ITT: Summer Associates Post About Their Anxiety (2012) Forum

[Morgan12Oak]

Much more likely scenario is that they actually do want to hire 3Ls, but only so they can replace and fire the first years that are learning how to be good lawyers "underperforming"

[somewhatwayward]

Yeah, no way Latham would no offer for any other reason. They've never done that ever. Not even in the past 5 years. No sir.

if it was the economy, why would they be interviewing 3Ls? if the no offer guy had good work product and behaved appropriately, wouldn't they just keep him (or them) rather than re-interviewing 3Ls?

They could have signed up for lolci's 3 months ago and then had a terribad quarter and don't actually plan on calling anyone back.

then they could cancel....so far multiple firms have cancelled at the last minute for OCI....it is a waste of their attorneys' time to send them out to interview if they are certain they won't hire anyone...plus they are interviewing for like ten offices, including NYC

eta: i do have sympathy for the no offered guys that everyone is up in their business but otoh the bar for getting an offer as an SA is generally pretty low in NYC, so i think you must have pretty terrible self awareness to not be able to pull yourself together enough to clear that low bar

[desertlaw]

Yeah, no way Latham would no offer for any other reason. They've never done that ever. Not even in the past 5 years. No sir.

if it was the economy, why would they be interviewing 3Ls? if the no offer guy had good work product and behaved appropriately, wouldn't they just keep him (or them) rather than re-interviewing 3Ls?

They could have signed up for lolci's 3 months ago and then had a terribad quarter and don't actually plan on calling anyone back.

then they could cancel....so far multiple firms have cancelled at the last minute for OCI....it is a waste of their attorneys' time to send them out to interview if they are certain they won't hire anyone...plus they are interviewing for like ten offices, including NYC

eta: i do have sympathy for the no offered guys that everyone is up in their business but otoh the bar for getting an offer as an SA is generally pretty low in NYC, so i think you must have pretty terrible self awareness to not be able to pull yourself together enough to clear that low bar

Do we know that it is NYC where this SA(s) was no-offered? Also, it's not that expensive to interview 3L's when you're already sending attorneys there to interview 2L's. I assume that 3L OCI at most schools occurs at the same time as 2L OCI?

[Anonymous User]

Yeah, no way Latham would no offer for any other reason. They've never done that ever. Not even in the past 5 years. No sir.

if it was the economy, why would they be interviewing 3Ls? if the no offer guy had good work product and behaved appropriately, wouldn't they just keep him (or them) rather than re-interviewing 3Ls?[/quote]

They could have signed up for lolci's 3 months ago and then had a terribad quarter and don't actually plan on calling anyone back.[/quote]

then they could cancel....so far multiple firms have cancelled at the last minute for OCI....it is a waste of their attorneys' time to send them out to interview if they are certain they won't hire anyone...plus they are interviewing for like ten offices, including NYC

eta: i do have sympathy for the no offered guys that everyone is up in their business but otoh the bar for getting an offer as an SA is generally pretty low in NYC, so i think you must have pretty terrible self awareness to not be able to pull yourself together enough to clear that low bar[/quote]

Do we know that it is NYC where this SA(s) was no-offered? Also, it's not that expensive to interview 3L's when you're already sending attorneys there to interview 2L's. I assume that 3L OCI at most schools occurs at the same time as 2L OCI?[/quote]

Yes. Definitely NY. That's where the "Yer Good" speech was given. Fer sure.

[fatduck]

Yes. Definitely NY. That's where the "Yer Good" speech was given. Fer sure.

this slang isn't going to catch on. just give it up.

[Anonymous User]

Yes. Definitely NY. That's where the "Yer Good" speech was given. Fer sure.

this slang isn't going to catch on. just give it up.

Who's slanging? I heard the deets and the kid was given the "Yer Good" speech. It's how it went down. Bhole.

[09042014]

Yes. Definitely NY. That's where the "Yer Good" speech was given. Fer sure.

this slang isn't going to catch on. just give it up.

Yea, not catching on.

Getting Latham'd 9.5 weeks in isn't that bad really. An average career there right?

[shoeshine]

Yes. Definitely NY. That's where the "Yer Good" speech was given. Fer sure.

this slang isn't going to catch on. just give it up.

Yea, not catching on.

Getting Latham'd 9.5 weeks in isn't that bad really. An average career there right?

I really don't get how they keep recruiting so successfully with such a terrible reputation for turnover.

[Morgan12Oak]

Yes. Definitely NY. That's where the "Yer Good" speech was given. Fer sure.

this slang isn't going to catch on. just give it up.

Yea, not catching on.

Getting Latham'd 9.5 weeks in isn't that bad really. An average career there right?

I really don't get how they keep recruiting so successfully with such a terrible reputation for turnover.

Their turnover is the same as any other biglaw firm. It was just that one big instance of "forced turnover."

But hey they're back to the V10, so why do they care?

[shoeshine]

Their turnover is the same as any other biglaw firm. It was just that one big instance of "forced turnover."

But hey they're back to the V10, so why do they care?

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.p ... id=3989872

[Anonymous User]

Look, the "yer good" speech is catching on. I have it on good authroity that most V19 firms have a standard "yer good" speech printed in their recruiting manuals.

[Anonymous User]

I had a pretty unpleasant interaction with a partner today.

Last week, he gave me an assignment. I told him it would be a few days before I could get to it as I had several projects outstanding. He asked me about it today, I told him I hadn't started it but was planning to this afternoon.

He walked off. Five minutes later, he came back and took the treatise he'd given me to help with the assignment and said, "I'm just going to take this off your plate."

The partner does have a great rep among his colleagues, but lol at my life right now.

[romothesavior]

TBF, a few days and a week are not the same thing. Did you ask him how soon he needed it? And did he seem mad?

[Anonymous User]

Got and accepted an offer at my v15 NYC firm this week. I officially won law school.

[Anonymous User]

Yes. Definitely NY. That's where the "Yer Good" speech was given. Fer sure.

this slang isn't going to catch on. just give it up.

Yea, not catching on.

Getting Latham'd 9.5 weeks in isn't that bad really. An average career there right?

I really don't get how they keep recruiting so successfully with such a terrible reputation for turnover.

Dude, I had top grades from a (lower) T1 law school, and I would practically kill for my three year degree to lead to ten weeks of work at biglawl pay, even if I never worked in the field again.

They can do whatever they want ITE and still fill the class with really competent law grads.

[09042014]

Got and accepted an offer at my v15 NYC firm this week. I officially won law school.

Egregious Paul Weiss trolling.

[LawIdiot86]

Got and accepted an offer at my v15 NYC firm this week. I officially won law school.

Egregious Paul Weiss trolling.

Damn you. I want my golden ticket out of poverty! Another month of anxious waiting and networking...

[Emma.]

Got and accepted an offer at my v15 NYC firm this week. I officially won law school.

Wrong thread, buddy.

[somewhatwayward]

I had a pretty unpleasant interaction with a partner today.

Last week, he gave me an assignment. I told him it would be a few days before I could get to it as I had several projects outstanding. He asked me about it today, I told him I hadn't started it but was planning to this afternoon.

He walked off. Five minutes later, he came back and took the treatise he'd given me to help with the assignment and said, "I'm just going to take this off your plate."

The partner does have a great rep among his colleagues, but lol at my life right now.

were you working like 12 hour days and some on the weekend? i had a similar situation except i basically worked like crazy and got it all done. i thought about saying i couldn't get it all done but decided it was not worth it ITE

[Anonymous User]

I had a pretty unpleasant interaction with a partner today.

Last week, he gave me an assignment. I told him it would be a few days before I could get to it as I had several projects outstanding. He asked me about it today, I told him I hadn't started it but was planning to this afternoon.

He walked off. Five minutes later, he came back and took the treatise he'd given me to help with the assignment and said, "I'm just going to take this off your plate."

The partner does have a great rep among his colleagues, but lol at my life right now.

were you working like 12 hour days and some on the weekend? i had a similar situation except i basically worked like crazy and got it all done. i thought about saying i couldn't get it all done but decided it was not worth it ITE

I was/am. I haven't worked less than 50 hours/wk this summer, and it's caused problems with my marriage. I only took the past weekend off because it was a special occasion.

Also, unfortunate typo in my post, the partner does not have a great rep, but FML nonetheless.

[sunynp]

I had a pretty unpleasant interaction with a partner today.

Last week, he gave me an assignment. I told him it would be a few days before I could get to it as I had several projects outstanding. He asked me about it today, I told him I hadn't started it but was planning to this afternoon.

He walked off. Five minutes later, he came back and took the treatise he'd given me to help with the assignment and said, "I'm just going to take this off your plate."

The partner does have a great rep among his colleagues, but lol at my life right now.

were you working like 12 hour days and some on the weekend? i had a similar situation except i basically worked like crazy and got it all done. i thought about saying i couldn't get it all done but decided it was not worth it ITE

I was/am. I haven't worked less than 50 hours/wk this summer, and it's caused problems with my marriage. I only took the past weekend off because it was a special occasion.

Also, unfortunate typo in my post, the partner does not have a great rep, but FML nonetheless.

Sorry to hear this. But,as I'm sure you know, if 50 hours/wk is going to cause problems in your marraige, what is going to happen if you are working real biglaw hours? Not sure what you could have done differently except work over the weekend to get it done.

One thing too - you have to get the work done for the important partners. They may act like they understand what you are doing, but they don't. Their egos can't take not having their projects done. There is no reasonableness of behavior here.

I once had to fly to LA for a project, the partner wanted me to review some documents on the plane. I was flipping through a magazine before take off because I wanted to wait until we got started so I could settle into my work. She walked back and angrily took the work from me because I was looking at the magazine. In front of everyone. I had to go back up when we were in the air and beg for the work back because I knew she would crucify me if she had to do the work.

[Loose Seal]

I had a pretty unpleasant interaction with a partner today.

Last week, he gave me an assignment. I told him it would be a few days before I could get to it as I had several projects outstanding. He asked me about it today, I told him I hadn't started it but was planning to this afternoon.

He walked off. Five minutes later, he came back and took the treatise he'd given me to help with the assignment and said, "I'm just going to take this off your plate."

The partner does have a great rep among his colleagues, but lol at my life right now.

were you working like 12 hour days and some on the weekend? i had a similar situation except i basically worked like crazy and got it all done. i thought about saying i couldn't get it all done but decided it was not worth it ITE

I was/am. I haven't worked less than 50 hours/wk this summer, and it's caused problems with my marriage. I only took the past weekend off because it was a special occasion.

Also, unfortunate typo in my post, the partner does not have a great rep, but FML nonetheless.

Sorry to hear this. But,as I'm sure you know, if 50 hours/wk is going to cause problems in your marraige, what is going to happen if you are working real biglaw hours? Not sure what you could have done differently except work over the weekend to get it done.

One thing too - you have to get the work done for the important partners. They may act like they understand what you are doing, but they don't. Their egos can't take not having their projects done. There is no reasonableness of behavior here.

I once had to fly to LA for a project, the partner wanted me to review some documents on the plane. I was flipping through a magazine before take off because I wanted to wait until we got started so I could settle into my work. She walked back and angrily took the work from me because I was looking at the magazine. In front of everyone. I had to go back up when we were in the air and beg for the work back because I knew she would crucify me if she had to do the work.

Agree with all of this.

Also re: the 50-hour weeks killing your marraige: that should be very troubling to both of you. The hours do not get shorter once you start. If you can't fix your spouse's expecations you may need to look into working 2/3 time (if your firm allows that) or finding a different line of legal work.

[Anonymous User]

Regarding the hours, I should mention that for one, I'm not at a biglaw shop. Two, I routinely work 60+ hour weeks, I only mentioned that 50 had been the absolute floor all summer. Three, I think we both expected that I'd work long hours as a lawyer. I think the problem was working these hours as a summer. Basically, spouse is worried that if I'm working this much now, what's it going to be like as a lawyer?

I agree with the responses that spouse needs to adjust the expecations some. I probably shouldn't have mentioned that part of it.

[Loose Seal]

Regarding the hours, I should mention that for one, I'm not at a biglaw shop. Two, I routinely work 60+ hour weeks, I only mentioned that 50 had been the absolute floor all summer. Three, I think we both expected that I'd work long hours as a lawyer. I think the problem was working these hours as a summer. Basically, spouse is worried that if I'm working this much now, what's it going to be like as a lawyer?

I agree with the responses that spouse needs to adjust the expecations some. I probably shouldn't have mentioned that part of it.

S/he is right to worry because s/he is right that your hours will not improve and will only get worse. It's not directly relevant to your issue with the partner (at the firm), but it will be to your partner (in life) and to you if you want to have some measure of career stability. One of my fellow first-years just left the firm we work at because he could only see his small child for fifteen minutes a day (not including periodic videochats), and that just was not the life he wanted. If you and your spouse were miserable this summer it may be worth it to consider other options to the extent they are available.

That said, your original situation with the partner sucks but it does not sound like the stuff of no-offers. Although I guess you learned a lesson about putting stuff off for too long/not regularly checking in.

[rad lulz]

Both SAs done. Spent 3 hours saying goodbye on Friday. Still gotta shoot some emails to people I didn't make it to see. Apparently saying goodbyes is strongly suggested by the firm or whatever.

Now we play the waiting game. Should know something in two weeks. This wait is gonna suck. I envy all yall who heard before the program ended.