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Looking for early responsbility and client contact

Posted: Thu May 08, 2014 4:31 pm
by IAFG
lolomgwhy

you don't want that at all

Re: Looking for early responsbility and client contact

Posted: Thu May 08, 2014 4:31 pm
by El Pollito
Clients are the worst, why would anyone want to contact them?

Re: Looking for early responsbility and client contact

Posted: Thu May 08, 2014 4:32 pm
by worldtraveler
I have other attorneys as clients.


:(

Re: Looking for early responsbility and client contact

Posted: Thu May 08, 2014 4:33 pm
by IAFG
*Client screws something up*
*Blames you*
*Tries to get you fired*

Re: Looking for early responsbility and client contact

Posted: Thu May 08, 2014 4:38 pm
by OneMoreLawHopeful
I didn't miss DF till I saw the quality of shitpoasting in his absence.

Re: Looking for early responsbility and client contact

Posted: Thu May 08, 2014 4:44 pm
by A. Nony Mouse
I love working for the government. The client never calls, never complains...

Re: Looking for early responsbility and client contact

Posted: Thu May 08, 2014 4:47 pm
by IAFG
OneMoreLawHopeful wrote:I didn't miss DF till I saw the quality of shitpoasting in his absence.
(K&E koolaid drinker)

Re: Looking for early responsbility and client contact

Posted: Fri May 09, 2014 4:08 am
by OneMoreLawHopeful
IAFG wrote:
OneMoreLawHopeful wrote:I didn't miss DF till I saw the quality of shitpoasting in his absence.
(K&E koolaid drinker)
(wonders how IAFG saw his purple-stained lips through his computer screen)

Re: Looking for early responsbility and client contact

Posted: Fri May 09, 2014 8:56 am
by IAFG
IDK why no one asks about "appropriately timed" responsibility relative to the level of the associate's experience and training. Everyone's chomping at the bit for trial by fire.

Re: Looking for early responsbility and client contact

Posted: Fri May 09, 2014 5:37 pm
by worldtraveler
IAFG wrote:IDK why no one asks about "appropriately timed" responsibility relative to the level of the associate's experience and training. Everyone's chomping at the bit for trial by fire.
I get assigned stuff that is way over my head and it's just bad for everybody.

Re: Looking for early responsbility and client contact

Posted: Fri May 09, 2014 5:38 pm
by IAFG
Dear Assigners,

What, exactly, did you imagine was going to happen?

Assignees who disappointed you

Re: Looking for early responsbility and client contact

Posted: Fri May 09, 2014 8:16 pm
by JusticeJackson
.

Re: Looking for early responsbility and client contact

Posted: Fri May 09, 2014 8:36 pm
by mushybrain
JusticeJackson wrote:
IAFG wrote:IDK why no one asks about "appropriately timed" responsibility relative to the level of the associate's experience and training. Everyone's chomping at the bit for trial by fire.
Ha. It drives me nuts when I'm interviewing someone at OCI and they say this bullshit. On the other hand, 5 years ago I was spouting the same shit.

OCI interviewers (and summers and first years) drive me nuts in general because they are not sufficiently jaded.
Do you hold this against them at all? I didn't dare say that kind of thing because I figured the translation was "I want a job that isn't the one you're interviewing for."

Re: Looking for early responsbility and client contact

Posted: Fri May 09, 2014 8:40 pm
by Anonymous User
You post and post about this stuff. However, a lot of people who say it aren't buying the crap either. Personally, I don't care. I just want to make mid-six figures, deal with legal issues and be part of a team with people I don't mind being around. Somehow I think if I said, "I have no idea where I see myself in 10 years from now. I was hoping to make a lot of money these next five years, then I'll find out" I would not have a job.

Re: Looking for early responsbility and client contact

Posted: Fri May 09, 2014 8:47 pm
by dresden doll
"Be part of a team of people I don't mind being around." Sounds like a tall order.

Re: Looking for early responsbility and client contact

Posted: Fri May 09, 2014 8:50 pm
by El Pollito
dresden doll wrote:"Be part of a team of people I don't mind being around." Sounds like a tall order.
I really like the major team I'm on now. That being said, good luck with that.

Re: Looking for early responsbility and client contact

Posted: Fri May 09, 2014 9:19 pm
by IAFG
Anonymous User wrote:You post and post about this stuff. However, a lot of people who say it aren't buying the crap either. Personally, I don't care. I just want to make mid-six figures, deal with legal issues and be part of a team with people I don't mind being around. Somehow I think if I said, "I have no idea where I see myself in 10 years from now. I was hoping to make a lot of money these next five years, then I'll find out" I would not have a job.
I thought I wanted early responsibility. Pad that résumé early and often, right?

Re: Looking for early responsbility and client contact

Posted: Sat May 10, 2014 12:36 am
by OneMoreLawHopeful
IAFG wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:You post and post about this stuff. However, a lot of people who say it aren't buying the crap either. Personally, I don't care. I just want to make mid-six figures, deal with legal issues and be part of a team with people I don't mind being around. Somehow I think if I said, "I have no idea where I see myself in 10 years from now. I was hoping to make a lot of money these next five years, then I'll find out" I would not have a job.
I thought I wanted early responsibility. Pad that résumé early and often, right?
Upthread joking aside, I have a question about this.

I was repeatedly told that "early responsibility" is important as a form of job security. The hypo is that the firm suddenly lays you off as a 2nd/3rd year for financial reasons (recent example might be Weil eliminating their entire Boston litigation group last summer). If you did nothing but doc review for 2 years, staying with biglaw becomes very hard because you lack marketable skills; but, if you took on "early responsibility" that translates to marketable skills that will help you get hired at a different biglaw firm.

For this reason, I thought that early responsibility was desirable - it won't get you partnership, but it can help you if you need it. Is this just totally wrong? Is it overblown?

Re: Looking for early responsbility and client contact

Posted: Sat May 10, 2014 12:48 am
by thesealocust
Being good at your job = more responsibility sooner = more job security. Absolutely true.

Having said that, talking about "big law job security" and "things that are objectively desirable" in the same breath is kind of adorably naive. Yeah getting fired sucks, yeah student loans are hard to pay down... but the zeitgeist is much closer to "when does the hurting stop" than "I must work hard and MAKE PARTNER and prove myself by lawyering my tiny little heart out!"

Re: Looking for early responsbility and client contact

Posted: Sat May 10, 2014 12:54 am
by prezidentv8
thesealocust wrote:"I must work hard and MAKE PARTNER and prove myself by lawyering my tiny little heart out!"

lol

Re: Looking for early responsbility and client contact

Posted: Sat May 10, 2014 2:11 am
by NotMyRealName09
Client responsibility and contact means less differentiation between you and your bosses. When they see that you can do what they are doing, they respect / are threatened by you. So insecure partners will be afraid to expose you to clients and responsibility. Sense it, and try not to rely on them for work.

Re: Looking for early responsbility and client contact

Posted: Sat May 10, 2014 2:14 am
by dwil770
-1L here, you're gonna want to target V25-V40 for this

Re: Looking for early responsbility and client contact

Posted: Sat May 10, 2014 2:44 am
by Anonymous User
dwil770 wrote:-1L here, you're gonna want to target V25-V40 for this
should i be gunning to trade up from my v70 then?

Re: Looking for early responsbility and client contact

Posted: Sat May 10, 2014 10:46 am
by dixiecupdrinking
I guess "looking to fly under the radar doing unimportant work for as long as possible" just doesn't have the same ring to it.