Summer Associate Class of 2016 Forum

[El Pollito]

i'm with smaug, unless a lukewarm review is part of your firm's culture and all summers get one, they're starting the process of not giving you an offer. you're a 1L though, so who cares?

[Johann]

Lol my review started off with "Your law school grades are fantastic, but we see a disconnect between that and your reviews."

Then my only negative feedback is that I'm not confident enough when doing oral presentations and have some attention to detail errors, along with not asking the right questions when first given an assignment.

Nothing wrong with my substantive work or anything. Other positive feedback that was very quickly glazed over was "writing is fine," "on time," "quick with projects," "professional," "pleasant to interact with," etc.

"We would like to see improvement as we move forward with the program."

It seems like all the other summers got similar reviews.

seems fine if others got similar reviews. and that string is basically all anyone could ask for.

[El Pollito]

"you're good at school but not at life" is not a good opener

[Johann]

i take it more as, you have really good grades so we have really high expectations. some partners give really passive reviews like you are doing well to people are just fine. some partners give harsh reviews to their best talent.
looks like the review was also composed of mostly midlevels and seniors' opinions rather than partners, so id almost guarantee hes not getting no offered (at least not based on their reviews).

[Single-Malt-Liquor]

I say fuck any practice group where the associates are giving summers shit like that. Especially if it's corporate.

Unless you're a hot shot who's coming up short, then you've kind of made your own bed and they dont want to work with you.

So let me ask. Does your shit stink?

[gk101]

Everyone in my summer class got some negative feedback during their mid year review and most of us had to redo assignment and everyone ended up with offers. It might partially be that your office is relatively hard on you guys in your feedback.

some negative feedback is fine but the things said here go beyond that. Also, unless the associates giving the reviews are just assholes, they will not put negative shit in reviews unless it's really egregious (not wanting to fuck up someone's career over pointless summer assignments etc)

As others have said, if this is the norm at your firm, it's nbd. Also, the guy is 1L so he shouldn't be freaked out but definitely should focus more if he wants to get the offer at the end of the summer

[masque du pantsu]

Yeah I'm a 1L. Other summers and I get the vibe that the firm just has high expectations. I'm trying to go to other markets anyway so hopefully the worst I'll have to do is explain a no-offer, but I heard the only people who got no-offered are ones who just straight didn't do assignments or never showed up to any social events.

The negative feedback also wasn't from any patherns (just midlevels and sr associates), just radio silence from those guys, so I guess that's fine?

Another perspective given the bolded, and don't mean to be a fearmonger here, but i had a friend who was no-offered from a local/regional midlaw firm for BS reasons and it was probably because they did not expect her to stick around / come back. Like, they got her transcript and said the grade decline was too big, even though her grades were fine. So maybe they are setting up for that kinda thing. It begs the question of why bring someone like that on in the first place, but who knows; maybe it's not a 100% offer firm anyway, maybe people just do things that don't make sense (wouldn't be the first time).

I agree less of a big deal given that you are a 1L and want to go somewhere else anyway

[Anonymous User]

Partner started off my midsummer review by saying something along the lines of he's only doing them so HR/recruiting would get off his back and proceeded to spend the half hour shooting the shit about the NFL. Why even do these?

[Single-Malt-Liquor]

Partner started off my midsummer review by saying something along the lines of he's only doing them so HR/recruiting would get off his back and proceeded to spend the half hour shooting the shit about the NFL. Why even do these?

Because most SAs are paranoid and need a partner to remind them that everything is gonna be ok.

[Anonymous User]

Anyone else starting to hate practice?

I mean some of the work is interesting, but always worrying about how someone will perceive your work is exhausting. I hate the feeling of just being in limbo.

Billable hours scare me. I've been swamped this week but I'm only billing like 8 hours a day. Which is basically what you have to bill to hit your hours as an associate. It's sobering to realize that. Because I feel like I have way too much work but it's actually the appropriate amount.

I hope it gets less overwhelming with experience.

How long of a day have u worked to bill 8??? Even on my worst days I can't bill a whole 8 this summer. (Billing ethically)

11-12 hours in the office. Plus, I had a steady stream of work and a tight deadline so I didn't dick around like I normally do and socialize.

12 hours in the office to bill 8 seems inefficient, even if you justify it as ethical. You can be ethical and be efficient. I'll bill 8 hours with under 10 hours in the office many days, and have had other days billing closer to 90% of my time. To be fair, these days have been rare, since I've been helping with a couple of deals on tight deadlines before closings, making for busy days. Other days I sit around 9-5 billing 70% of my time, but that's generally because I'm waiting on work to come in the door, or spending my time trying to talk to people to find new work.

[Serett]

This topic is still bad.

[star fox]

This topic is still bad.

How's Milwaukee?

[Serett]

This topic is still bad.

How's Milwaukee?

The chillest. You in Chicago?

[Anonymous User]

How positive/negative are mid summer reviews? I had some positives, and the negatives were that I should improve my writing and research skills over the summer. Is that common? Is it a sign of a no offer?

[Anonymous User]

How positive/negative are mid summer reviews? I had some positives, and the negatives were that I should improve my writing and research skills over the summer. Is that common? Is it a sign of a no offer?

How could your writing improve?

What did they find was at issue with your research?

These are kind of some bread and butter skills, no?

[lavarman84]

Anyone else starting to hate practice?

I mean some of the work is interesting, but always worrying about how someone will perceive your work is exhausting. I hate the feeling of just being in limbo.

Billable hours scare me. I've been swamped this week but I'm only billing like 8 hours a day. Which is basically what you have to bill to hit your hours as an associate. It's sobering to realize that. Because I feel like I have way too much work but it's actually the appropriate amount.

I hope it gets less overwhelming with experience.

How long of a day have u worked to bill 8??? Even on my worst days I can't bill a whole 8 this summer. (Billing ethically)

11-12 hours in the office. Plus, I had a steady stream of work and a tight deadline so I didn't dick around like I normally do and socialize.

12 hours in the office to bill 8 seems inefficient, even if you justify it as ethical. You can be ethical and be efficient. I'll bill 8 hours with under 10 hours in the office many days, and have had other days billing closer to 90% of my time. To be fair, these days have been rare, since I've been helping with a couple of deals on tight deadlines before closings, making for busy days. Other days I sit around 9-5 billing 70% of my time, but that's generally because I'm waiting on work to come in the door, or spending my time trying to talk to people to find new work.

I've billed more efficiently than that but I generally am in the office for 11 hours (counting lunch) to bill 8 hours. I am not a morning person so I spend the first hour or so in the office chatting with other summers or lawyers. And then there are sporadic periods during the day where I have to stop billing for whatever reason. There are some days where I can bill like 7 hours in 8 hours in the office if I am really focused or have a tight deadline.

Thankfully, this week is slower and I can finally breathe again.

[lavarman84]

Anyone else specifically told they have to work July 4th?

Nope. The opposite. What sweatshop do you work at?

[BizBro]

Think office "closes" early on Friday. Hoping to peace by 3pm.

[El Pollito]

Think office "closes" early on Friday. Hoping to peace by 3pm.

no one will be there, so you should be able to

[SplitMyPants]

We need a new poll. Thoughts?

[pancakes3]

How positive/negative are mid summer reviews? I had some positives, and the negatives were that I should improve my writing and research skills over the summer. Is that common? Is it a sign of a no offer?

i got "writing is good but..." and "research is good but..." reviews which was appreciated by me because it meant they actually read my shitty shit.

i just didn't know people gave a shit about tense. maybe i am a shitty writer.

[PeanutsNJam]

How positive/negative are mid summer reviews? I had some positives, and the negatives were that I should improve my writing and research skills over the summer. Is that common? Is it a sign of a no offer?

i got "writing is good but..." and "research is good but..." reviews which was appreciated by me because it meant they actually read my shitty shit.

i just didn't know people gave a shit about tense. maybe i am a shitty writer.

I really think it's a firm difference. The other summers at my firm that I talked to all received some form of negative feedback. One person made a typo in a pathern's name in the assignment logging system (it was spelled fine on work product), and it was brought up in the review. I think some other firms just give you a "everything seems to be in order" review even if you make some mistakes so long as you don't do anything egregious.

My firm is pretty small, like something between 150-200 in my office, so maybe our work just gets more scrutiny? Entire summer class size (1L + 2L) is <20 as well.

[Anonymous User]

How are we supposed to know of were fucking up if the firm doesn't do formal reviews and the only feedback I've heard from anyone is "this is great, thanks!“

I feel like my writing in really lacking and I turned in a shitty memo (it's was short and internal, I didn't get feedback even though I asked). My school does pass fail legal writing and I never really tried, but now that my firm is doing a writing seminar I can see how bad that memo was and it's haunting me.

[Anonymous User]

How are we supposed to know of were fucking up if the firm doesn't do formal reviews and the only feedback I've heard from anyone is "this is great, thanks!“

I feel like my writing in really lacking and I turned in a shitty memo (it's was short and internal, I didn't get feedback even though I asked). My school does pass fail legal writing and I never really tried, but now that my firm is doing a writing seminar I can see how bad that memo was and it's haunting me.

[pancakes3]

(it's was short and internal, I didn't get feedback even though I asked).

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