ITT: Summer Associates Post About Their Anxiety (2012)

[Anonymous User]

Any other SA bros find themselves using an unusual ammount of FastCase?

[los blancos]

Again, any day you leave at 530pm or any weekend you have off should be viewed as a gift, not as something you're entitled to. You just don't seem to get that.

lol your firm must suck

Nah man, he's doing real work. Like, legitimately legit work. If you don't like it go work somewhere else.

TBF, I think los blancos is saying that a summer where working late and working weekends is the norm would be kinda shitty. Obviously it is different when it is "legitimately legit work" and you're an associate. And obviously working late once in a while is fine as a summer and we should all be prepared to do it. But to call a weekend off as an SA a "gift" is kinda ... I get what Fresh Prince is saying (this is a job and we're expected to work), but for him to act like a 2000+ billable hour pace as a summer is normal is just nuts. Certainly not the norm with anyone I know outside of the tippy-top NYC firms.

I'm saying that any firm where a weekend off is "a gift" (which ≠ something you're entitled to), SA or otherwise, must suck. OTOH, I don't think anyone in the legal profession making more than $50k a year should feel 'entitled' to a weekend off unless you've just put in a 400-hour month litigating a case and it's done the Friday before said weekend.

(I'm probably working this weekend, at a firm where I probably should feel entitled to have it off, but I don't care - shit's gotta get done on time and a supposedly simple assignment has proven to be a fucking mess)

[Anonymous User]

Soooo, I worked on a client letter late last night and my paralegal (who has been with the firm for over 10 years) was assisting me. We scanned the document onto the computer and when I saw that there was a minor formatting error, I asked my paralegal if we could re-scan the doc, to which he responded that it was no big deal and that this was just a client letter and that I should not worry about it. Stupidly, I said ok and sent it off. The secretary I share with the attorney came in this morning and said that such formatting errors are the type that the attorney hates. I am 100% sure that I will be confronted by the attorney about this...should I just suck it up and take the blame, or should I let the attorney know what the paralegal said? I just don't want to sound like I'm giving an excuse, altho I technically am.

[BeenDidThat]

Soooo, I worked on a client letter late last night and my paralegal (who has been with the firm for over 10 years) was assisting me. We scanned the document onto the computer and when I saw that there was a minor formatting error, I asked my paralegal if we could re-scan the doc, to which he responded that it was no big deal and that this was just a client letter and that I should not worry about it. Stupidly, I said ok and sent it off. The secretary I share with the attorney came in this morning and said that such formatting errors are the type that the attorney hates. I am 100% sure that I will be confronted by the attorney about this...should I just suck it up and take the blame, or should I let the attorney know what the paralegal said? I just don't want to sound like I'm giving an excuse, altho I technically am.

If I were you, here's what I would do. I would take the blame and let the attorney know what the paralegal said.

You're the about-to-be-attorney. The paralegal is a paralegal. Mention the paralegal in passing, but be clear that you know you are higher in the chain-of-command than the paralegal, and that the mistake is ultimately yours, because you are the one who gets paid 3k a week for your judgment, not the paralegal.

Caveat: it may depend on the attorney. If he's some kind of nutjob who doesn't like explanations, you may not want to be all that explanatory. I haven't worked with any nutjobs, but somebody who would flip on small formatting issues may very well be that guy.

[Anonymous User]

Thank you. I think you are definitely right

[Stanford4Me]

This is just my nature, but even when something isn't entirely my fault I take all the blame for it. I just know in the profession a lot of people don't like hearing excuses. Heck, I'm a nice guy and even I get annoyed when someone tries to deflect blame (rightly so or not). I agree with with the above poster said, though.

[romothesavior]

Take the blame this time, then berate the paralegal when you return as a first year.

[Morgan12Oak]

Throw the paralegal under the fucking bus (if not drive it). The paralegals making 6 figures. Don't fucking feel bad for him because he is lazy as shit.

[fatduck]

Throw the paralegal under the fucking bus (if not drive it). The paralegals making 6 figures. Don't fucking feel bad for him because he is lazy as shit.

oh my fucking god, this thread just got over the pages and pages of "HOW DARE YOU COMPLAIN ABOUT ANYTHING YOU ENTITLED PUSSY"

please do not start with this paralegal shit

[Morgan12Oak]

The paralegals been there longer than the SA and knows what bothers the attorney. If the paralegal said it doesn't matter the SA is going to rely on him. If the attorney yells at him for this the SA is completely within his fucking right to say that the paralegal said it was fine.

Just cause you're an SA doesn't mean you need to volunteer to take blame for other people.

[nymario]

Come in at 8. Make sure you're the last person there. Create the illusion that you are always there to people who come and go.

If you do this, you WILL always be there...it won't be an illusion.

[sunynp]

Soooo, I worked on a client letter late last night and my paralegal (who has been with the firm for over 10 years) was assisting me. We scanned the document onto the computer and when I saw that there was a minor formatting error, I asked my paralegal if we could re-scan the doc, to which he responded that it was no big deal and that this was just a client letter and that I should not worry about it. Stupidly, I said ok and sent it off. The secretary I share with the attorney came in this morning and said that such formatting errors are the type that the attorney hates. I am 100% sure that I will be confronted by the attorney about this...should I just suck it up and take the blame, or should I let the attorney know what the paralegal said? I just don't want to sound like I'm giving an excuse, altho I technically am.

This is your work product. Never send a letter to a client with an error in it. It doesn't matter what the attorney, the attorney's secretary or the paralegal think. It is your work and you have to own it.

[Old Gregg]

Soooo, I worked on a client letter late last night and my paralegal (who has been with the firm for over 10 years) was assisting me. We scanned the document onto the computer and when I saw that there was a minor formatting error, I asked my paralegal if we could re-scan the doc, to which he responded that it was no big deal and that this was just a client letter and that I should not worry about it. Stupidly, I said ok and sent it off. The secretary I share with the attorney came in this morning and said that such formatting errors are the type that the attorney hates. I am 100% sure that I will be confronted by the attorney about this...should I just suck it up and take the blame, or should I let the attorney know what the paralegal said? I just don't want to sound like I'm giving an excuse, altho I technically am.

This is your work product. Never send a letter to a client with an error in it. It doesn't matter what the attorney, the attorney's secretary or the paralegal think. It is your work and you have to own it.

Yep. And it's OP's fault because he exercised poor judgement. Paralegal isn't at fault.

[TTH]

Soooo, I worked on a client letter late last night and my paralegal (who has been with the firm for over 10 years) was assisting me. We scanned the document onto the computer and when I saw that there was a minor formatting error, I asked my paralegal if we could re-scan the doc, to which he responded that it was no big deal and that this was just a client letter and that I should not worry about it. Stupidly, I said ok and sent it off. The secretary I share with the attorney came in this morning and said that such formatting errors are the type that the attorney hates. I am 100% sure that I will be confronted by the attorney about this...should I just suck it up and take the blame, or should I let the attorney know what the paralegal said? I just don't want to sound like I'm giving an excuse, altho I technically am.

This is your work product. Never send a letter to a client with an error in it. It doesn't matter what the attorney, the attorney's secretary or the paralegal think. It is your work and you have to own it.

Yep. And it's OP's fault because he exercised poor judgement. Paralegal isn't at fault.

TBF, it can be tricky business overruling staff as a summer associate. The last thing you need is to have the people you depend on to clean up your shit and make it presentable having a grudge against you.

[Anonymous User]

I was busy for the previous few weeks. But have had no work this week.

Have any other SAs had these dry spells of work over the past 6 weeks?

[Renne Walker]

This is your work product. Never send a letter to a client with an error in it. It doesn't matter what the attorney, the attorney's secretary or the paralegal think. It is your work and you have to own it.

+1

Yep. And it's OP's fault because he exercised poor judgement. Paralegal isn't at fault.

+1

Your either lead or . . .

[rad lulz]

I was busy for the previous few weeks. But have had no work this week.

Have any other SAs had these dry spells of work over the past 6 weeks?

Bro I stay at the office until like 8 or 9 every night.

[romothesavior]

I was busy for the previous few weeks. But have had no work this week.

Have any other SAs had these dry spells of work over the past 6 weeks?

Bro I stay at the office until like 8 or 9 every night.

It really bothers me to have such a gunner for a friend, seriously.

[rad lulz]

I was busy for the previous few weeks. But have had no work this week.

Have any other SAs had these dry spells of work over the past 6 weeks?

Bro I stay at the office until like 8 or 9 every night.

It really bothers me to have such a gunner for a friend, seriously.

9:30 tonight brother. Just LOVE lernin dem LAWLS

[fatduck]

i spent the morning preparing a report on how much the boomers were fucking us with obamacare

1.5 hour lunch discussing said boomers

afternoon mostly spent prepping for mass mailing

1 hour billed

[rad lulz]

i spent the morning preparing a report on how much the boomers were fucking us with obamacare

1.5 hour lunch discussing said boomers

afternoon mostly spent prepping for mass mailing

1 hour billed

Any of your bosses REVILED SHITBOOMERS?

[fatduck]

i spent the morning preparing a report on how much the boomers were fucking us with obamacare

1.5 hour lunch discussing said boomers

afternoon mostly spent prepping for mass mailing

1 hour billed

Any of your bosses REVILED SHITBOOMERS?

only two partners here qualify as SHITBOOMERS and they are both pretty solid dudes. then again they have yet to take me out on their yachts, so i'm a little pissed.

edit: one of the younger partners commissioned the report on how much the boomers are fucking us

[keg411]

I was busy for the previous few weeks. But have had no work this week.

Have any other SAs had these dry spells of work over the past 6 weeks?

If you have work coordinators or work allocation people, ask for something. If you're free market, reach out to some associates you worked with on something previously to see if they have anything or knows anyone who knows anything.

[jess]

For the people who work late: is it possible to ever take work home or conversely, to go home around dinner time, then come back later in the evening?


Or more specifically: does anyone working late hours have a dog, and what do you do with your dog?

[romothesavior]

I was busy for the previous few weeks. But have had no work this week.

Have any other SAs had these dry spells of work over the past 6 weeks?

Bro I stay at the office until like 8 or 9 every night.

It really bothers me to have such a gunner for a friend, seriously.

9:30 tonight brother. Just LOVE lernin dem LAWLS

Seriously bro. Chillax.