Class of 2016: 3 months in; how goes it? Forum

Nebby · Post by **Nebby** » Wed Dec 21, 2016 10:45 am

How's everyone's experience thus far?

Anonymous User · Post by **Anonymous User** » Wed Dec 21, 2016 1:24 pm

Planning to leave as soon as possible.

LaLiLuLeLo · Post by **LaLiLuLeLo** » Wed Dec 21, 2016 1:29 pm

I've been incredibly slow. I'm trying to find new ways to entertain myself. Only frustration that I've voiced in the other thread is the expectation that we're in the office well into the night even though we have no work. It's dumb. But so are a lot of biglaw "traditions" and "expectations".

Anonymous User · Post by **Anonymous User** » Wed Dec 21, 2016 1:43 pm

Oh my many many regrets. Many many many

FSK · Post by **FSK** » Wed Dec 21, 2016 1:54 pm

Clerkship is solid. Honors gig lined up (which probably won't get frozen). Can't complaint.

zot1 · Post by **zot1** » Wed Dec 21, 2016 1:59 pm

FSK wrote:Clerkship is solid. Honors gig lined up (which probably won't get frozen). Can't complaint.

Living the life!

ur_hero · Post by **ur_hero** » Wed Dec 21, 2016 2:01 pm

Big Law Associate - corporate M&A.

Really enjoying (few screw-ups here and there) everything so far and have some major high profile work that has and will keep my group extremely busy likely for a while. The downside is I have to take a 3-4 week absence in preparation to re-take the CBX in February, so I'm going to miss out on some good stuff unfortunately. Sucks, but at least they were nice about me failing and there will be plenty to do when I'm back.

jchiles · Post by **jchiles** » Wed Dec 21, 2016 2:30 pm

Not bad but kind of rough to have to work every day after not doing that for 25 years

jbagelboy · Post by **jbagelboy** » Wed Dec 21, 2016 2:31 pm

FSK wrote:Clerkship is solid. Honors gig lined up (which probably won't get frozen). Can't complaint.

this sounds dope. congrats man. I'm so happy it worked out so well.

Anonymous User · Post by **Anonymous User** » Wed Dec 21, 2016 2:33 pm

LaLiLuLeLo wrote:I've been incredibly slow. I'm trying to find new ways to entertain myself. Only frustration that I've voiced in the other thread is the expectation that we're in the office well into the night even though we have no work. It's dumb. But so are a lot of biglaw "traditions" and "expectations".

Are you in NY? This expectation seems to exist to a much lesser extent in Chicago and not at all in Cali.

FSK · Post by **FSK** » Wed Dec 21, 2016 2:36 pm

jbagelboy wrote:
FSK wrote:Clerkship is solid. Honors gig lined up (which probably won't get frozen). Can't complaint.
this sounds dope. congrats man. I'm so happy it worked out so well.

Thanks bud (and zot). I've gotten real lucky, and the whole thing has been humbling. Hoping to give back in the future as I can.

LaLiLuLeLo · Post by **LaLiLuLeLo** » Wed Dec 21, 2016 2:43 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
LaLiLuLeLo wrote:I've been incredibly slow. I'm trying to find new ways to entertain myself. Only frustration that I've voiced in the other thread is the expectation that we're in the office well into the night even though we have no work. It's dumb. But so are a lot of biglaw "traditions" and "expectations".
Are you in NY? This expectation seems to exist to a much lesser extent in Chicago and not at all in Cali.

Nope. In CA. Which is why it's even more BS. Really, it's just one or two partners who would "notice". I'm debating how much I actually care - I don't want to (can't) stay more than a couple years anyway.

Johann · Post by **Johann** » Wed Dec 21, 2016 3:33 pm

jbagelboy wrote:
FSK wrote:Clerkship is solid. Honors gig lined up (which probably won't get frozen). Can't complaint.
this sounds dope. congrats man. I'm so happy it worked out so well.

Johann · Post by **Johann** » Wed Dec 21, 2016 3:34 pm

LaLiLuLeLo wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:
LaLiLuLeLo wrote:I've been incredibly slow. I'm trying to find new ways to entertain myself. Only frustration that I've voiced in the other thread is the expectation that we're in the office well into the night even though we have no work. It's dumb. But so are a lot of biglaw "traditions" and "expectations".
Are you in NY? This expectation seems to exist to a much lesser extent in Chicago and not at all in Cali.
Nope. In CA. Which is why it's even more BS. Really, it's just one or two partners who would "notice". I'm debating how much I actually care - I don't want to (can't) stay more than a couple years anyway.

wtf... start leaving at 5 pm then. if youre getting out before youre a 3rd year who cares about saving face ever. none of the partners will even know who you are until youre a midlevel.

Spartan_Alum_12 · Post by **Spartan_Alum_12** » Wed Dec 21, 2016 3:58 pm

Can't complain. Passed the CA bar after the brutal wait. Working for a 10-15 attorney IP boutique doing patent/trademark work. I've had periods of it being very slow and very busy. Could be a hell of a lot worse.

Anonymous User · Post by **Anonymous User** » Wed Dec 21, 2016 9:46 pm

Anonymous User wrote:Planning to leave as soon as possible.

I've gone from checking job ads every weekend just out of curiosity to checking them every evening.

Anonymous User · Post by **Anonymous User** » Thu Dec 22, 2016 12:57 am

I want to leave. But I like the money -- it affords me a standard of living that would be impossible for me in this city otherwise. That's said, there isn't much living to be done when you get home after 10 every night.

This is my dilemma. I'm staying put for now because it's the easier choice. For how much longer will that be true? I really don't know.

Anonymous User · Post by **Anonymous User** » Thu Dec 22, 2016 10:27 pm

Biglaw - California, Corporate. The hours are brutal (especially when I end up billing 7 or 8 hours in a 15-16 hour day because of lulls in the day where I don't have work), but I'm happy with my firm and the experience I'm getting. I'm getting a lot more substantive experience up-front than I expected (probably because of how crazy busy some of the people I'm working for are). The bad part about getting substantive experience, though, is that the mundane, normal first year stuff is incredibly dull when I do have to do it. I'm definitely happy with the culture of my firm, though. As long as I'm working, they don't seem to care where I'm doing the work from, which means I can leave at a decent hour each day even if I have a lot of work to do from home.

ArtistOfManliness · Post by **ArtistOfManliness** » Fri Dec 23, 2016 12:13 am

Anonymous User wrote:Biglaw - California, Corporate. The hours are brutal (especially when I end up billing 7 or 8 hours in a 15-16 hour day because of lulls in the day where I don't have work), but I'm happy with my firm and the experience I'm getting. I'm getting a lot more substantive experience up-front than I expected (probably because of how crazy busy some of the people I'm working for are). The bad part about getting substantive experience, though, is that the mundane, normal first year stuff is incredibly dull when I do have to do it. I'm definitely happy with the culture of my firm, though. As long as I'm working, they don't seem to care where I'm doing the work from, which means I can leave at a decent hour each day even if I have a lot of work to do from home.

can you go to the gym during a lull?

bearsfan23 · Post by **bearsfan23** » Fri Dec 23, 2016 1:13 am

No complaints, glad I chose lit.

Monochromatic Oeuvre · Post by **Monochromatic Oeuvre** » Fri Dec 23, 2016 9:42 am

The people aren't too bad as long as I keep my door closed, and I don't actually find the work all that mind-numbing (but I reserve the right to change my opinion on it after the 50th time I do this/the anxiety about fucking up fades). I feel like it's highly unlikely I leave this job voluntarily, but pretty likely I'll get The Talk/suffer irreparable burnout on the sooner side of things.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm not used to working 10-12 hours without dicking around for a while. It really took a couple months of doing time before I realized "You know, I didn't actually get a lot of work done today" and the associated thought of "Holy fuck, 2100-2200 is A LOT of hours." I'm going to get increasingly mad at it encroaching on my reading/gym time, but I'll probably be too much of a pussy to ever actually pull the trigger on something else even though I know leaving would be good for me, until the choice is made for me.

Also, I spent most of my adolescence planning for the work paradigm of being in the office from 9 until whatever with a break for lunch, but I definitely overestimated the degree to which anyone would give a shit if I were out of the office doing whatever else for a few hours (as long as I'm responsive/finish work promptly). I consider that a fair trade for night/weekend fire drills. I get that sometimes I'll have to scramble back to the office at 9:30 so we can turn around the comments on whatever, but if nothing is pressing, forget the "face time" shit and let me get my dry cleaning.

TLSModBot · Post by **TLSModBot** » Fri Dec 23, 2016 9:50 am

DC Biglaw

I am loving my job thus far. The people are just amazing and I've found a couple partners that I seem to click with and who don't hate my work product, plus a number of mid-levels who have been great at mentoring both in specific task skills and general adjusting to the firm. The work I've done has been a mix of tedious/boring and incredibly interesting, and I think I'm finding a practice area niche that gives me more stuff I find interesting than I find tedious. I did have one project that has come up with work literally only on weekends, nights, and holidays, but it's been the exception and not the rule thus far.

Hours are gonna get rough starting right away in January but hey, Biglaw gonna Biglaw. If I didn't have really kind and nurturing people or if the work was incredibly boring/obtuse I think I would hate this life and understand why some people do.

MCFC · Post by **MCFC** » Fri Dec 23, 2016 11:09 am

Monochromatic Oeuvre wrote:The people aren't too bad as long as I keep my door closed...

I like the people at my firm a lot but I sure do hate our open door policy.

BigZuck · Post by **BigZuck** » Fri Dec 23, 2016 12:02 pm

Monochromatic Oeuvre wrote:The people aren't too bad as long as I keep my door closed, and I don't actually find the work all that mind-numbing (but I reserve the right to change my opinion on it after the 50th time I do this/the anxiety about fucking up fades). I feel like it's highly unlikely I leave this job voluntarily, but pretty likely I'll get The Talk/suffer irreparable burnout on the sooner side of things.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm not used to working 10-12 hours without dicking around for a while. It really took a couple months of doing time before I realized "You know, I didn't actually get a lot of work done today" and the associated thought of "Holy fuck, 2100-2200 is A LOT of hours." I'm going to get increasingly mad at it encroaching on my reading/gym time, but I'll probably be too much of a pussy to ever actually pull the trigger on something else even though I know leaving would be good for me, until the choice is made for me.

Also, I spent most of my adolescence planning for the work paradigm of being in the office from 9 until whatever with a break for lunch, but I definitely overestimated the degree to which anyone would give a shit if I were out of the office doing whatever else for a few hours (as long as I'm responsive/finish work promptly). I consider that a fair trade for night/weekend fire drills. I get that sometimes I'll have to scramble back to the office at 9:30 so we can turn around the comments on whatever, but if nothing is pressing, forget the "face time" shit and let me get my dry cleaning.

That sounds like one hell of an adolescence you had there

BigZuck · Post by **BigZuck** » Fri Dec 23, 2016 12:04 pm

Capitol_Idea wrote:DC Biglaw

I am loving my job thus far. The people are just amazing and I've found a couple partners that I seem to click with and who don't hate my work product, plus a number of mid-levels who have been great at mentoring both in specific task skills and general adjusting to the firm. The work I've done has been a mix of tedious/boring and incredibly interesting, and I think I'm finding a practice area niche that gives me more stuff I find interesting than I find tedious. I did have one project that has come up with work literally only on weekends, nights, and holidays, but it's been the exception and not the rule thus far.

Hours are gonna get rough starting right away in January but hey, Biglaw gonna Biglaw. If I didn't have really kind and nurturing people or if the work was incredibly boring/obtuse I think I would hate this life and understand why some people do.

I feel largely samesies but it's probably just because we're stubs.

We'll both look back on this post in a year and a half and have a good laugh at how dumb/wrong it is and how dumb/wrong we are/were.

Eta: Actually "love" is way too strong of a word, I'm officially already calling BS on that. I'll mostly sign off on the rest however.

Class of 2016: 3 months in; how goes it? Forum

Class of 2016: 3 months in; how goes it?

Re: Class of 2016: 3 months in; how goes it?

Re: Class of 2016: 3 months in; how goes it?

Re: Class of 2016: 3 months in; how goes it?

Re: Class of 2016: 3 months in; how goes it?

Register now to search topics and post comments!

Re: Class of 2016: 3 months in; how goes it?

Re: Class of 2016: 3 months in; how goes it?

Re: Class of 2016: 3 months in; how goes it?

Re: Class of 2016: 3 months in; how goes it?

Register for access!

Re: Class of 2016: 3 months in; how goes it?

Re: Class of 2016: 3 months in; how goes it?

Re: Class of 2016: 3 months in; how goes it?

Re: Class of 2016: 3 months in; how goes it?

Resources to assist law school applicants, students & graduates.

Re: Class of 2016: 3 months in; how goes it?

Re: Class of 2016: 3 months in; how goes it?

Re: Class of 2016: 3 months in; how goes it?

Re: Class of 2016: 3 months in; how goes it?

Register now!

Re: Class of 2016: 3 months in; how goes it?

Re: Class of 2016: 3 months in; how goes it?

Re: Class of 2016: 3 months in; how goes it?

Re: Class of 2016: 3 months in; how goes it?

Register now, it's still FREE!

Re: Class of 2016: 3 months in; how goes it?

Re: Class of 2016: 3 months in; how goes it?

Re: Class of 2016: 3 months in; how goes it?

Re: Class of 2016: 3 months in; how goes it?

Seriously? What are you waiting for?