bk1 wrote:Anonymous User wrote:First year transactional associate (stub year). My biggest problem is that I am barely billing any time (I had one week where I billed 30 hours). I can go multiple days without work, despite asking people for assignments, and the same is true for other new associates in my practice group.
Here's to hoping that this miraculously changes in the start of the new billable year. I know I'm supposed to "enjoy" the down time while I have it, but it seems unlikely that something will magically happen at the stroke of midnight on January 1.
It's normal for it to be slow at times, and sometimes that includes when new associates start. Plenty of people do minimal work for months on end when they start.
It's hard not to feel anxious about it, but as long as you're looking for work there's not much you can do except wait.
Spend this time reading a hornbook or just reading about transactional law in general. For the first few months it seemed like I had more work than most first years combined - one even turned down work despite not having work at the time. You're inconsequential and fungible so people aren't really monitoring your workload, and it's on you to know your limits. You don't know your limits, because law school is really just a few weeks of intensity with a long cool off period. When first starting, assume you will burn out easily and don't hesitate to turn down work if you have any doubt that you're ready to bill a 300 hour month with no fuck ups. At some point, you will be able to work with that attorney again when your odds of fucking are much lower. In addition to a heightened risk of fucking up, you're also not learning much beyond the actual assignments you're doing unless you're being walked through the deal (which is rare). In 3 months, the person who was reading hornbooks and bloomberg law all day starts taking on work, knocks it out of the park and gets work over you every day of the week.
Nobody remembers whether you mentioned you had 2 other deals when you took their assignment or that you were in your stub year. All they remember is whether you fucked up. Although hours are important, you're not being judged based on how many hours you have but based on how many you're projected to have. In most cases, these go hand in hand, but not so much at your level. Going 0, 0, 75, 100, 250, 250 your first 6 months is infinitely better than 300, 300, 80, 100, 100, 100. This will be interpreted as, "Person A didn't get opportunities out of the gate, but is obviously better than Person B." During slow months, it's probably better to be on vacation than waiting for work, because your drop in hours won't be perceived to be indicative of merit. The main thing I wish I could do over is to really go out of my way to get to develop strong mentoring relationships with associates a few years above your class level. It is a huge advantage to be protected while your reputation is vulnerable - people are asking whether you're good, and the truth is that the more people you work with, the greater the risk. It's much better to work with the same small number of people until you know what you're doing.
