Taking a day or two off during WSGR Palo Alto summer Forum

[Anonymous User]

Trying to figure out whether I can go to two different things I have going on in the summer when I'm at WSGR. At best, I can probably only go to one.
1) cousin's wedding across the country. Doing a red-eye is not really feasible (for my sanity), so I'd need to do at least a half day the day before. This wedding is the weekend after the first week.
2) a conference with a larger organization I've been engaged with in the local student chapter at my law school, which takes place Thurs-Fri-Sat of the second week of the job.

No firm events interfere with these, at least not according to the calendar that has been sent out.

I'm leaning against both of them right now, but curious if anyone has thoughts, particularly people who have worked at WSGR before.

[favabeansoup]

For the wedding I'd say your fine with enough advance notice.

Edit: also no one cares about your sanity in big law. That won't affect your chances of going on this trip b/c your an SA. But don't get used to thinking your sanity is more important than the job.

For the conference, little iffy maybe. Missing two full days for something that is really professional in nature, not personal or family, might annoy someone. All it takes is one person who gets a little too annoyed. I'm sure many-most would be fine with it, I'm just worried about the one or two sticklers.

For both? Definitely no. You be missing like 2.5-3 days in the first 3 weeks? Doesn't start you off on good footing compared to other SAs.

[Anonymous User]

For the wedding I'd say your fine with enough advance notice.

Edit: also no one cares about your sanity in big law. That won't affect your chances of going on this trip b/c your an SA. But don't get used to thinking your sanity is more important than the job.

For the conference, little iffy maybe. Missing two full days for something that is really professional in nature, not personal or family, might annoy someone. All it takes is one person who gets a little too annoyed. I'm sure many-most would be fine with it, I'm just worried about the one or two sticklers.

For both? Definitely no. You be missing like 2.5-3 days in the first 3 weeks? Doesn't start you off on good footing compared to other SAs.

OP here. I had similar reasoning regarding both. It's in no way something I'm going to do. Plus I just don't enjoy back-to-back cross-country travel. Too exhausting.

Yes I know they don't care about my sanity, but I do, so I have to factor in my preferences and their cost when I think it all through and weigh the options.

Thanks for the thoughts.

[RedGiant]

Trying to figure out whether I can go to two different things I have going on in the summer when I'm at WSGR. At best, I can probably only go to one.
1) cousin's wedding across the country. Doing a red-eye is not really feasible (for my sanity), so I'd need to do at least a half day the day before. This wedding is the weekend after the first week.
2) a conference with a larger organization I've been engaged with in the local student chapter at my law school, which takes place Thurs-Fri-Sat of the second week of the job.

No firm events interfere with these, at least not according to the calendar that has been sent out.

I'm leaning against both of them right now, but curious if anyone has thoughts, particularly people who have worked at WSGR before.

I was a WSGR senior corporate paralegal for several years before law school (3L now). You should be able to take a day off to go to a wedding, no problem. Just let them know asap.

The conference thing is more dicey. Why? Well, student organizations are largely a joke, so even if it's important to you, it's not important in anyone else's eyes. Given the timing (second week), I'd say pass on the conference, go to the wedding.

Re redeyes and flying West to East--definitely not ideal. But if you have somewhere to take a lil nap once you arrive, it's totally fine. Also, JetBlue has the best legroom/best seats for napping in coach. Trust me.

Overall, just FYI, summers don't really do much at WSGR. I am not kidding when I say that the firm sends out a memo reminding us to give you guys interesting, yet non-substantive work, because they don't really want you guys to mess anything up. I summered in biglaw, and this is pretty typical. So, what I am saying is, it's not like you're gonna be staffed on something critical. More of an optics thing. Everyone should get an offer unless Whisger way overhired.

You should have fun. WSGR is generally not terrible as far as biglaw goes. And I've now worked 4 biglaw places in total, across geographies. Great exit opps too. Good luck.

[Anonymous User]

Trying to figure out whether I can go to two different things I have going on in the summer when I'm at WSGR. At best, I can probably only go to one.
1) cousin's wedding across the country. Doing a red-eye is not really feasible (for my sanity), so I'd need to do at least a half day the day before. This wedding is the weekend after the first week.
2) a conference with a larger organization I've been engaged with in the local student chapter at my law school, which takes place Thurs-Fri-Sat of the second week of the job.

No firm events interfere with these, at least not according to the calendar that has been sent out.

I'm leaning against both of them right now, but curious if anyone has thoughts, particularly people who have worked at WSGR before.

I was a WSGR senior corporate paralegal for several years before law school (3L now). You should be able to take a day off to go to a wedding, no problem. Just let them know asap.

The conference thing is more dicey. Why? Well, student organizations are largely a joke, so even if it's important to you, it's not important in anyone else's eyes. Given the timing (second week), I'd say pass on the conference, go to the wedding.

Re redeyes and flying West to East--definitely not ideal. But if you have somewhere to take a lil nap once you arrive, it's totally fine. Also, JetBlue has the best legroom/best seats for napping in coach. Trust me.

Overall, just FYI, summers don't really do much at WSGR. I am not kidding when I say that the firm sends out a memo reminding us to give you guys interesting, yet non-substantive work, because they don't really want you guys to mess anything up. I summered in biglaw, and this is pretty typical. So, what I am saying is, it's not like you're gonna be staffed on something critical. More of an optics thing. Everyone should get an offer unless Whisger way overhired.

You should have fun. WSGR is generally not terrible as far as biglaw goes. And I've now worked 4 biglaw places in total, across geographies. Great exit opps too. Good luck.

Thank you, this is exactly the insight I needed and then some! Very much appreciated.

[Anonymous User]

I would agree generally with yes to wedding, no to conference. Or you could do the conference and not ask for the half day before the wedding, but just leave the office a little early. I left early a couple times for various reasons and no one cares as long as you're not doing it everyday and getting your (minimal) work done on time. --past WSGR SA