Did your reputation as a summer haunt you as an associate? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I had a few awkward interactions during summer events but nothing particularly bad (also mostly positive reviews and an offer). Did you get a fresh start as a first year?

[misterjames]

I had a few awkward interactions

me too thanks

[rpupkin]

At my firm, attorneys are encouraged to report all awkward social interactions with summer associates to our recruiter, who in turn maintains a record of each awkward social incident in a database. When the former summer associate returns to start as a first-year associate about 15 months later, a firm-wide memo is circulated that identifies any prior awkward social interactions that involved the incoming associate. We stay vigilant. If you weren't careful enough to avoid social awkwardness as a summer associate, how can we trust you to be socially competent as a junior associate?

If you manage to avoid awkward social interactions for your first twelve months, all prior awkwardness records are expunged. Only then will you get a fresh start.

[BigZuck]

At my firm, attorneys are encouraged to report all awkward social interactions with summer associates to our recruiter, who in turn maintains a record of each awkward social incident in a database. When the former summer associate returns to start as a first-year associate about 15 months later, a firm-wide memo is circulated that identifies any prior awkward social interactions that involved the incoming associate. We stay vigilant. If you weren't careful enough to avoid social awkwardness as a summer associate, how can we trust you to be socially competent as a junior associate?

If you manage to avoid awkward social interactions for your first twelve months, all prior awkwardness records are expunged. Only then will you get a fresh start.

I heard that awkwardness records were only expunged after 2 years. Is this one of those things that's firm dependent?

[rpupkin]

At my firm, attorneys are encouraged to report all awkward social interactions with summer associates to our recruiter, who in turn maintains a record of each awkward social incident in a database. When the former summer associate returns to start as a first-year associate about 15 months later, a firm-wide memo is circulated that identifies any prior awkward social interactions that involved the incoming associate. We stay vigilant. If you weren't careful enough to avoid social awkwardness as a summer associate, how can we trust you to be socially competent as a junior associate?

If you manage to avoid awkward social interactions for your first twelve months, all prior awkwardness records are expunged. Only then will you get a fresh start.

I heard that awkwardness records were only expunged after 2 years. Is this one of those things that's firm dependent?

V20 NYC offices (but not Weil) generally require two years of awkward-free interaction before expunging records.

[El Pollito]

People are so busy that they barely remember their interactions from day to day, so unless you are consistently weird or do something outrageous, summering is like 50 First Dates autism edition.

[Nekrowizard]

Even if you did get a fresh start, you'd still just be awkward all over again and develop a new reputation as an autist. Like you think you're 25 years old now, and all your shit's just going to get better for no reason?

[Anonymous User]

i can't tell if this is for real or troll

[cron1834]

People are so busy that they barely remember their interactions from day to day, so unless you are consistently weird or do something outrageous, summering is like 50 First Dates autism edition.

[Avian]

I had a few awkward interactions during summer events but nothing particularly bad (also mostly positive reviews and an offer). Did you get a fresh start as a first year?

I don't think people really think about it like that. If you did something memorable, they're not going to forget about it just because you were a summer at the time. Also since you're talking about social interactions, it's not as if they have lower expectations like they might have for work product.

[RationalHeretic23]

i can't tell if this is for real or troll

Same... Pretty sure this is trolling, but there's a part of me that wonders...

[patentlitigatrix]

i can't tell if this is for real or troll

Same... Pretty sure this is trolling, but there's a part of me that wonders...

Yeah. If you are a big law summer assoc or attorney and don't have awkward interactions with other humans, you would be in a very small (nonexistent?) minority.

[misterjames]

i can't tell if this is for real or troll

Same... Pretty sure this is trolling, but there's a part of me that wonders...

Yeah. If you are a regular person and don't have awkward interactions with other humans, you would be in a very small (nonexistent?) minority.

ftfy

[Anonymous User]

FWIW, while everyone is right that awkward interactions are ubiquitous and never held against you, if you do distinctively bad work product as a summer, the folks who saw that work product will avoid you when you come back as a regular associate. Note that I said "distinctively bad" - all summer work product is bad, so I mean "noticeably worse than typical summer work product", which is saying something.

[Anonymous User]

Most of what makes you think something is awkward is based off the other person's body language and reaction. If someone you said something strange/awkward to walks by you the next day without acknowledging you, it's human nature to assume it's because of you. The reality is they're probably focused on something entirely unrelated to you. As a summer fitting in is either your first or second priority so you'll remember details of things a year later that the other person might have forgotten 5 minutes after the conversation.

[Anonymous User]

At my firm, attorneys are encouraged to report all awkward social interactions with summer associates to our recruiter, who in turn maintains a record of each awkward social incident in a database. When the former summer associate returns to start as a first-year associate about 15 months later, a firm-wide memo is circulated that identifies any prior awkward social interactions that involved the incoming associate. We stay vigilant. If you weren't careful enough to avoid social awkwardness as a summer associate, how can we trust you to be socially competent as a junior associate?

If you manage to avoid awkward social interactions for your first twelve months, all prior awkwardness records are expunged. Only then will you get a fresh start.

I heard that awkwardness records were only expunged after 2 years. Is this one of those things that's firm dependent?

V20 NYC offices (but not Weil) generally require two years of awkward-free interaction before expunging records.

Incoming Weil summer associate. I realize your posts were just jokes, but also curious to know why Weil was singled out. Are you implying that people at Weil are more (or less) awkward than other top New York firms? Just wondering...

[bruinfan10]

At my firm, attorneys are encouraged to report all awkward social interactions with summer associates to our recruiter, who in turn maintains a record of each awkward social incident in a database. When the former summer associate returns to start as a first-year associate about 15 months later, a firm-wide memo is circulated that identifies any prior awkward social interactions that involved the incoming associate. We stay vigilant. If you weren't careful enough to avoid social awkwardness as a summer associate, how can we trust you to be socially competent as a junior associate?

If you manage to avoid awkward social interactions for your first twelve months, all prior awkwardness records are expunged. Only then will you get a fresh start.

I heard that awkwardness records were only expunged after 2 years. Is this one of those things that's firm dependent?

V20 NYC offices (but not Weil) generally require two years of awkward-free interaction before expunging records.

Incoming Weil summer associate. I realize your posts were just jokes, but also curious to know why Weil was singled out. Are you implying that people at Weil are more (or less) awkward than other top New York firms? Just wondering...

[Anonymous User]

I was in a partners' meeting last week and one of the partners told a story about an awkward thing an SA did almost TEN YEARS ago. Basically got really zealous working on a case and went to a third party's company and claimed he was working on a case for our client and needed some info.

Ok, that's not awkward, that's just dumb.

And my firm has 1-2 SA's per year.

In other words, I'm just screwing with you. Biglaw folks are so damned busy you'd have to REALLY stand out to make them remember what you did. I mean, like do something that's twice-per-decade bad. So out of every 50 SA's, if you're not the most socially-awkward, you should be fine (and that one probably got no-offered anyway).

[Anonymous User]

FWIW, while everyone is right that awkward interactions are ubiquitous and never held against you, if you do distinctively bad work product as a summer, the folks who saw that work product will avoid you when you come back as a regular associate. Note that I said "distinctively bad" - all summer work product is bad, so I mean "noticeably worse than typical summer work product", which is saying something.

I will second this - if you manage to develop a distinctively negative reputation as a summer, that may follow you around, and I've seen it happen.

[jbagelboy]

At my firm, attorneys are encouraged to report all awkward social interactions with summer associates to our recruiter, who in turn maintains a record of each awkward social incident in a database. When the former summer associate returns to start as a first-year associate about 15 months later, a firm-wide memo is circulated that identifies any prior awkward social interactions that involved the incoming associate. We stay vigilant. If you weren't careful enough to avoid social awkwardness as a summer associate, how can we trust you to be socially competent as a junior associate?

If you manage to avoid awkward social interactions for your first twelve months, all prior awkwardness records are expunged. Only then will you get a fresh start.

I heard that awkwardness records were only expunged after 2 years. Is this one of those things that's firm dependent?

V20 NYC offices (but not Weil) generally require two years of awkward-free interaction before expunging records.

S&C actually records the non-awkward experiences. The expenditure on binder space for the awkward ones would have eaten in to shoulderbag budget

[Anonymous User]

At my firm, attorneys are encouraged to report all awkward social interactions with summer associates to our recruiter, who in turn maintains a record of each awkward social incident in a database. When the former summer associate returns to start as a first-year associate about 15 months later, a firm-wide memo is circulated that identifies any prior awkward social interactions that involved the incoming associate. We stay vigilant. If you weren't careful enough to avoid social awkwardness as a summer associate, how can we trust you to be socially competent as a junior associate?

If you manage to avoid awkward social interactions for your first twelve months, all prior awkwardness records are expunged. Only then will you get a fresh start.

I heard that awkwardness records were only expunged after 2 years. Is this one of those things that's firm dependent?

V20 NYC offices (but not Weil) generally require two years of awkward-free interaction before expunging records.

Incoming Weil summer associate. I realize your posts were just jokes, but also curious to know why Weil was singled out. Are you implying that people at Weil are more (or less) awkward than other top New York firms? Just wondering...

There some sort of inside joke I'm not getting? One of the main reasons I chose Weil over Skadden and Kirkland was because of the people and the culture that I observed at these places.

[JusticeJackson]

.

[Anonymous User]

on the flip side, if you were a good SA did it result in you getting more work out the gate?

[rpupkin]

There some sort of inside joke I'm not getting? One of the main reasons I chose Weil over Skadden and Kirkland was because of the people and the culture that I observed at these places.

It's not an inside joke, exactly. It's just that Weil has inherent comic value. It's hard to put a finger on what makes Weil so damn funny, but I think it's mostly that Weil is a "V10" firm despite having relatively weak practice groups compared to its supposed peers. It would be kind of like if GW was ranked in the top 10 in the USNWR law school rankings.

[Anonymous User]

There some sort of inside joke I'm not getting? One of the main reasons I chose Weil over Skadden and Kirkland was because of the people and the culture that I observed at these places.

It's a joke bro. By the way, this interaction would definitely deserve a write up in your awkward interaction file.


Edit: also, it's time to forget about those offers you had at other firms. It'll only breed discontent for you to think about what could have been when you have the inevitable bad day. And I'd sure as shit never mention them at Weil; I saw that turn into a no offer once.

As I said in my original post, I knew it was a joke. I was simply curious as to whether there was a reason Weil was singled out to make a joke about. I certainly don't think that qualifies as an "awkward interaction" but ok. And obviously I'm not going to be spouting off at the firm about offers at Skadden and Kirkland. I mean, why do you think I'm posting anonymously on the internet...