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1st year corporate associate taking questions

Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 1:50 pm
by Anonymous User
Shoot.

Re: 1st year corporate associate taking questions

Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 1:55 pm
by Master Tofu
What have you been working on so far?

Re: 1st year corporate associate taking questions

Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 1:57 pm
by Mce252
Hours and work environment?

Re: 1st year corporate associate taking questions

Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 1:59 pm
by MattThiessen
What industry? How did you get the job?

Re: 1st year corporate associate taking questions

Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 2:03 pm
by rman1201
What school range did you go to? (T6, HYS, T25, etc)

Re: 1st year corporate associate taking questions

Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 2:03 pm
by adt231
Mce252 wrote:Hours and work environment?
+1000

Re: 1st year corporate associate taking questions

Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 2:04 pm
by Bumi
How many of your coworkers think they made a terrible mistake by going to law school?

Re: 1st year corporate associate taking questions

Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 2:07 pm
by Anonymous User
Master Tofu wrote:What have you been working on so far?
A few deals. Some securities work.
Mce252 wrote:Hours and work environment?
Hours vary day to day. Some days are around 9-6, other days are 830am-1:30am. The later nights are more the exception rather than the rule though. I hardly ever take a lunch break (just wolf it down quickly), but that's by choice. I do it so I can try to get home earlier.

Weeks are never less than 50 hours and haven't been much more than 70 so far. Average is probably 55-60.

Work environment is excellent. No screamers, very supportive and collaborative.

Re: 1st year corporate associate taking questions

Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 2:08 pm
by dougroberts
What's your pre-law school background, including whether you had any prior business experience and/or business undergrad major(s)?

Has your background been helpful as a corp. attorney?

Re: 1st year corporate associate taking questions

Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 2:09 pm
by beachbum
What is your perception of the legal market (and particularly legal hiring)? Improving? Mostly stagnant?

Re: 1st year corporate associate taking questions

Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 2:11 pm
by Anonymous User
School you went to? Salary?

Re: 1st year corporate associate taking questions

Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 2:11 pm
by Anonymous User
I went to a T2. Got the job through OCI. Not really sure what person means by industry. I have some previous business experience, but it was unrelated to corporate work. I was a liberal arts major.
Bumi wrote:How many of your coworkers think they made a terrible mistake by going to law school?
None that have expressed it to me. People generally enjoy their job.

Re: 1st year corporate associate taking questions

Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 2:12 pm
by adt231
thanks for doing this!

Re: 1st year corporate associate taking questions

Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 2:13 pm
by Anonymous User
Did you graduate top 10%? and how much are you making?

Re: 1st year corporate associate taking questions

Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 2:15 pm
by Anonymous User
beachbum wrote:What is your perception of the legal market (and particularly legal hiring)? Improving? Mostly stagnant?
Things are definitely improving, no question. There's more lateral movement in-house, high demand for mid-level associates, and summer associate classes are expanding again. Salary is market. I was top 10% after 1L.

Re: 1st year corporate associate taking questions

Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 2:20 pm
by LLB2JD
Do you work in a big law or a mid-law firm?

Re: 1st year corporate associate taking questions

Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 2:20 pm
by beachbum
Anonymous User wrote:
beachbum wrote:What is your perception of the legal market (and particularly legal hiring)? Improving? Mostly stagnant?
Things are definitely improving, no question. There's more lateral movement in-house, high demand for mid-level associates, and summer associate classes are expanding again. Salary is market. I was top 10% after 1L.
Awesome, thanks a lot.

Re: 1st year corporate associate taking questions

Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 2:29 pm
by Anonymous User
LLB2JD wrote:Do you work in a big law or a mid-law firm?
Big law middish in V100.

Re: 1st year corporate associate taking questions

Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 2:38 pm
by Bumi
Region? This doesn't sound like what I've heard about NYC firms.

Re: 1st year corporate associate taking questions

Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 2:56 pm
by Anonymous User
Nope, not NYC. It's a major market on east coast. I'll leave it at that.

Re: 1st year corporate associate taking questions

Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 3:00 pm
by Anonymous User
Bumi wrote:Region? This doesn't sound like what I've heard about NYC firms.
Also, remember people like to exaggerate their hours. During my 70 hour weeks I was billing slightly over 50 hours. If you do the math, that would put me on pace to bill 2500+ hours for the year with 2 weeks vacation. Very few people bill 2500+ hours a year.

Re: 1st year corporate associate taking questions

Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 3:04 pm
by dpk711
First, OP thanks for taking time in answering our questions.

My question is: do you see yourself doing this long term? Do you feel yourself emotionally or physically drained after one year of law-firm work?

Re: 1st year corporate associate taking questions

Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 3:12 pm
by Anonymous User
dpk711 wrote:First, OP thanks for taking time in answering our questions.

My question is: do you see yourself doing this long term? Do you feel yourself emotionally or physically drained after one year of law-firm work?
I could see myself doing it long term. I really love the work and the people. That said, I haven't been here a full year yet and I don't have kids. Tough to say what the future will bring, but I could see myself being here for the long haul.

Re: 1st year corporate associate taking questions

Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 6:15 pm
by Mce252
Anonymous User wrote:
dpk711 wrote:First, OP thanks for taking time in answering our questions.

My question is: do you see yourself doing this long term? Do you feel yourself emotionally or physically drained after one year of law-firm work?
I could see myself doing it long term. I really love the work and the people. That said, I haven't been here a full year yet and I don't have kids. Tough to say what the future will bring, but I could see myself being here for the long haul.

Are you married?

Re: 1st year corporate associate taking questions

Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 7:18 pm
by Wholigan
Is your firm in the same city/region as your school? How many callbacks/offers did you get from OCI? If more than one offer, what made you pick the firm you're with? Considering the size of many T2 OCIs, did you try or have any success at applying to firms that didn't come to OCI?