Legal jobs that won't require me to check emails all night Forum

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Re: Legal jobs that won't require me to check emails all night

Post by Anonymous User » Sat May 28, 2016 10:32 am

Holiday weekends are also a great time to have your law firm a draft merger agreement for a niche/regulated industry that you need by Tuesday morning. Bonus points for every hour after Thursday at 5:00 pm that you wait to give the green light to draft said agreement.

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smaug

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Re: Legal jobs that won't require me to check emails all night

Post by smaug » Sat May 28, 2016 10:49 am

dailygrind wrote:
dixiecupdrinking wrote:Yeah but IME 10:30-11 emails may still definitely expect a response within a half hour or so.
Different strokes for different folks. Unless someone tells me ahead of time to expect work after 10, I feel fully justified in answering their 10 o clock emails when I wake up. I'm not a fucking robot, here.
something that it's taken me time to learn is that often partners don't expect a response to their 11:00 p.m. emails right away and it's relatively clear when they do

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A. Nony Mouse

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Re: Legal jobs that won't require me to check emails all night

Post by A. Nony Mouse » Sat May 28, 2016 10:55 am

Capitol_Idea wrote:
A. Nony Mouse wrote:The idea that holiday weekends suck is just sad.
holiday weekends means more time with the kids (bc daycare/school is closed). It's good to spend time with the kids but God 3 days in a row with constant crazy toddlers is a lot. (Enjoy your actually-relaxing smug childless weekends Nony)
I mean, you chose that bed, dude.

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zot1

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Re: Legal jobs that won't require me to check emails all night

Post by zot1 » Sat May 28, 2016 4:22 pm

A. Nony Mouse wrote:The idea that holiday weekends suck is just sad.
Word.

Y'all enjoy your work!

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El Pollito

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Re: Legal jobs that won't require me to check emails all night

Post by El Pollito » Sat May 28, 2016 5:23 pm

its worth the money its worth the money its worth the money

im not just saying this to convince myself

its worth the money its worth the money everything is great when you're part of a team

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zot1

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Re: Legal jobs that won't require me to check emails all night

Post by zot1 » Sun May 29, 2016 3:55 pm

El Pollito wrote:its worth the money its worth the money its worth the money

im not just saying this to convince myself

its worth the money its worth the money everything is great when you're part of a team
:lol:

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kellyfrost

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Re: Legal jobs that won't require me to check emails all night

Post by kellyfrost » Sun May 29, 2016 4:37 pm

I really don't mind weekend or night work. If you put in the time and do good work, you can easily take vacations if and when you want them.
Last edited by kellyfrost on Sat Jan 27, 2018 3:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Legal jobs that won't require me to check emails all night

Post by Anonymous User » Sun May 29, 2016 6:04 pm

kellyfrost wrote:
zot1 wrote:
Fed_Atty wrote:Come on over to the Federal Government! At least at my level, I am not expected to check e-mails outside of work.
Yep. I don't have access to my email if I'm not using my work computer. It is lovely.
Is this by choice, as in you haven't set it up on a phone or tablet because you don't need to check it during non work hours?

Or is it a weird security issue?
This is a fedgov security thing generally. They don't allow people to access work email (or work documents) outside of the office, usually. Not just lawyers. It's a hopelessly outdated policy for like 98% of the federal workforce, but I doubt there are many rank-and-file fedgov employees interested in changing it.

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Re: Legal jobs that won't require me to check emails all night

Post by Anonymous User » Sun May 29, 2016 6:07 pm

PvblivsScipio wrote:
baal hadad wrote:Just stop answering emails at about 9 PM, then, answer about 30 angry ones at 7 AM. Easy!
This may be a dumb question but what do you do if you go to sleep early? Wake up randomly and check your phone?
At a standard biglaw job, you're expected to be reading/answering emails until around 10pm or so if you don't have an active matter. Could be much later if you do (woe betide the associate who thinks an active deal is done for the night). If I don't have any work going on, I routinely go to bed at 10:30 and answer emails received after that in the morning.

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Re: Legal jobs that won't require me to check emails all night

Post by Anonymous User » Sun May 29, 2016 6:07 pm

PvblivsScipio wrote:
baal hadad wrote:Just stop answering emails at about 9 PM, then, answer about 30 angry ones at 7 AM. Easy!
This may be a dumb question but what do you do if you go to sleep early? Wake up randomly and check your phone?
At a standard biglaw job, you're expected to be reading/answering emails until around 10pm or so if you don't have an active matter. Could be much later if you do (woe betide the associate who thinks an active deal is done for the night). If I don't have any work going on, I routinely go to bed at 10:30 and answer emails received after that in the morning.

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84651846190

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Re: Legal jobs that won't require me to check emails all night

Post by 84651846190 » Sun May 29, 2016 6:26 pm

Fed_Atty wrote:Come on over to the Federal Government! At least at my level, I am not expected to check e-mails outside of work.
I'm in FEDGOV and still remain tethered to my work email during evenings. Weekends are generally safe to skip checking email, but I'm conditioned from biglaw to compulsively check at least once or twice every day.

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Re: Legal jobs that won't require me to check emails all night

Post by cowgirl_bebop » Sun May 29, 2016 11:56 pm

I'm at a small firm and I don't really read or respond to emails after I leave the office. If something comes in late I MIGHT skim it and flag it if it's something I need to take care of in the AM, but that's it.

Small firm life has it's perks, although money is not one of them.

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El Pollito

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Re: Legal jobs that won't require me to check emails all night

Post by El Pollito » Mon May 30, 2016 11:50 am

kellyfrost wrote:I really don't mind weekend or night work. If you put in the time and do good work, you can easily take vacations if and when you want them.
I actually generally don't either. I just work with someone who goes through highs and lows independent of work and the lows make things rather hellish for 1 week or so / month.

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zot1

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Re: Legal jobs that won't require me to check emails all night

Post by zot1 » Mon May 30, 2016 5:56 pm

kellyfrost wrote:I really don't mind weekend or night work. If you put in the time and do good work, you can easily take vacations if and when you want them.
I like my nights and weekends off in addition to vacations :mrgreen:

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Re: Legal jobs that won't require me to check emails all night

Post by Quichelorraine » Tue May 31, 2016 8:08 am

At my not-for-profit (direct services, low-income client base), I am absolutely not required to check emails all night--or even on the weekends at all. I sometimes do check right before bed, but mostly to ensure that there are no emergencies or unpleasant surprises awaiting me the next day.

That said, I am also paid about a third of what first-year associates make in home-market biglaw firms. Make of that what you will.

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Re: Legal jobs that won't require me to check emails all night

Post by B0bL0blaw » Tue May 31, 2016 1:21 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
kellyfrost wrote:
zot1 wrote:
Fed_Atty wrote:Come on over to the Federal Government! At least at my level, I am not expected to check e-mails outside of work.
Yep. I don't have access to my email if I'm not using my work computer. It is lovely.
Is this by choice, as in you haven't set it up on a phone or tablet because you don't need to check it during non work hours?

Or is it a weird security issue?
This is a fedgov security thing generally. They don't allow people to access work email (or work documents) outside of the office, usually. Not just lawyers. It's a hopelessly outdated policy for like 98% of the federal workforce, but I doubt there are many rank-and-file fedgov employees interested in changing it.
Not sure where you got this idea, but the bolded part is not true, at least for DOJ. We have email on our smartphones and remote access to email and server documents.

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Re: Legal jobs that won't require me to check emails all night

Post by Fed_Atty » Tue May 31, 2016 4:20 pm

B0bL0blaw wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:
kellyfrost wrote:
zot1 wrote:
Fed_Atty wrote:Come on over to the Federal Government! At least at my level, I am not expected to check e-mails outside of work.
Yep. I don't have access to my email if I'm not using my work computer. It is lovely.
Is this by choice, as in you haven't set it up on a phone or tablet because you don't need to check it during non work hours?

Or is it a weird security issue?
This is a fedgov security thing generally. They don't allow people to access work email (or work documents) outside of the office, usually. Not just lawyers. It's a hopelessly outdated policy for like 98% of the federal workforce, but I doubt there are many rank-and-file fedgov employees interested in changing it.
Not sure where you got this idea, but the bolded part is not true, at least for DOJ. We have email on our smartphones and remote access to email and server documents.
Yeah - same here. We can access work from home or while travelling, either through remote connect or via smartphone - however, there is no requirement to work after hours.

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Re: Legal jobs that won't require me to check emails all night

Post by WhiteCollarBlueShirt » Tue May 31, 2016 4:45 pm

zot1 wrote:
kellyfrost wrote:I really don't mind weekend or night work. If you put in the time and do good work, you can easily take vacations if and when you want them.
I like my nights and weekends off in addition to vacations :mrgreen:
Kellyfrost, (i) that's awesome you enjoy your job so much, I legitimately envy your interest in your legal work; (ii) do you find that you often end up working additional hours pre/post vacation?

And Zot1, I would 100% give up pay and my flexible/lax vacation policy for regularity come nights and weekends.

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kellyfrost

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Re: Legal jobs that won't require me to check emails all night

Post by kellyfrost » Wed Jun 01, 2016 9:56 am

WhiteCollarBlueShirt wrote:
zot1 wrote:
kellyfrost wrote:I really don't mind weekend or night work. If you put in the time and do good work, you can easily take vacations if and when you want them.
I like my nights and weekends off in addition to vacations :mrgreen:
Kellyfrost, (i) that's awesome you enjoy your job so much, I legitimately envy your interest in your legal work; (ii) do you find that you often end up working additional hours pre/post vacation?

And Zot1, I would 100% give up pay and my flexible/lax vacation policy for regularity come nights and weekends.
To answer your question "do I find that I often end up working additional hours pre and post vacation?'" Typically, I end up working a few more hours post vacation just to catch up. It usually isn't too bad or too much work to be honest. If I keep a steady pace and work on things when I have available time in the evening or on weekends I usually don't have to do too much more pre/post vacation.
Last edited by kellyfrost on Sat Jan 27, 2018 3:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.

smallfirmassociate

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Re: Legal jobs that won't require me to check emails all night

Post by smallfirmassociate » Wed Jun 01, 2016 6:08 pm

The majority of people in "normal" law firms don't have to be slaves to their phones on the weekends. Biglaw isn't normal (statistically in terms of employment numbers or culturally when compared to other law jobs or other non-law jobs in general), although this website is quite fixated with it. Go to any firm outside of NYC, LA, SF, Atlanta, D.C., Chicago, or BigTexas and you are unlikely to be on your phone or at work for much of the weekend.

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Re: Legal jobs that won't require me to check emails all night

Post by HonestAdvice » Wed Jun 01, 2016 6:28 pm

Unemployed lawyers rarely get e-mail at night, and fortunately this is a very prevalent job.

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