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[El Pollito]

In all honesty the kool-aid at my firm is mad tempting. I've worked with lit associates for years and watched them slowly break themselves and flee biglaw, but the food, social events, and easy 'work' to date are just... Nice. Easy not to think about actual practice lifestyle down the road.

lit does suck. glad to be getting out.

congrats on that BTW.

I'm trying to go corporate/regulatory but lit keeps calling to me.

thanks bro. regulatory is a decent area. just don't do lit.

[First Offense]

I mean, I can do it to a very high quality with a smile on my face and a high degree of professionalism. But I see the writing on the wall...

what writing is that?

Biglaw is awful and I'm headed that way like a freight train. The job I actually want requires biglaw experience, obv isn't even a guarantee then.

You're a horrible human being. God damn I hope you're not at my firm.

[LazyLASA]

Day 3. Already really like my firm. I've been given substantive, interesting work, everyone is really nice, and barring a pretty concrete deadline associates seem to actually go home at a decent hour, even if they're probably logging on for a bit at home.

[Anonymous User]

I don't think a very senior partner likes me. She probably misunderstood something I said and if she did then she probably thinks I was rude. No offer? 100% offer firm

[rpupkin]

I don't think a very senior partner likes me. She probably misunderstood something I said and if she did then she probably thinks I was rude. No offer? 100% offer firm

If the partner is indeed very senior, then she probably has nothing to do with associate hiring. In order to get a no offer here, you probably would have had to do something so extreme that the senior partner bothered to go out of her way to tell the hiring partner that you must not be hired. That seems highly unlikely, particularly if you're at a 100% offer firm. I'm confident that you're not the first summer associate in firm history to say something rude/dumb/whatever in front of a senior partner.

[Johann]

It's less likely a she is a rainmaker (due to history of legal world), so you are probably ok. Also, 100% offer firm. I'm sure it's less bad than you think. Try to move ahead as if nothing happened.

edit to add - just my take on the way things are, not how they should be.

[BigZuck]

I don't think a very senior partner likes me. She probably misunderstood something I said and if she did then she probably thinks I was rude. No offer? 100% offer firm

I had a similar interaction with a partner and was kind of worried about it for like a day. Couple things though:

1. It's probably not as bad as you think. Like I said, I was kind of worried about it but today when I walked past that partner at the end of the day he slapped me on the back and said "See ya tomorrow" or something like that. I mean, maybe he's toying with me and can't wait to put in that review that totally sinks my offer but I doubt it. He probably didn't think anything of what I said and I probably blew it all up in my head. I think it's natural to overanalyze stuff given the position we are in.

2. If you like made a joke or something that didn't land well, keep in mind that you don't have to make jokes, especially in front of very senior partners. I'm not saying don't talk to anyone ever, but it's fine if all your interactions are super vanilla and you don't say a whole lot. You're at a 100% offer firm. You don't need to stick out. You're not going to get a better offer by knocking a senior partner's socks off with scintillating conversation or hilarious cutting edge jokes. Just do good work, small talk and be nice, go to the social events and have a couple drinks and go home. That's all you really need to do.

Keep in mind though that we are TLSers so everyone ITT is 90% of the way toward a no offer already. Gotta tread lightly.

Also just a know-nothing SA myself so YMMV. People with actual wisdom by all means correct me if I'm off base.

[Rahviveh]

I don't think a very senior partner likes me. She probably misunderstood something I said and if she did then she probably thinks I was rude. No offer? 100% offer firm

I had a similar interaction with a partner and was kind of worried about it for like a day. Couple things though:

1. It's probably not as bad as you think. Like I said, I was kind of worried about it but today when I walked past that partner at the end of the day he slapped me on the back and said "See ya tomorrow" or something like that. I mean, maybe he's toying with me and can't wait to put in that review that totally sinks my offer but I doubt it. He probably didn't think anything of what I said and I probably blew it all up in my head. I think it's natural to overanalyze stuff given the position we are in.

2. If you like made a joke or something that didn't land well, keep in mind that you don't have to make jokes, especially in front of very senior partners. I'm not saying don't talk to anyone ever, but it's fine if all your interactions are super vanilla and you don't say a whole lot. You're at a 100% offer firm. You don't need to stick out. You're not going to get a better offer by knocking a senior partner's socks off with scintillating conversation or hilarious cutting edge jokes. Just do good work, small talk and be nice, go to the social events and have a couple drinks and go home. That's all you really need to do.

Keep in mind though that we are TLSers so everyone ITT is 90% of the way toward a no offer already. Gotta tread lightly.

Also just a know-nothing SA myself so YMMV. People with actual wisdom by all means correct me if I'm off base.

This is only credited if you are content with being a peasant rather than a SUPERSTAR SA. A SUPERSTAR SA is seen by the senior partners as another son or daughter by the end of the summer

[Micdiddy]

Just found out I can't even attend my firms best summer event because of a stupid cousin's wedding. I was looking forward this event since accepting the offer last September.

[ph5354a]

I did 26 allowances and still paid about 10% in taxes. Can I up my allowances even more, or should i just deal with it?

[FSK]

I mean, I can do it to a very high quality with a smile on my face and a high degree of professionalism. But I see the writing on the wall...

what writing is that?

Biglaw is awful and I'm headed that way like a freight train. The job I actually want requires biglaw experience, obv isn't even a guarantee then.

You're a horrible human being. God damn I hope you're not at my firm.

I promise I'm not!

[Yardbird]

I did 26 allowances and still paid about 10% in taxes. Can I up my allowances even more, or should i just deal with it?

If you’re paying 10% instead of 28%+ you’re fine. You don’t want to overwithhold because you might incur a penalty.

[M458]

I did 26 allowances and still paid about 10% in taxes. Can I up my allowances even more, or should i just deal with it?

If you’re paying 10% instead of 28%+ you’re fine. You don’t want to overwithhold because you might incur a penalty.

Correct. 10% actually sounds just about right.

[bretby]

0L, so don't shoot me please, just wanted to say that I was talking with my friend who is on the SA committee at a top NY firm about the summers and she said that they all lie through their teeth about what the actual lifestyle is like at the firm. They have to be more positive than negative in what they say to summers for obvious reasons, but she said no one wants to risk saying something negative and it getting back to the wrong person so the best course of action is to lie as hard and as fast as they can. Fun times!

[TLSModBot]

At any top firm, I get the sense you'll have late nights, weekend work, etc. For me it wasn't figuring out who offers the 'cushy' lifestyle, but who are the people I can enjoy working alongside and under when I'm pulling those late nights. There are great people and terrible people to work under at all firms, most likely, so I think the trick is finding the people in your firm you click with, whose directions you understand, who like your work product, etc.

[gk101]

0L, so don't shoot me please, just wanted to say that I was talking with my friend who is on the SA committee at a top NY firm about the summers and she said that they all lie through their teeth about what the actual lifestyle is like at the firm. They have to be more positive than negative in what they say to summers for obvious reasons, but she said no one wants to risk saying something negative and it getting back to the wrong person so the best course of action is to lie as hard and as fast as they can. Fun times!

yeah I sometimes soft-pedal the bad parts of biglaw when talking to summers for no rational reason. It's really bizarre

[lhanvt13]

I did 26 allowances and still paid about 10% in taxes. Can I up my allowances even more, or should i just deal with it?

mine took out $900 for two weeks.

[PvblivsScipio]

Did 15, got roughly $900 withheld. It's hard to say because I took a salary advance and they spread it out over a few weeks.

[arklaw13]

Does no one else's firm give you the option of the part-year employment method for withholding?

[POTUSorSCOTUS]

Extreme sun burn - no offer?

[Anonymous User]

I don't think a very senior partner likes me. She probably misunderstood something I said and if she did then she probably thinks I was rude. No offer? 100% offer firm

I had a similar interaction with a partner and was kind of worried about it for like a day. Couple things though:

1. It's probably not as bad as you think. Like I said, I was kind of worried about it but today when I walked past that partner at the end of the day he slapped me on the back and said "See ya tomorrow" or something like that. I mean, maybe he's toying with me and can't wait to put in that review that totally sinks my offer but I doubt it. He probably didn't think anything of what I said and I probably blew it all up in my head. I think it's natural to overanalyze stuff given the position we are in.

2. If you like made a joke or something that didn't land well, keep in mind that you don't have to make jokes, especially in front of very senior partners. I'm not saying don't talk to anyone ever, but it's fine if all your interactions are super vanilla and you don't say a whole lot. You're at a 100% offer firm. You don't need to stick out. You're not going to get a better offer by knocking a senior partner's socks off with scintillating conversation or hilarious cutting edge jokes. Just do good work, small talk and be nice, go to the social events and have a couple drinks and go home. That's all you really need to do.

Keep in mind though that we are TLSers so everyone ITT is 90% of the way toward a no offer already. Gotta tread lightly.

Also just a know-nothing SA myself so YMMV. People with actual wisdom by all means correct me if I'm off base.

Let's say the partner is a hiring partner... and that the misunderstanding is not related to a joke.. do you still think it wont matter? this whole thing is not allowing me to enjoy the summer

[lhanvt13]

Did 15, got roughly $900 withheld. It's hard to say because I took a salary advance and they spread it out over a few weeks.

i did 30+... state tax took ~ $350

[Cobretti]

It's less likely a she is a rainmaker (due to history of legal world), so you are probably ok. Also, 100% offer firm. I'm sure it's less bad than you think. Try to move ahead as if nothing happened.

edit to add - just my take on the way things are, not how they should be.

(MODS PLEASE)

[Johann]

At any top firm, I get the sense you'll have late nights, weekend work, etc. For me it wasn't figuring out who offers the 'cushy' lifestyle, but who are the people I can enjoy working alongside and under when I'm pulling those late nights. There are great people and terrible people to work under at all firms, most likely, so I think the trick is finding the people in your firm you click with, whose directions you understand, who like your work product, etc.

True. I'd just caveat that there are sweatshop firms and groups that will basically push everyone to 2400 and others that are cool at 2000. And that's a big difference. But you should try to weed through this in OCI and accepting offer. Because at this point, it's likely too late.

[trebekismyhero]

Did 15, got roughly $900 withheld. It's hard to say because I took a salary advance and they spread it out over a few weeks.

i did 30+... state tax took ~ $350

I only did 2. Got $2k taken out by state and Federal. But this Spring will be awesome when I get that back