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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: rusted rehab sex offender 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: Chestnut Multi-colored Yarmulke 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: Fear-inspiring cuckoldry theatre 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: Brindle chest-beating parlour electric furnace 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: crawly fragrant sandwich box office 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: hairless cerebral lay Greetings, This. |
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Date: March 24th, 2012 8:02 AM Author: Zippy roommate center 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: Judgmental Sexy Doctorate 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: 180 pale shrine associate 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: rusted rehab sex offender 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: rusted rehab sex offender (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: Cocky chartreuse church building partner 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: rusted rehab sex offender 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: Cocky chartreuse church building partner 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: rusted rehab sex offender 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: submissive cobalt den 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: Cocky chartreuse church building partner 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: charismatic mood 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: rusted rehab sex offender 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: Fear-inspiring cuckoldry theatre 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: crawly fragrant sandwich box office 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: adventurous hyperactive cumskin scourge upon the earth 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: Lake market hairy legs 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: rusted rehab sex offender 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: stimulating bawdyhouse 1st year is a joke.
it gets much, much worse with time. |
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Date: March 22nd, 2012 10:41 PM Author: rusted rehab sex offender 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: stimulating bawdyhouse 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: rusted rehab sex offender 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: excitant primrose menage (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: Fear-inspiring cuckoldry theatre 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: rusted rehab sex offender (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: rusted rehab sex offender (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: mind-boggling deer antler 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: crawly fragrant sandwich box office 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: mind-boggling deer antler 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: crawly fragrant sandwich box office 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: Canary Background Story 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: hairless cerebral lay 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: bespoke national 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: exciting vengeful trailer park 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: Razzle ebony principal's office 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: apoplectic peach kitty cat 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: Yapping spot 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: Puce Dilemma Sound Barrier 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: excitant primrose menage (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1905174&forum_id=2#31696418) |