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mvp99

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Re: Summer Associate Class of 2015

Post by mvp99 » Sat Jul 18, 2015 8:18 pm

North wrote:*currently at office; not even brotherdarknessing*

Sr. Associate on Friday at 8:00pm: we're turning Monday @ noon so if you could have this ready by Monday a.m. Preferably earlier That'd be great" (10 hours of work) (has happened several times before)

#workingsummer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fy3rjQGc6lA gotta work on those TPS reports

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rahulg91

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Re: Summer Associate Class of 2015

Post by rahulg91 » Sat Jul 18, 2015 8:21 pm

I've only had to stay one weekend, but golf and summer events got in the way of doing work during normal hours that week. Only reason I stayed was because of a Monday deadline.

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BaberhamLincoln

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Re: Summer Associate Class of 2015

Post by BaberhamLincoln » Sat Jul 18, 2015 8:46 pm

I don't understand staying late or overnight when you can do the work at your own house provided you bring a couple things home/email to yourself

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El Pollito

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Re: Summer Associate Class of 2015

Post by El Pollito » Sat Jul 18, 2015 8:54 pm

BaberhamLincoln wrote:I don't understand staying late or overnight when you can do the work at your own house provided you bring a couple things home/email to yourself
because some people don't like working from home

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BaberhamLincoln

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Re: Summer Associate Class of 2015

Post by BaberhamLincoln » Sat Jul 18, 2015 8:55 pm

El Pollito wrote:
BaberhamLincoln wrote:I don't understand staying late or overnight when you can do the work at your own house provided you bring a couple things home/email to yourself
because some people don't like working from home
Eh. That's fair

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03152016

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Re: Summer Associate Class of 2015

Post by 03152016 » Sat Jul 18, 2015 8:57 pm

ya find it hard to concentrate @ home tbh
plus if i'm gonna be working anyways it's nice to get free dinner out of it

on the wkend tho don't wanna deal with commuting, easier to use citrix

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BaberhamLincoln

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Re: Summer Associate Class of 2015

Post by BaberhamLincoln » Sat Jul 18, 2015 9:41 pm

Guess the whole having a dog thing is going to limit me staying in the office late and instead wfh at night/weekend when I need to

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North

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Re: Summer Associate Class of 2015

Post by North » Sat Jul 18, 2015 9:47 pm

Yeah I don't really mind coming in. 5 minute drive, I don't get much done at home, and there's free soda here. I also have zero other responsibilities or better things to do so it doesn't really matter. *ascii shrug guy*

BigZuck

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Re: Summer Associate Class of 2015

Post by BigZuck » Sat Jul 18, 2015 10:23 pm

I had to stay until 6:30 once

:o

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trebekismyhero

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Re: Summer Associate Class of 2015

Post by trebekismyhero » Sun Jul 19, 2015 12:04 am

BigZuck wrote:I had to stay until 6:30 once

:o
Ha. Same. I have worked a couple weekends, but that is mostly cause I was procrastinating on projects. Getting an email on Friday night at 8 pm as a summer associate sounds like a nightmare

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rpupkin

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Re: Summer Associate Class of 2015

Post by rpupkin » Sun Jul 19, 2015 4:13 am

North wrote:*currently at office; not even brotherdarknessing*

Sr. Associate on Friday at 8:00pm: we're turning Monday @ noon so if you could have this ready by Monday a.m. Preferably earlier That'd be great" (10 hours of work) (has happened several times before)
Fascinating. At both of the firms I've worked at, an associate would get in trouble for doing this. Like, "noted on your annual associate review" sort of trouble. We're under clear orders to: (1) not give summers boring assignments like doc review or drafting rog responses; and (2) not give last-minute assignments to summers.

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Re: Summer Associate Class of 2015

Post by Anonymous User » Sun Jul 19, 2015 11:09 am

rpupkin wrote:
North wrote:*currently at office; not even brotherdarknessing*

Sr. Associate on Friday at 8:00pm: we're turning Monday @ noon so if you could have this ready by Monday a.m. Preferably earlier That'd be great" (10 hours of work) (has happened several times before)
Fascinating. At both of the firms I've worked at, an associate would get in trouble for doing this. Like, "noted on your annual associate review" sort of trouble. We're under clear orders to: (1) not give summers boring assignments like doc review or drafting rog responses; and (2) not give last-minute assignments to summers.

Interesting b/c at my firm quite the opposite. Giving a summer at least one weekend of the 'real' associate experience is encouraged. We don't want to hide the ball on folks.

Regarding working from home, there are a number of reasons why the office is better for certain tasks - it makes it much, much easier to markup and review drafts of a big document that a junior is running for you. It is much easier in situations, obviously, in situations where you need to print and/or scan large numbers of pages - for example, in securities work when you are working with a doc that's already at the printer. It's much easier for certain tasks where you need two monitors - marking up a precedent with language from a second document, where you can have your "base" doc on monitor one and your second doc on monitor two. And being in the office eliminates all the VPN/Citrix issues attendant to working remotely. Even as a general home-worker, i still find myself in the office on a weekend maybe once every couple of months; which is not that bad but basically represents the baseline unavoidable amount of weekend work.

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Re: Summer Associate Class of 2015

Post by Anonymous User » Sun Jul 19, 2015 12:07 pm

At my summer associate program I haven't had the opportunity to do any corporate work and I'm curious about the differences between it and litigation. Is one considered harder than the other? It seems like litigation involves more creativity in the sense of coming up with arguments (I don't mean to offend any corporate people out there so please excuse my naïveté). I've found that I have a hard time being able to think of novel arguments and find it nerve wracking to get assignments in different areas of the law that I have never heard of before. I know as a summer that this is expected but associates have said this is common in litigation. It seems like corporate work involves the same general subject, but different clients for each deal. It also appears that exit options--particularly in-house--are better if you have a corporate background. So, I'm wondering if corporate would be a better fit for me. Any insight would be much appreciated!

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FSK

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Re: Summer Associate Class of 2015

Post by FSK » Sun Jul 19, 2015 12:13 pm

North, that sucks - much worse what I just bitched about too.
Last edited by FSK on Sat Jan 27, 2018 4:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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sinfiery

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Re: Summer Associate Class of 2015

Post by sinfiery » Sun Jul 19, 2015 12:30 pm

Litigation seems like research assignments -- and corporate work seems like editing contracts


There are arguments to be made for what language is used in contracts for the same sense of "creativity" as you get when you make arguments in a research assignment -- though I have a feeling contract law is a lot more set in stone whereas what you end up litigating on might leave room for more conjecturing

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trebekismyhero

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Re: Summer Associate Class of 2015

Post by trebekismyhero » Sun Jul 19, 2015 2:35 pm

Anonymous User wrote:At my summer associate program I haven't had the opportunity to do any corporate work and I'm curious about the differences between it and litigation. Is one considered harder than the other? It seems like litigation involves more creativity in the sense of coming up with arguments (I don't mean to offend any corporate people out there so please excuse my naïveté). I've found that I have a hard time being able to think of novel arguments and find it nerve wracking to get assignments in different areas of the law that I have never heard of before. I know as a summer that this is expected but associates have said this is common in litigation. It seems like corporate work involves the same general subject, but different clients for each deal. It also appears that exit options--particularly in-house--are better if you have a corporate background. So, I'm wondering if corporate would be a better fit for me. Any insight would be much appreciated!
Corporate assignments generally seem to be harder to do for the summer. But I went to a sr. associate directly and asked if I could help out on a deal. It has been mostly editing contracts and purchase agreements, but has at least been helpful to see what the more sr. associates and jr. partners work on. They write the purchase agreements and do a lot of the negotiations. It confirmed that I want that over litigation.

I would recommend just talking to some corporate folks and seeing if you can help out and at least get a taste of it.

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Re: Summer Associate Class of 2015

Post by Anonymous User » Sun Jul 19, 2015 3:12 pm

I'm helping with the process of making comments on a draft term sheet. Nobody asked for my comments or anything (obviously), but I'm noticing a good number of objectively wrong spelling, grammar and phrasing issues. Should I make note of the issues and point them out when I turn in my actual assignment, or is this a shut up and just do exactly what you were asked to do kind of situation?

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DJ JD

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Re: Summer Associate Class of 2015

Post by DJ JD » Sun Jul 19, 2015 3:34 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
rpupkin wrote:
North wrote:*currently at office; not even brotherdarknessing*

Sr. Associate on Friday at 8:00pm: we're turning Monday @ noon so if you could have this ready by Monday a.m. Preferably earlier That'd be great" (10 hours of work) (has happened several times before)
Fascinating. At both of the firms I've worked at, an associate would get in trouble for doing this. Like, "noted on your annual associate review" sort of trouble. We're under clear orders to: (1) not give summers boring assignments like doc review or drafting rog responses; and (2) not give last-minute assignments to summers.

Interesting b/c at my firm quite the opposite. Giving a summer at least one weekend of the 'real' associate experience is encouraged. We don't want to hide the ball on folks.

Regarding working from home, there are a number of reasons why the office is better for certain tasks - it makes it much, much easier to markup and review drafts of a big document that a junior is running for you. It is much easier in situations, obviously, in situations where you need to print and/or scan large numbers of pages - for example, in securities work when you are working with a doc that's already at the printer. It's much easier for certain tasks where you need two monitors - marking up a precedent with language from a second document, where you can have your "base" doc on monitor one and your second doc on monitor two. And being in the office eliminates all the VPN/Citrix issues attendant to working remotely. Even as a general home-worker, i still find myself in the office on a weekend maybe once every couple of months; which is not that bad but basically represents the baseline unavoidable amount of weekend work.
I agree. From my experience, didn't think a lot of substantive corporate work lends itself well to being done remotely, and even if so, you're more efficient from the office. Two computer screens is singlehandedly the best advent in office technology since the internet.

BigZuck

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Re: Summer Associate Class of 2015

Post by BigZuck » Sun Jul 19, 2015 3:35 pm

Anonymous User wrote:I'm helping with the process of making comments on a draft term sheet. Nobody asked for my comments or anything (obviously), but I'm noticing a good number of objectively wrong spelling, grammar and phrasing issues. Should I make note of the issues and point them out when I turn in my actual assignment, or is this a shut up and just do exactly what you were asked to do kind of situation?
Not a BIG LAWYER of course but I can't imagine anything negative happening if you point out obvious mistakes

...no offer?

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beepboopbeep

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Re: Summer Associate Class of 2015

Post by beepboopbeep » Sun Jul 19, 2015 3:36 pm

Anonymous User wrote:I'm helping with the process of making comments on a draft term sheet. Nobody asked for my comments or anything (obviously), but I'm noticing a good number of objectively wrong spelling, grammar and phrasing issues. Should I make note of the issues and point them out when I turn in my actual assignment, or is this a shut up and just do exactly what you were asked to do kind of situation?
I'd just ask the assigning attorney super quick whether they want spelling/typo fixes

Just a summer too so take whatever grains of salt

If you dont want to ask I'd just fix the really unobjectionable ones

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El Pollito

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Re: Summer Associate Class of 2015

Post by El Pollito » Sun Jul 19, 2015 3:51 pm

i assume it's riddled with errors because it's a draft and you shouldn't do stuff beyond the scope of your assignment, but ask if you feel compelled to

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Re: Summer Associate Class of 2015

Post by Anonymous User » Sun Jul 19, 2015 4:57 pm

Anonymous User wrote:I'm helping with the process of making comments on a draft term sheet. Nobody asked for my comments or anything (obviously), but I'm noticing a good number of objectively wrong spelling, grammar and phrasing issues. Should I make note of the issues and point them out when I turn in my actual assignment, or is this a shut up and just do exactly what you were asked to do kind of situation?

DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES SEND AN EMAIL 'FIXING THE MISTAKES' THAT IS SENT TO ANYONE OTHER THAN THE MOST JUNIOR ASSOCIATE. That is a MAJOR, cardinal, dingable sin. NEVER MAKE ANYONE LOOK BAD IN FRONT OF OTHERS.

The appropriate play here is to, (a) DO NOT FIX PHRASING OR GRAMMAR ISSUES UNLESS SO OBVIOUSLY WRONG THAT YOU LOOK LIKE A MORON FOR MISSING (B) to the extent there are typos or other issues that are so manifestly obvious that you will embarrass yourself if not raised, ideally, make a HAND MARKUP and go to the most junior associate IN PERSON, all apologetic, and say something like "hey, I thought I might have noticed some glitches when i was reviewing, I'm sure I'm either mistaken or these were already caught" and give to that junior so that they can either (a) make the determination on whether to pass the comments up or (b) if it they were the junior's mistake, fix without the senior folks knowing. DO NOT GIVE THEM ANYTHING THAT CAN BE FORWARDED BY EMAIL IN CASE THEY GET PISSED AND WANT TO MAKE YOU LOOK BAD BY FORWARDING TO THE MORE SENIOR ASSOCIATE ALL LIKE 'LOL LOOK AT THIS JERK SUMMER'.

The easiest way to a rapturous review is to save an associates ass without embarassing them. BUT I AM ALL CAPSING TO PREVENT YOU FROM UNWITTINGLY MAKING A BIG MISTAKE. The easiest way to a ding is to try to show an associate up. At my 100% offer firm, it is one of the 2 mistakes I've seen a summer make that doesn't involve pants-removal that seriously imperiled an offer.

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First Offense

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Re: Summer Associate Class of 2015

Post by First Offense » Sun Jul 19, 2015 5:05 pm

BigZuck wrote:I had to stay until 6:30 once

:o
I had to stay until 7 once...

/shamelessgunner

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North

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Re: Summer Associate Class of 2015

Post by North » Sun Jul 19, 2015 5:19 pm

Anonymous User wrote:At my 100% offer firm, it is one of the 2 mistakes I've seen a summer make that doesn't involve pants-removal that seriously imperiled an offer.
You can't just tell us one of the two dude come on

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Re: Summer Associate Class of 2015

Post by Anonymous User » Sun Jul 19, 2015 6:07 pm

My mentor and supervising junior are both out right now but I've got a substantive question. Any practicing corporate/cap markets folks know what a "Rider" is and where I might look to find them if a comment on a doc I'm looking at says something like "put Rider 26 here"?

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