&forum_id=2#20273636) |
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Date: March 23rd, 2012 12:25 AM Author: Slate electric furnace public bath Nope, that's still most jobs. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1905174&forum_id=2#20273654) |
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Date: March 23rd, 2012 8:19 AM Author: mint preventive strike Most jobs stay the same and does not get worse (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1905174&forum_id=2#20275148) |
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Date: March 23rd, 2012 9:30 AM Author: Tantric party of the first part community account Greetings, Jobs that give you a pay raise of $10K+ every year sure as fuck do. |
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Date: March 23rd, 2012 8:30 AM Author: supple main people I loved being a junior associate. The work was interesting and the responsibility level low. As you get more senior, you'll figure out that a lot of the work you find novel now is wasteful and only serves to generate hours. This will make you resent the manufactured emergencies and lost nights/weekends, which will worsen as the pressure mounts to generate work and/or get everything right in unreasonably short periods of time. There's a reason in-house jobs are so popular. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1905174&forum_id=2#20275154) |
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Date: March 23rd, 2012 8:36 AM Author: shimmering vengeful windowlicker point What? The work is generally menial, and it should be obvious to you pretty much right away that most of the shit you do is designed to generate hours. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1905174&forum_id=2#20275157) |
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Date: March 23rd, 2012 6:49 PM Author: Exhilarant genital piercing Subject: I totally get this I've said this before, but here it goes again. Working at a big law firm (or any demanding job) is like making it through a very long winter (think Canada). It isn't like there are too many single days where you say, "I just can't handle this." You put on a jacket, hat, gloves and suck it up. Even bad weeks are manageable. But when you deal with the bitter cold from early November to late March, it just gets to you at the end. You start getting the quivalent of "life cabin fever" and it isn't so easy to stay until midnight, or work another weekend, or deal with some stupid false deadline.
And I am talking from experience here. My first 6 months (after stub) I billed like 1400 hours and even then I thought it was fairly manageable. I've billed less and less every year. And I've seen some real high billers that I thought were gunning for partner just decide one day that they didn't want to do it any longer.
Inevitably, some people choose to continue on and do in fact make partner. To each their own and good luck to them. But to say that biglaw isn't that hard based on the first six months of the job is fairly silly. See if you feel the same way after your 5th year and, if you keep going, after your second year as a partner.
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Date: March 23rd, 2012 7:15 PM Author: impertinent field Wouldn't it then be advisable, if non-1st year work is such a chore to then work there a year and then move on to greener pastures? Using the name of your employer as a springboard?
Maybe you could even be a "community organizer" and go on to be president. |
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Date: March 24th, 2012 8:09 AM Author: Talented Navy Church Why has nobody pointed out that the OP is either obvious flame or this guy vastly overrates the significance of the work he is performing? The only case that a first year who is six months in is running with "moderate" supervision is an SSI appeal. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1905174&forum_id=2#20283000) |
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Date: March 24th, 2012 8:56 AM Author: Twisted Travel Guidebook Bawdyhouse how is this flame getting serious responses?
if you are "running" cases as a first year, you are not working in biglaw.
/thread |
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Date: October 21st, 2016 11:11 AM Author: 180 apoplectic dingle berry (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1905174&forum_id=2#31696418) |