Long-term outlook in biglaw Forum

[wiz]

star junior checking in. fire away.

(declines all work on way to 1200 billables for the year)

sounds just like the star attorney this OP deserves

How much do you actually slack bro?

[ClubberLang]

I could PM you if you promise not to re-post

Tempting, but that is a promise I could not keep. How about in general terms?

For instance-
1) Did you advise other SA's on substantive matters?
2) Did you speak during conference calls?
3) Did you skip events and lunches because you had too much work to do?
4) Did you discuss firm strategy with partners?

[PennBull]

1) Did you advise other SA's on substantive matters?

You know the answer to this is going to be "yes" with a thorough misunderstanding as to what "substantive" means

[Anonymous User]

I could PM you if you promise not to re-post

Tempting, but that is a promise I could not keep. How about in general terms?

For instance-
1) Did you advise other SA's on substantive matters?
2) Did you speak during conference calls?
3) Did you skip events and lunches because you had too much work to do?
4) Did you discuss firm strategy with partners?

aha, alright I think I'm good in terms of advice now. thanks all

[los blancos]

star junior checking in. fire away.

(declines all work on way to 1200 billables for the year)

sounds just like the star attorney this OP deserves

How much do you actually slack bro?

I'm irrationally upset that Johann is taking the slacker label from me. I think I'm a bigger slacker.

[los blancos]

I'm a striver and care about $/prestige

No, I fully agree. I definitely harbor a fair amount of self-loathing. I don't want to reveal too much but I'm a standard overachiever striver....it's not a happy life. I do think corp strategy seems more interesting than biglaw lit though

You do understand that these are things that you can change about yourself before it's too late, right?

[Johann]

star junior checking in. fire away.

(declines all work on way to 1200 billables for the year)

sounds just like the star attorney this OP deserves

How much do you actually slack bro?

i do everything the rainmaker partner asks me too. he has asked me to copy what felt like a 50 page pdf into an email as text and i did it no questions asked. i learned early on that he likes to have associates to himself which ive used to my advantage. someone gave me a doc review project in my first month and i told the partner i was staying late to work on it when he tried to give me bulls ticket. he told the senior assoicate i was working for him and they needed to clear projects with him. since then, anytime a senior or midlevel tries to give me work that i dont want i usually say yeah im pretty busy with rainmakers project and they dont follow up. just this week was about to get another pretty lame project (which ive done one of these lame projects for my partner before without hesitation and it sucked) and so i said yeah i can do it when do you need it because im doing XYZ for partner this week. senior was like yeah ill just find someone else. so i basically use that to avoid any pure bs work from seniors.

i dont really say no to partners though. did a nonbillable project for a partner and was talking about it with another partner who did something similar so i just edited his article without him asking because hes a big deal. so occassionally i do shit like that where i try to make some key allies. a couple partners also have this habit of just stopping by my office and asking vaguely are you busy and ive responded with things like yeah i wouldnt be here at 730 if i wasnt busy. its like a soft no but if they said well i really really need you to do this, id obvi do it. one partner who isnt very personable asked me to join a call once. i did and did some follow up research. then he sent me a call invite for a recurring weekly call and i just never went because he never directly asked me to join the matter. basically just stuff like that - if i have an out, ill take it. partner tells me to get sleep, i take that literally and come in the next day at 11.

i dont really know what ive billed this year, but i havent hit 200 hours in a month yet and i have at least 3 months under 100. 2 of those months were when i started so they probably dont really count. but after i finished a big project in march i basically took april and may off without telling anyone i was looking for work. i showed up to the office but i didnt really do anything. id guess im on target for like 1800 hours though ive never done the math.

and sometimes i just go home for like 2 hour lunches. but ive only taken like 1 week of vacation officially since i joined. so i slack but i try to do it sorta smartly. my life is gonna suck in the offchance i survive biglaw enough for these senior associates to become partners though. like really really suck.

[Johann]

star junior checking in. fire away.

(declines all work on way to 1200 billables for the year)

sounds just like the star attorney this OP deserves

How much do you actually slack bro?

I'm irrationally upset that Johann is taking the slacker label from me. I think I'm a bigger slacker.

we can share this for sure. you might have me beat.