\
  The most prestigious law school admissions discussion board in the world.
BackRefresh Options Favorite

2 years in. Here are my thoughts on biglaw so far (work/life esp)

Backstory - I'm a junior associate it one of NYC/London/HK c...
mind-boggling house toilet seat
  11/19/17
Low effort. Would have been solid in 2007 maybe.
Swashbuckling Library
  11/19/17
Things that keep me busy: Transaction management: This ca...
mind-boggling house toilet seat
  11/19/17
Wide-eyed bunch of Columbia 1Ls at the edge of their seats
Provocative Church Building
  11/19/17
First, NY/DC is a different animal than everywhere else. The...
mind-boggling house toilet seat
  11/19/17
cr capital markets is 180 and the reason for living
shivering friendly grandma
  11/19/17


Poast new message in this thread



Reply Favorite

Date: November 19th, 2017 8:17 AM
Author: mind-boggling house toilet seat

Backstory - I'm a junior associate it one of NYC/London/HK capital markets.

I've had a handful of "hell weeks" during my first six months. For me, a hell week means billing 90+ hours during the week (working non stop until 3-4am, and coming back to the office at 8-930am) and finishing with a session at the "printers." A typical go at the printers in high yield involves getting there on a Friday, for example, and ending/launching the deal on Monday. This means working non-stop, and I mean maybe a 15 minute break for dinner or maybe even eating at the conference table with the other bankers/accountants/lawyers while you edit the prospectus, for 18-24 hours. For example, during my first experience at the printers I got there at 10am on a friday, worked until 8am, slept on a cott for two hours, worked from 10am again until Sunday early evening. It's something that I never thought the body could do.

Like I said, the only way that I stay sane is because of my free weekends (unless it's a printer session!). But I do absolutely love the work. Drafting a prospectus, i.e., writing about a business as you get to know it, is amazing. I get a lot of responsibility and talk to the clients often on the phone and in person as a first-year. And most of my deals end up on the front page news, even though I'm the junior on the 3-4 person team that did it.



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3802359&forum_id=2#34722445)



Reply Favorite

Date: November 19th, 2017 8:19 AM
Author: Swashbuckling Library

Low effort. Would have been solid in 2007 maybe.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3802359&forum_id=2#34722447)



Reply Favorite

Date: November 19th, 2017 8:19 AM
Author: mind-boggling house toilet seat

Things that keep me busy:

Transaction management: This can be huge - just touching base with all of the parties in a working group, coordinating the execution of signature pages, the delivery of documents, putting together meetings and conference calls, integrating comments or feedback from support groups (tax, employee benefits, real estate, intellectual property, etc.), coordinating with financial printers, drafting or reviewing press releases, filing documents with the SEC, etc.

Drafting: This can range from simple (updating a recent and directly on-point precedent, swapping only dates/numbers/names) to very complex and involved (working on a new transaction/structure for which there are few precedents). Often documents undergo lots of rounds of revisions, and as a junior you can be responsible for a lot of clean up changes / circulating.

Reviewing: Major transactions often mean 2+ law firms involved, and you'll need to review documents produced by other parties for accuracy.

Diligence: For M&A or securities/capital markets transactions, lawyers bridge the trust gap between the parties. That can involve reviewing enormous amounts of documents relevant to a company. I haven't done much, but it can be a major component of junior lawyer hours. If you have to travel for this, it can be the biggest sink on your time sheet.

Negotiation and planning: Obviously nobody tosses the keys to the first year the keys to a deal, but you'll spend a lot of time on calls as people hash out the terms of a deal. Often you'll be on the phone taking notes silently, but ready to accomplish tasks that come up on the call.

Research: Like I said, not much of this, but it does come up. It can be formal (client needs a memo) or informal (side point related to the deal that needs to be pinned down).



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3802359&forum_id=2#34722448)



Reply Favorite

Date: November 19th, 2017 8:21 AM
Author: Provocative Church Building

Wide-eyed bunch of Columbia 1Ls at the edge of their seats

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3802359&forum_id=2#34722450)



Reply Favorite

Date: November 19th, 2017 8:23 AM
Author: mind-boggling house toilet seat

First, NY/DC is a different animal than everywhere else. The reason is that you are expected to be there 8 AM - 9/10PM on weekdays and atleast one weekend day. Those horror stories about getting a call at 6PM that a partner needs something for tomorrow morning are true. Especially if you are on the transactional side. But he also noticed that associates were very inefficient about doing work during the day. The reason is that they knew everyday they were there very late, so they spent more time on the internet and whatever compared to other places he had seen (Chicago, Texas).

Regardless of what market you are in, you are there 10 hours a day and also bringing work home on the weekend. Transactional law had the really big swings of going insane hours and deadlines, then for a few weeks nothing. For some people that is very good. But for others, you might be worrying about making billable hours when times are slow. For litigation, you have deadlines but they are not sprung at you. Yes you will have the occasional 6PM call from a partner to get something for the morning. But, they are far less than in transactional. He is a very structured guy that averages about 8 billable hours for every ten worked. Most people average about 7-7.5 hours for every ten. Big difference with litigation is that there is pressure, slow and constant. While transaction can hit you hard for a week or two, then nothing for another week or two. He averaged about 1950 hrs a year.

A great point he made about biglaw is that if you don't like working with someone you don't have to. Yes, there are assholes in every BigLaw firm. But if you are making your hours and have work to do, you can refuse work from jerks you don't want to work for. You can't do that in a small/mid size firm generally. Another great point is that yeah the work is tough, but you are getting paid 2-3 times what others are working for at the 9-5 gov't job. He basically said that you need to value 10-15 hrs work a week for that great pay. Yeah its stressful and it can be nerve racking but the benefits are unsubstantial.

My own two cents, I owned a business before that hired alot of attorneys. I worked with big law firms, small law firms and sole props. One day while at a closing in NYC, I was talking to the attorney from an old prestigious law firm that banks love to hire because of the name and the office. He was a young nice guy doing transactional stuff (In NY, you are required to have a bank attorney to close a loan). He lived in Greenwich in a really nice house, with a wife you stayed at home with a young daughter. He left on a train to NYC at 6 AM and got home at 10. He saw his family on Sundays and wife for an hour each night to watch the late show if he didn't bring work home. He took the train to do work on the train. But he lived in a million dollar house in Greenwich, had a rolex with a really nice suit and car. One sole prop I worked with was home almost every night for dinner. He had an ok office in Mt. Vernon (not the best town in new york), one secretary, drove a kia and had a decent house. But there were times I knew he was hurting. He had to try and collect from clients on a weekly basis to make payroll or pay his rent. He would have worked harder and longer, but clients are tough to come by. He had been an attorney for 25 years. When he didn't bring home money, his wife would freakout about the mortgage. That kind of pressure is just as hard as BigLaw if not worse.

In the end of all this rambling, I am hoping to make biglaw. I have a family of my own and I need to make the mortgage payment. I have prepared my wife for it and hopefully I will get a job (never know but grades are very good with good softs). But we both know it is not going to be ideal. Nothing is. There is a great Cosby show scene (yeah I know I am old). Probably illustrates the benefits of biglaw better than anything I have ever said. Link is below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=mvr-IE-XivU#t=145s

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3802359&forum_id=2#34722454)



Reply Favorite

Date: November 19th, 2017 8:34 AM
Author: shivering friendly grandma

cr capital markets is 180 and the reason for living

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3802359&forum_id=2#34722473)