attorney lunches during summer Forum

[Anonymous User]

what does it mean when u see "firm provides $65 for attorney lunches"? $65 per person? Per group? how many people do you usually go to lunch with? is it just one associate and one partner or a bigger group.

forgive this dumb question. i am just curious. (this is the stuff i think about now instead of reading for classes :/

[ziggysmarley]

I have to imagine it's $65 for both an attorney and a summer, which in this economy even seems like a lot.

The firm that I summered with had a $20/person rule, except for a few fancy lunches where the amount was increased (but not as high as $65/person). I went out to lunch every single day of the summer, and it depended on the day whether the lunch was one on one with an attorney or in a group (often two attorneys/two summers).

[Aqualibrium]

what does it mean when u see "firm provides $65 for attorney lunches"? $65 per person? Per group? how many people do you usually go to lunch with? is it just one associate and one partner or a bigger group.

forgive this dumb question. i am just curious. (this is the stuff i think about now instead of reading for classes :/

To me this means that the firm needlesy micro manages everything and it might not be the best environment to work in.

I'm sure that isn't what you were asking though.

[aguacaliente]

it means that it is $65/person. lunches can sometimes be just a summer and one other attorney (associate or partner), or a larger group. in my experience, the cap is for lunches with associates, etc. when going out with a partner, you are sometimes taken to nicer restaurants where they order above the cap, thus indicating that you may do so as well.

best advice: order like everyone else at the table.

[Anonymous User]

$65/person cap bc summers + associates used to ball it up at Per Se on the firm's tab during the gilded age.

[Kohinoor]

what does it mean when u see "firm provides $65 for attorney lunches"? $65 per person? Per group? how many people do you usually go to lunch with? is it just one associate and one partner or a bigger group.

forgive this dumb question. i am just curious. (this is the stuff i think about now instead of reading for classes :/

To me this means that the firm needlesy micro manages everything and it might not be the best environment to work in.

I'm sure that isn't what you were asking though.

Setting a cap on reimbursement is needless micromanagement?

[Anonymous User]

Yeah, the dollar amount is per person. NY caps tend to be higher than caps in other markets. At my firm the number of people allowed was more of a guideline. The rule of thumb was that as long as their was under a 2:1 ratio (in either direction) then everything was cool. This avoided one summer going to lunch with 5 attorneys, and 4 summers going with 1 attorney. Practically, this just meant that if things were out of balance, you would round up another summer or associate to get things right.

As far as micromanaging, it doesn't really turn out to look like that. It does more to dictate the location that the actual items ordered.