Summer Associates 2014: Thoughts, Anxieties, Experiences... Forum

[El Pollito]

Just to clarify: I went to a class at the gym and was stuck around when offered a comped 1-hour personal training session (sidenote: not sure if the trainer just thought I was a surefire repeat customer or that I was fat as hell and needed the extra work). Being in the office late was incidental, but I felt bad because I didn't think I would be there for more than ~30 minutes. Ended up there for an hour and a half, so I should have just ordered food.

Jesus fuck no one gives a shit.

[Pleasye]

Lol at any of you beating anyone up.

[txdude45]

Lol at any of you beating anyone up.

I could put someone down if I needed to. jbagelboy can vouch for that.

edit: I did not beat up jbagelboy. He just knows how big I am.

[sundontshine]

Pay for your own freaking Chipotle. You don't have to bill a client if you order dinner in the office.

[txdude45]

Pay for your own freaking Chipotle. You don't have to bill a client if you order dinner in the office.

Go home. You're drunk.

[Danger Zone]

Pay for your own freaking Chipotle. You don't have to bill a client if you order dinner in the office.

Half the fun of this job is frivolously wasting money. What do you think the lunches and social outings are for?

[09042014]

Pay for your own freaking Chipotle. You don't have to bill a client if you order dinner in the office.

Half the fun of this job is frivolously wasting money. What do you think the lunches and social outings are for?

For tricking you into taking the offer.

[PepperJack]

Pay for your own freaking Chipotle. You don't have to bill a client if you order dinner in the office.

Half the fun of this job is frivolously wasting money. What do you think the lunches and social outings are for?

For tricking you into taking the offer.

You also get to know people much better through lunch than by working with them. IDK if this is important for when you're working, but I've found it valuable.

[Danger Zone]

Pay for your own freaking Chipotle. You don't have to bill a client if you order dinner in the office.

Half the fun of this job is frivolously wasting money. What do you think the lunches and social outings are for?

For tricking you into taking the offer.

You also get to know people much better through lunch than by working with them. IDK if this is important for when you're working, but I've found it valuable.

Get out, HR shill

[rpupkin]

Just to clarify: I went to a class at the gym and was stuck around when offered a comped 1-hour personal training session (sidenote: not sure if the trainer just thought I was a surefire repeat customer or that I was fat as hell and needed the extra work). Being in the office late was incidental, but I felt bad because I didn't think I would be there for more than ~30 minutes. Ended up there for an hour and a half, so I should have just ordered food.

The real danger here is not the dinner; it's the staying late. If you're a summer, working late is weird unless a partner or associate has specifically asked you to stay late and/or you have a real deadline to meet. My firm generally makes offers to all of its summers, but if we had to cull the herd I think we'd start with the summers who consistently stay late for no reason.

[jbagelboy]

Lol at any of you beating anyone up.

I could put someone down if I needed to. jbagelboy can vouch for that.

edit: I did not beat up jbagelboy. He just knows how big I am.

At least one of those facts are true .

Protip, I would not fuck with txdude IRL. Especially over chipotle.

[Lincoln]

Just to clarify: I went to a class at the gym and was stuck around when offered a comped 1-hour personal training session (sidenote: not sure if the trainer just thought I was a surefire repeat customer or that I was fat as hell and needed the extra work). Being in the office late was incidental, but I felt bad because I didn't think I would be there for more than ~30 minutes. Ended up there for an hour and a half, so I should have just ordered food.

The real danger here is not the dinner; it's the staying late. If you're a summer, working late is weird unless a partner or associate has specifically asked you to stay late and/or you have a real deadline to meet. My firm generally makes offers to all of its summers, but if we had to cull the herd I think we'd start with the summers who consistently stay late for no reason.

My summer is still at the office and it's expected where I work, cause we give summers real work, so don't go scaring them all with your generalizations.

[rpupkin]

Just to clarify: I went to a class at the gym and was stuck around when offered a comped 1-hour personal training session (sidenote: not sure if the trainer just thought I was a surefire repeat customer or that I was fat as hell and needed the extra work). Being in the office late was incidental, but I felt bad because I didn't think I would be there for more than ~30 minutes. Ended up there for an hour and a half, so I should have just ordered food.

The real danger here is not the dinner; it's the staying late. If you're a summer, working late is weird unless a partner or associate has specifically asked you to stay late and/or you have a real deadline to meet. My firm generally makes offers to all of its summers, but if we had to cull the herd I think we'd start with the summers who consistently stay late for no reason.

My summer is still at the office and it's expected where I work, cause we give summers real work, so don't go scaring them all with your generalizations.

Fair point. Just curious: do you work at a large law firm?

ETA: The only firms I've heard of where summers are "expected" to work late are very small firms with idiosyncratic cultures (where they may only have one or two SAs), and a couple of the huge NYC sweatshops where it's part of the culture for all the summers to work late. If you're at the latter, you'll know it.

In any case, you're right that I was over-generalizing; SAs should of course pay attention to firm culture.

[Anonymous User]

One of my favorite midlevels told me that he "hates maternity leave" last week. I'm a girl. Finding new favorite mid-level. Also a little wigged out since over half the partners in our office are women with kids.

[Anonymous User]

One of my favorite midlevels told me that he "hates maternity leave" last week. I'm a girl. Finding new favorite mid-level. Also a little wigged out since over half the partners in our office are women with kids.

I think that midlevel can -- what's the phrase -- go fuck himself.

[Anonymous User]

Do most firms also offer paternity leave? At my firm, an associate was able to take like 3 weeks paternity.

[Danger Zone]

Do most firms also offer paternity leave? At my firm, an associate was able to take like 3 weeks paternity.

I was told in confidence that men who take paternity leave are actively mocked at my firm, even though it is offered.

[dixiecupdrinking]

One of my favorite midlevels told me that he "hates maternity leave" last week. I'm a girl. Finding new favorite mid-level. Also a little wigged out since over half the partners in our office are women with kids.

I guess it can fuck people over when someone you're working with just leaves for months. But it's not like it should take anyone by surprise.

[2014]

Every single day of my career I stay past the seamless threshold, this summer included, I WILL bill a client or the firm for it. I'm prepared to deal with any and all tyrannical mid levels that get in my way.

[Anonymous User]

Do most firms also offer paternity leave? At my firm, an associate was able to take like 3 weeks paternity.

I was told in confidence that men who take paternity leave are actively mocked at my firm, even though it is offered.

It's inconvenient if someone you used to do work with suddenly leaves for a while. The mother is actually operated on. Yes, kids are work but it's like someone saying oh my god I'm so sweaty, my friend had to run 10 miles.

[Anonymous User]

It's inconvenient if someone you used to do work with suddenly leaves for a while. The mother is actually operated on. Yes, kids are work but it's like someone saying oh my god I'm so sweaty, my friend had to run 10 miles.

I think that's a bad example. A child is (usually) a joint endeavor. One person does the heavy lifting, but once it passes through the birth canal that becomes a full on team effort. Plus a case could be made that the father taking leave allows the mother to recover while he handles the flare ups.

[Anonymous User]

Do most firms also offer paternity leave? At my firm, an associate was able to take like 3 weeks paternity.

I was told in confidence that men who take paternity leave are actively mocked at my firm, even though it is offered.

We give five days. Classy.

[Anonymous User]

Do most firms also offer paternity leave? At my firm, an associate was able to take like 3 weeks paternity.

I was told in confidence that men who take paternity leave are actively mocked at my firm, even though it is offered.

We give five days. Classy.

Similar. Will definitely take it, and burn up quite a bit of vacay days as well.

[Anonymous User]

Do most firms also offer paternity leave? At my firm, an associate was able to take like 3 weeks paternity.

I was told in confidence that men who take paternity leave are actively mocked at my firm, even though it is offered.

"LOL, get a load of this guy, trying to be a good father!" I'm not denying that this is true, I'm sure it is, but as someone about to go through OCI who would also like to start a family in the medium term (4-5 years from now), it's pretty disheartening and I have to imagine helps lead to early burnout.

[fruitlobber]

Do most firms also offer paternity leave? At my firm, an associate was able to take like 3 weeks paternity.

I was told in confidence that men who take paternity leave are actively mocked at my firm, even though it is offered.

"LOL, get a load of this guy, trying to be a good father!" I'm not denying that this is true, I'm sure it is, but as someone about to go through OCI who would also like to start a family in the medium term (4-5 years from now), it's pretty disheartening and I have to imagine helps lead to early burnout.

Lets be real though. We take paternity leave as an excuse so we can drink beer all day, watch football and play video games. Wifey can handle the baby.