ITT: Summer Associates Post About Their Anxiety (2012) Forum

[fatduck]

Is anyone else a SA doing patent work? From day 1 I have gotten assignments where I am supposed to formulate an entire response to an office action (whether an amendment or argument). I feel odd because there haven't been any changes to my work or client advice letters. I know that there are people double and triple-checking my work, but it still seems odd to give legal advice without passing the state or patent bar. /paranoid

that's because office actions are easy, bro. the nice thing about patent pros is no matter what you do, you can't really fuck anything up beyond repair. i wouldn't stress about it.

[fl0w]

Now if I can just find an alternative for LR Articles, and I'll be set.

If you can find the cite to the article that you want to read: HeinOnline.

[Anonymous User]

Is anyone else a SA doing patent work? From day 1 I have gotten assignments where I am supposed to formulate an entire response to an office action (whether an amendment or argument). I feel odd because there haven't been any changes to my work or client advice letters. I know that there are people double and triple-checking my work, but it still seems odd to give legal advice without passing the state or patent bar. /paranoid

I do a lot of prep and pros, and I'm finding most of my responses to be taken as I draft them too. I took a claims drafting/office action course at my school, so I don't feel too badly about it.

[TTH]

is this where we poast no-offer fears?

Yep

In that case, OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG.

I'm at a mid-law shop in a secondary market. Love the firm. Love the people. Love the work. However, they didn't hire their SA last year because they didn't have a spot for him. Suffice to say, I'm nervous as hell.

[rad lulz]

is this where we poast no-offer fears?

Yep

In that case, OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG.

I'm at a mid-law shop in a secondary market. Love the firm. Love the people. Love the work. However, they didn't hire their SA last year because they didn't have a spot for him. Suffice to say, I'm nervous as hell.

When would you potentially find out?

[TTH]

is this where we poast no-offer fears?

Yep

In that case, OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG.

I'm at a mid-law shop in a secondary market. Love the firm. Love the people. Love the work. However, they didn't hire their SA last year because they didn't have a spot for him. Suffice to say, I'm nervous as hell.

When would you potentially find out?

August/September, unless I somehow force the issue. I'll probably make a few discrete inquiries in a month or so with folks I've worked with before the bidding deadline for OCI along the lines of, "Hey, this is absolutely where I want to be, but I don't know my status yet and these deadlines are approaching. Would it be okay if I list you as a reference just in case it doesn't work out here?"

[Anonymous User]

Quick Question:

I have submitted multiple memos to my supervising partner and he has substantively liked all of them but he has pointed out 1 or two very minor grammatical mistakes in each of them. Has this happened to anyone else? Should I be worried?

[fatduck]

Quick Question:

I have submitted multiple memos to my supervising partner and he has substantively liked all of them but he has pointed out 1 or two very minor grammatical mistakes in each of them. Has this happened to anyone else? Should I be worried?

yes, you should be worried about your grammar

[keg411]

Reviews coming up tomorrow and Monday. Scared as all get out .

[romothesavior]

Reviews coming up tomorrow and Monday. Scared as all get out .

I am simultaneously nervous and stoked. Nervous for obvious (albeit irrational) reasons. Also excited because I know the recruiter and HP are no nonsense people who will tell it like it is, and hopefully they tell it good. I've had almost no feedback so far other than "Great work, thanks" from attorneys, so I want to see how I'm doing and try to get my finger on the pulse of my offer odds. I think they're good given the firm's history, but I am looking forward to (hopefully) some validation.

[jeeptiger09]

is this where we poast no-offer fears?

Yep

In that case, OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG.

I'm at a mid-law shop in a secondary market. Love the firm. Love the people. Love the work. However, they didn't hire their SA last year because they didn't have a spot for him. Suffice to say, I'm nervous as hell.

In similar boat.

[Anonymous User]

is this where we poast no-offer fears?

Yep

In that case, OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG.

I'm at a mid-law shop in a secondary market. Love the firm. Love the people. Love the work. However, they didn't hire their SA last year because they didn't have a spot for him. Suffice to say, I'm nervous as hell.

In similar boat.

I've been getting great reviews on my workproduct and loving my coworkers, but my mentor let it slip out that they no-offered the summer in my group last year for fit reasons. He didn't show enough dedication to their practice group apparently. I've only done a couple of hours of work outside their group and won't accept any other projects from other people, but I'm terrified I won't be able to convince them I'm passionate enough about what they do, despite having prior w/e in it.

[Anonymous User]

Review was yesterday, and couldn't have gone better. Every attorney eval. was great. The reviewer had to essentially make up some constructive criticism, since I was practically begging for it. I know I made a few errors this summer, but none were mentioned in my reviews. In this ofice of the firm, 100% got offers the past 3 or 4 years, so yesterday helped calm my fear that I will break new ground and screw this up (but alas, the summer is only half over).

[Dr. Review]

Review was yesterday, and couldn't have gone better. Every attorney eval. was great. The reviewer had to essentially make up some constructive criticism, since I was practically begging for it. I know I made a few errors this summer, but none were mentioned in my reviews. In this ofice of the firm, 100% got offers the past 3 or 4 years, so yesterday helped calm my fear that I will break new ground and screw this up (but alas, the summer is only half over).

That sounds phenomenal. Great job.

edit: Oops, accidental anon

[Anonymous User]

The same junior associate I've been working with has me staying past 9 or 10 every night for a week. Is this normal? I figured summers are essentially pushed out the door come close of business hours unless it is extraordinary circumstances. Sure, the junior associate is busy with work, but is it really normal to essentially keep a summer around to help every single night? My floor is relatively empty so no other attorney, and the recruiting folks have no idea I've been stuck here late every night, due to this one junion associate.

[fatduck]

The same junior associate I've been working with has me staying past 9 or 10 every night for a week. Is this normal? I figured summers are essentially pushed out the door come close of business hours unless it is extraordinary circumstances. Sure, the junior associate is busy with work, but is it really normal to essentially keep a summer around to help every single night? My floor is relatively empty so no other attorney, and the recruiting folks have no idea I've been stuck here late every night, due to this one junion associate.

do you think this junior associate wants to bang you? serious question.

[Big Shrimpin]

The same junior associate I've been working with has me staying past 9 or 10 every night for a week. Is this normal? I figured summers are essentially pushed out the door come close of business hours unless it is extraordinary circumstances. Sure, the junior associate is busy with work, but is it really normal to essentially keep a summer around to help every single night? My floor is relatively empty so no other attorney, and the recruiting folks have no idea I've been stuck here late every night, due to this one junion associate.

It happens. Usually it's a mix of the following factors: (a) you're super-OCD about your work, (b) the junior associate is super-OCD about his/her work, and/or (c) the junior associate is taking advantage of you.

Probably a mix of all three, however. Even if juniors are super-busy, at many firms, juniors not supposed to dump a shitton of work on summers. That's a bummer, but unfortunately, you can't do anything about it. You're being robbed of your SA summer, which should be some work and lots of fun, even on the weekdays.

The upshot, however, is that you won't be surprised at your schedule when you start work next fall.

[Anonymous User]

The same junior associate I've been working with has me staying past 9 or 10 every night for a week. Is this normal? I figured summers are essentially pushed out the door come close of business hours unless it is extraordinary circumstances. Sure, the junior associate is busy with work, but is it really normal to essentially keep a summer around to help every single night? My floor is relatively empty so no other attorney, and the recruiting folks have no idea I've been stuck here late every night, due to this one junion associate.

do you think this junior associate wants to bang you? serious question.

Nah def nothing like that

I think she is just out of touch with what the "deal" is for summers and what we are here for. Luckily, all the other work im doing is great, and with great people. This associate is just uber OCD and tense. She seemed really surprised when, in passing conversation, I mentioned that summers typically leave around 6 or 630 unless pressed to stay.

[Anonymous User]

is this where we poast no-offer fears?

Yep

In that case, OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG.

I'm at a mid-law shop in a secondary market. Love the firm. Love the people. Love the work. However, they didn't hire their SA last year because they didn't have a spot for him. Suffice to say, I'm nervous as hell.

In similar boat.

Similar as well. They only hired 2 of 4 last summer, though claimed this was the case because the associates themselves had work quality and behavior issues. Only 3 of us this summer.

[Big Shrimpin]

The same junior associate I've been working with has me staying past 9 or 10 every night for a week. Is this normal? I figured summers are essentially pushed out the door come close of business hours unless it is extraordinary circumstances. Sure, the junior associate is busy with work, but is it really normal to essentially keep a summer around to help every single night? My floor is relatively empty so no other attorney, and the recruiting folks have no idea I've been stuck here late every night, due to this one junion associate.

do you think this junior associate wants to bang you? serious question.

Nah def nothing like that

I think she is just out of touch with what the "deal" is for summers and what we are here for. Luckily, all the other work im doing is great, and with great people. This associate is just uber OCD and tense. She seemed really surprised when, in passing conversation, I mentioned that summers typically leave around 6 or 630 unless pressed to stay.

Ugh, that sucks.

Welp, I guess the best you can do is just pay it forward next fall and make sure to treat your summers better.

[Anonymous User]

Update: Aaaaaand just got told to come in all day Sunday

[sunynp]

Update: Aaaaaand just got told to come in all day Sunday

You might want to make sure that someone knows what is going on with this junior associate. I don't think she is supposed to be treating summers like they are at her beck and call. Recruiting might get upset if you don't let them know what is happening.

OTOH - you are getting a taste of what a permanent job will be like.

[Anonymous User]

I thought about telling someone in recruiting or some other attorney but can't figure out a way of doing that without sounding like im just whining about working too hard.

[Holly Golightly]

I wrote and submitted a memo today that I'm not even sure I understood...but that research from hell is finished, so that's all I really care about at the moment. That, and beer.

[Anonymous User]

I thought about telling someone in recruiting or some other attorney but can't figure out a way of doing that without sounding like im just whining about working too hard.

You may just have to do the work this time.

I had a similar experience last summer. I was working on an assignment for a mid-level who acted like he ran shop in the firm. At around 6:00 p.m., he told me he needed documents proofed and edited ( ) for negotiations the next day. I had to wait around until he ended up dropping 200 pages of agreements on me at 10:30 p.m. that I had to edit and cross-check by the next morning. Needless to say, it may have been the most boring assignment I had all summer, I got to see 4:00 a.m. at the office, and it sucked.

The next day, several junior associate friends asked why I couldn't make it to a firm event the prior evening and I casually explained (without complaining) I'd been given a sizable number of documents to prepare for when the event was scheduled; recruiting got wind and immediately stopped him from giving assignments to summers. Sucking it up for one night meant I never had to complain, and recruiting was quick to look out for me by not letting him give out other assignments to summers. The fact that I was able to accomplish that without whining (if anyone brought it up, I just mentioned that I appreciated that he was at least giving me interesting work) (1) made it pretty clear I was willing to put in the hours without sounding entitled and (2) got me noticeably better assignments for the remainder of the summer.

There's no guarantee this'll work in your situation, but a good relationship with your associate mentor can be rather beneficial during your summer if they're willing to look out for you.