Soonest quitting as a first-year Forum

[Anonymous User]

Sort of curious about the quasi-legal in-house role... I suppose you can't share too many details, though. Is it a contracts manager type position?

Corporate development with the idea I could negotiate NDA's, do some diligence, and other legal stuff but do primarily valuation work.

Update - took an IR/legal hybrid role at an investment fund. Really just need to shoot out those apps.

Hi Anon. I'm also very curious about your move to this new role. Would it be okay if I shoot you a PM?

Saw this pop up - I am the anon who moved into the role. Honestly looking back close to three years later was a great decision on my end. I took a pretty hefty day 1 paycut (30%) and also moved to a more expensive market so was a pretty questionable financial decision day 1. Comp has since progressed well enough where it definitely makes up for the quality of life and I hopefully should clear market this year or next year.

I still work heavy hours but I have a lot more control and have moved fully out of legal at my fund. The work is night and day better, while there still is shitty work, that is the exception rather the norm.

I would really encourage people to explore options - however don’t expect the same money that you do in biglaw at least day 1.

[dabigchina]

I quit at the 1 year mark to go back to my pre-law school career (accounting).

The money is fine. I make about 10-15% less than what I would make in biglaw, but the hours are more sustainable. I deal with morons all day, but that's not a huge change from biglaw and they are at least very nice. I still work weird hours at crunch time, but I get way more warning and weekends are more or less sacred. The skillset I gained in biglaw is still pretty useful (being able to read a contract is a plus whatever your role is).

Overall, 10/10, would do again, although it helps that I was working with an unreasonable screamer at my firm.

[Anonymous User]

Sort of curious about the quasi-legal in-house role... I suppose you can't share too many details, though. Is it a contracts manager type position?

Corporate development with the idea I could negotiate NDA's, do some diligence, and other legal stuff but do primarily valuation work.

Update - took an IR/legal hybrid role at an investment fund. Really just need to shoot out those apps.

Hi Anon. I'm also very curious about your move to this new role. Would it be okay if I shoot you a PM?

Saw this pop up - I am the anon who moved into the role. Honestly looking back close to three years later was a great decision on my end. I took a pretty hefty day 1 paycut (30%) and also moved to a more expensive market so was a pretty questionable financial decision day 1. Comp has since progressed well enough where it definitely makes up for the quality of life and I hopefully should clear market this year or next year.

I still work heavy hours but I have a lot more control and have moved fully out of legal at my fund. The work is night and day better, while there still is shitty work, that is the exception rather the norm.

I would really encourage people to explore options - however don’t expect the same money that you do in biglaw at least day 1.

Would you mind sharing whether you had any relevant pre-law school experience? Also, what does IR stand for?

[Anonymous User]

Sort of curious about the quasi-legal in-house role... I suppose you can't share too many details, though. Is it a contracts manager type position?

Corporate development with the idea I could negotiate NDA's, do some diligence, and other legal stuff but do primarily valuation work.

Update - took an IR/legal hybrid role at an investment fund. Really just need to shoot out those apps.

Hi Anon. I'm also very curious about your move to this new role. Would it be okay if I shoot you a PM?

Saw this pop up - I am the anon who moved into the role. Honestly looking back close to three years later was a great decision on my end. I took a pretty hefty day 1 paycut (30%) and also moved to a more expensive market so was a pretty questionable financial decision day 1. Comp has since progressed well enough where it definitely makes up for the quality of life and I hopefully should clear market this year or next year.

I still work heavy hours but I have a lot more control and have moved fully out of legal at my fund. The work is night and day better, while there still is shitty work, that is the exception rather the norm.

I would really encourage people to explore options - however don’t expect the same money that you do in biglaw at least day 1.

Would you mind sharing whether you had any relevant pre-law school experience? Also, what does IR stand for?

Was K-JD but did two finance internships when in law school.

IR is investor relations.

[Anonymous User]

Couldn’t agree more about loving work from home. Most associates I’ve spoken to agree. Wfh means more sleep, and the ability to exercise. Everyone feels better and this makes us more productive than if we had to waste hours a day on a commute. The firm is doing even better this year, so I feel like a lot of the partner skepticism about wfh has evaporated. But we’ll see. I hope that whenever we go back, we’ll still have a really flexible wfh model.

[emc91]

Couldn’t agree more about loving work from home. Most associates I’ve spoken to agree. Wfh means more sleep, and the ability to exercise. Everyone feels better and this makes us more productive than if we had to waste hours a day on a commute. The firm is doing even better this year, so I feel like a lot of the partner skepticism about wfh has evaporated. But we’ll see. I hope that whenever we go back, we’ll still have a really flexible wfh model.

Yep. My firm and practice group generally isn’t so brutal that I can’t get sufficient sleep and occasional exercise, but I’m still so much happier with WFH. I have been eating so much healthier, and I feel so much better. I genuinely never want to go into the office again.

I want to get the vaccine in secret so that I will be protected but I won’t be encouraged to go back.

[Anonymous User]

Couldn’t agree more about loving work from home. Most associates I’ve spoken to agree. Wfh means more sleep, and the ability to exercise. Everyone feels better and this makes us more productive than if we had to waste hours a day on a commute. The firm is doing even better this year, so I feel like a lot of the partner skepticism about wfh has evaporated. But we’ll see. I hope that whenever we go back, we’ll still have a really flexible wfh model.

This hasn’t been my experience. If anything WFH has meant partners have assumed I’m even more “always on call” than before, especially on weekends and holidays, including Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years Eve. The general sense I get is that since there’s less social activities, partners assume people are always by their computers, even on holidays or late Friday/Saturday night or early mornings (8 am-ish). In general, I feel like it’s been harder to set boundaries during WFH, and I worry about how/if I’ll be able to re-establish boundaries once work starts again. I used to have the mornings (730-930 am) relatively free to wake up and commute to the office. Now, I get emails and calls during those hours. I can also imagine partners continuing to call me at 10 pm on Saturday nights when I’m out at a bar and unable to work. Not looking forward to that conversation.

I do like WFH generally, but I think my firm will continue to require in-office face time in post-COVID world, using the same old excuses like nothing has ever happened.

[Anonymous User]

I am noticing that I am getting a lot more work than the other first year in my group. The other first year claims they have been asking for work, but people just tell them to hang tight. Meanwhile, I was billing 15 hour days. And, as soon as one deal closed, I quickly got staffed on another deal. Is this normal? I am worried about potential burn out

[Anonymous User]

I am noticing that I am getting a lot more work than the other first year in my group. The other first year claims they have been asking for work, but people just tell them to hang tight. Meanwhile, I was billing 15 hour days. And, as soon as one deal closed, I quickly got staffed on another deal. Is this normal? I am worried about potential burn out

If its just been a month or so of this, work flow is weird and I wouldn't read too much into it. If its been a few months and you are billing 190-200+/hr a month, learn to say no to work and quick.

What other associates are doing doesn't really matter for you unless you are billing significantly less than others for a while

[hdr]

I am noticing that I am getting a lot more work than the other first year in my group. The other first year claims they have been asking for work, but people just tell them to hang tight. Meanwhile, I was billing 15 hour days. And, as soon as one deal closed, I quickly got staffed on another deal. Is this normal? I am worried about potential burn out

If this goes on for a while, it probably means the partners prefer working with you (not an uncommon situation). At that point you should get comfortable turning down work, but do it intelligently--e.g. say no to the senior associate who isn't making partner but always make time for the rainmakers. Also don't let it get to your head; I've seen plenty of well-regarded junior associates crash and burn as midlevels.

[avenuem]

I am noticing that I am getting a lot more work than the other first year in my group. The other first year claims they have been asking for work, but people just tell them to hang tight. Meanwhile, I was billing 15 hour days. And, as soon as one deal closed, I quickly got staffed on another deal. Is this normal? I am worried about potential burn out

If this goes on for a while, it probably means the partners prefer working with you (not an uncommon situation). At that point you should get comfortable turning down work, but do it intelligently--e.g. say no to the senior associate who isn't making partner but always make time for the rainmakers. Also don't let it get to your head; I've seen plenty of well-regarded junior associates crash and burn as midlevels.

How do you even know who this is, unless you're a partner or a senior associate privy to partners' conversations on upcoming partner elections for your class?

[hdr]

How do you even know who this is, unless you're a partner or a senior associate privy to partners' conversations on upcoming partner elections for your class?

It's usually apparent once you've been in the practice group for a few weeks/months based on who has the most responsibility, works closest with the rainmakers and clients, etc. Regardless, the bigger point is that you should figure out the real hierarchy in your group and know who you should and shouldn't say no to. If you say yes every time someone surprises you with ten hours of work on a Friday night due 10am Sunday, you'll probably burn out.