How to make NY biglaw more livable? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I have lived in NYC for over 30 years, and my wife and I have been working biglaw for a few years. This is how we've solved the problem. Most of our fellow survivors at our firms do most of the below - amazing amount of convergent evolution among associates in how they manage their lives.

Thanks for all that. Very helpful and very appreciated!

(5) Leaving city on weekends - exuberantly expensive and difficult to do regularly. Cheapest (and least traffic-y) options are to head north, upstate NY/western CT/western MA. Anywhere in the direction of a beach is holy hell to get to during warm weather. You want to avoid crossing bridges and tunnels, as they are the traffic chokepoints. Car rental is hellaciously expensive - assume $100-130 per day on summer and holiday weekends and $60-90 per day on other weekends. Keeping a car in the city is also hellaciously expensive

Am I reading you to say that leaving with a car is better than by train? I'd kind of assumed getting out of the city meant taking a train from grand central, but I don't know the area very well.

You can get out of the city via train (from Grand Central if headed upstate or to the CT coast, from Penn Station if going out to the Island) but then you arrive with no car and a bunch of bags and unless someone is picking you up, you're no better off than when you started. You generally need a car to do fun weekend / day trip stuff from NY. There are exceptions - Fire Island doesn't require a car.

[Anonymous User]

Junior associate at a NYC corporate law firm. I get 7-9 hours of sleep a night, have billed 200+ hours a month since March, and have an outside hobby that takes up 10 hours a week. Here's my take on it.

1. Location. I live within walking distance to my office. The secret is that it's not how late you work -- it's how early you have to get up to go to work the next morning. That's the real killer. Living so close to the office means you are able to sleep in a lot later, rather than commuting 30+ minutes every morning with the added stress of fighting a million people on public transit. While I understand that a lot of people don't want to live close to the office, my group is not a facetime group and so I've never been told to come into the office just to pick something up/do work. I have always been able to work remotely. Personally I recommend that you live close to the office, but it's a personal choice.

. . .

4. Cleaning lady is good. Home workstation is good. Doorman building is good. Getting deliveries of home goods like toilet paper is good. But quite frankly I would not bother ordering groceries. You will be eating in the office for most of your meals and you'll probably be too tired/lazy to cook for the others -- those groceries will sit in your fridge and rot.

Re: 1 - It all depends on your group. Personally, I think living close is extremely dangerous, and the neighborhoods near the offices generally don't provide the "break" from the office atmosphere that's important to sanity. Saving 15 minutes a day (and it's only 15 minutes, since if you're time pressured you'll be taking cars home) isn't generally worth the 4 times a year you get dragged to the office during off hours or on weekends because you're the closest junior associate to the office. But if you're confident your group wont pull you in from home, then living closer is potentially more appealing. Personally, I live a solid 20 min drive / 45 min by subway from the office, and it has saved me from several days in the office since I started working. And I live a block from a big park and have tons of green space in my neighborhood and no trucks and a weekend feels like a WEEKEND.

Re: 4 - You wont need produce (unless you're into composting in your fridge), but it's nice to have sundries in your house for the rare days you're home. Beverages, pantry goods, energy bars, etc. Nothing worse than getting home at midnight, realizing youre starving, and all you have is a box of Uncle Bens.

[Anonymous User]

OP: Why'd you even target NY if it's clearly antithetical to your preferred way of life? I share many of your apprehensions, so just targeted a city (Chicago) with many of the amenities (and similar V25 firms), but fewer of the negative externalities (cost, etc.) you describe. Can replace Chicago with Boston, Dallas, etc. to fit your fancy.

[Desert Fox]

OP: Why'd you even target NY if it's clearly antithetical to your preferred way of life? I share many of your apprehensions, so just targeted a city (Chicago) with many of the amenities (and similar V25 firms), but fewer of the negative externalities (cost, etc.) you describe. Can replace Chicago with Boston, Dallas, etc. to fit your fancy.

Too many TLSers scare each other about no jerbs other than NYC.

[sinfiery]

re work office; this thread convinced me to make a gaming desktop for 2l/3l year and convert it into home office


tytls, I was looking for an excuse for two days now

[Desert Fox]

re work office; this thread convinced me to make a gaming desktop for 2l/3l year and convert it into home office


tytls, I was looking for an excuse for two days now

TCR is to make your firm give you a docking station for your firm laptop to use at your house. Get two 24 inch monitors, a nice mechanical keyboard, wireless mouse. If you like reading stuff on paper, get a cheap laserjet.

Cop Verizon Fios 75/75 so you can VPN like a pro.

The real issue is a lot of groups discourage remote work.

[sinfiery]

That sounds glorious but do firms pay for that stuff? Do SAs even get to keep their laptop/bb after the summer?

[Desert Fox]

DF Thread