SA and First Year Associates- Office and Assistant? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I read a post on above the law that mentioned secretaries and assistants. I knew upper level associates and partners got secretaries/assistants, but do first year or summer associates have secretaries too?

And where do you do your work as an SA or first year associate? Do you have your own office or just a cubicle?

Its anon cause I probably sound like a douche asking these questions.

[Anonymous User]

You get a secretary but you share with people, maybe a lot of people. Honestly they aren't a ton of help.

New York and a cheap ass firms (cough Paul Hastings) share offices for SA, first, second and maybe third years. Everywhere else you get your own office from day one.

[BearLaw]

I read a post on above the law that mentioned secretaries and assistants. I knew upper level associates and partners got secretaries/assistants, but do first year or summer associates have secretaries too?

And where do you do your work as an SA or first year associate? Do you have your own office or just a cubicle?

Its anon cause I probably sound like a douche asking these questions.

It is highly firm dependent.

Everyone gets some form of secretary. Likely you will share them with several other associates, but you will have one.

Pretty much every associate gets an office. Some places you have to share office space, most places you dont. A lot of firms build their space out so that there is no way two people could effectively fit and work in a single office.

Summers seem to fit where they fit. Sometimes they get associate offices. Sometimes they get paralegal offices (that is where I was on my SA). It really is pretty variable based on space available and size of the summer class.

[Legen..waitforit]

Willkie 1st yr associates shares offices. It sucks.

[Anonymous User]

Every associate gets a secretary, and I think it's standard for summers to be assigned secretaries too (though they shouldn't be needed for anything except time entry given the nature of summer associate "work"). Secretaries are typically shared by several associates and partners. I think at my firm each secretary serves around five attorneys.

Associates always have an "office" of some sort, though at New York firms it's common to share an office with another associate for the first one to three years. Sometimes associates also end-up in window-less offices to start. By the time you're a midlevel you should have your own office with a window.