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Leverage and Substantive Work

Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2015 11:12 pm
by Anonymous User
If an office has more partners than associates, is that a pretty good sign that you're going to get good work?

Re: Leverage and Substantive Work

Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2015 11:39 pm
by Johann
depends on the firm. just post the firm if you are posting anony.

Re: Leverage and Substantive Work

Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2015 12:10 am
by los blancos
JohannDeMann wrote:depends on the firm.
Yep. In theory the answer is yes, but sometimes upside-down pyramid-shaped firms can result in partners hoarding work if they're not doing so hot on the business development front.

Re: Leverage and Substantive Work

Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2015 2:18 am
by Anonymous User
In my experience, there is a much stronger correlation between lean staffing and getting substantive work than there is between leverage and getting substantive work. We have a group in my office that is very partner-heavy and does big-ticket cases. It's not a good group for young associates - the cases are big enough to staff a ton of people on, and the partners (and senior associates) gobble up all the fun and interesting work. By contrast, we also have partners who primarily work on smaller matters for more cost-conscious clients. They typically prefer to staff matters with no more than 1-2 associates, and you tend to get very cool work (depositions, brief-writing, etc.) from those cases.

Re: Leverage and Substantive Work

Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2015 10:55 am
by Anonymous User
Anonymous User wrote:In my experience, there is a much stronger correlation between lean staffing and getting substantive work than there is between leverage and getting substantive work. We have a group in my office that is very partner-heavy and does big-ticket cases. It's not a good group for young associates - the cases are big enough to staff a ton of people on, and the partners (and senior associates) gobble up all the fun and interesting work. By contrast, we also have partners who primarily work on smaller matters for more cost-conscious clients. They typically prefer to staff matters with no more than 1-2 associates, and you tend to get very cool work (depositions, brief-writing, etc.) from those cases.


So, asking associates at the firm how leanly staffed the cases are is a question to ask?

Re: Leverage and Substantive Work

Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2015 12:04 pm
by Anonymous User
Yes, "how are your cases typically staffed?" is a fine question.

Re: Leverage and Substantive Work

Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2015 12:31 pm
by RaceJudicata
Anonymous User wrote:Yes, "how are your cases typically staffed?" is a fine question.
Not only is it a fine question, you'll get a relatively wide variety of answers and give you some insight into workload. FWIW I ask this in every interview.