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Who here has IRL experience in going from a first year associate to a second year associate? The upside, as I’ve been told, my hourly rate will increase and that I can now be assigned to cases that clients wouldn’t otherwise agree to for a first year. What’s your encounter, good and bad and how long did it take during your second year when you noticed a difference (if, in fact, you did)?

the only difference was that i had slightly (slightly) better control of when i did my work, as sometimes i was supervising a first year, but i never noticed a distinct difference. obviously i did more substantive things as well but that's also a gradual process

no difference in the type of things i was staffed to, and that's true firm-wide

Basically no difference at all. The only differences were based on having been working on the same cases with the same people for longer (and so had slightly more responsibility). But, for example, whenever I got staffed on something knew I was still working in parallel with other juniors doing typical junior stuff.

I think there are bigger differences between 2nd and 3rd year.

LA Spring wrote:Who here has IRL experience in going from a first year associate to a second year associate? The upside, as I’ve been told, my hourly rate will increase and that I can now be assigned to cases that clients wouldn’t otherwise agree to for a first year. What’s your encounter, good and bad and how long did it take during your second year when you noticed a difference (if, in fact, you did)?

IRL is short for in real life, right? I guess, then, that my experience is irrelevant. Nevermind!

Desert Fox wrote:It's a continuous path, not a sudden change.

This is correct, of course.

I've noticed the type of work has changed some for me. Instead of the standard work my firm does, I've started to get pulled in to other matters a bit outside the norm. But as Desert Fox said, it's a continuous path, so that's hopefully what you want to see. The 1st year work gives you a decent foundation, then you can use that to start branching out.

People started including me more as a valued member of the team -- more exposure into back channel discussions about strategy etc. But that is mainly a function of longevity and my work product not being utter shit anymore.

Like everyone says, there's nothing magical about being a second year. It's just an organic progression. If you're a shitty second year you won't get treated any different just because you are more experienced.