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Soon to lateral and getting absolutely crushed. After you gave notice in biglaw, did your workload lessen within your two weeks before leaving?

Same position. I haven't been given any new work, but I've been getting crushed on the existing deals I'm on, and when I tell people that I'm done after next week, their response seems to be "well then we really need to get even more done before then"

Op here I haven’t even given notice yet. Sigh.

Anonymous User wrote:Soon to lateral and getting absolutely crushed. After you gave notice in biglaw, did your workload lessen within your two weeks before leaving?

Most firms will just ask you to transition your matters, but at the end of the day the limiting factor will be your willingness to dump things on your fellow associates. They can't force you to do work, but you don't want to burn bridges.

I closed a deal the night before my last day and of course leading up to it was hell. Firms don't care that you're leaving.

I closed something the day before I lateraled as well. IT literally came to take my computer while I was trying to get things cleaned up and taken care of. Oh well. They just gave someone access to my email account.

I got staffed on new matters after giving notice.

Tip from a super senior associate:

Take a week long (two if possible) vacation prior to giving notice. Then give 3-4 weeks notice. You notice trends after so long in this job. Smart kids did this at 10x the rate stupid kids did. Trick is to give short enough notice that they won't staff you (my firm has strict if unwritten policies about staffing people who have given notice), but be off your deals.

= 4-6 weeks of no work at BIGLAW pay.

You're welcome in advance.

BernieTrump wrote:Tip from a super senior associate:

Take a week long (two if possible) vacation prior to giving notice. Then give 3-4 weeks notice. You notice trends after so long in this job. Smart kids did this at 10x the rate stupid kids did. Trick is to give short enough notice that they won't staff you (my firm has strict if unwritten policies about staffing people who have given notice), but be off your deals.

= 4-6 weeks of no work at BIGLAW pay.

You're welcome in advance.

I'm confused

Give notice the day you come back from vacation?

Anonymous User wrote:

BernieTrump wrote:Tip from a super senior associate:

Take a week long (two if possible) vacation prior to giving notice. Then give 3-4 weeks notice. You notice trends after so long in this job. Smart kids did this at 10x the rate stupid kids did. Trick is to give short enough notice that they won't staff you (my firm has strict if unwritten policies about staffing people who have given notice), but be off your deals.

= 4-6 weeks of no work at BIGLAW pay.

You're welcome in advance.

I'm confused

Give notice the day you come back from vacation?

Or when they try to staff you on something on day 2 or 3. This is BIGLAW SOP. The idea is you max out notice (well over 2 weeks notice) in a way that isn't so long they'll think they can staff you on new deals. But you also want to not be doing anything for those 3-5 weeks, so you go on vacation first, so all of your stuff is already covered. The result is 1-2 months off at full pay.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

BernieTrump wrote:Tip from a super senior associate:

Take a week long (two if possible) vacation prior to giving notice. Then give 3-4 weeks notice. You notice trends after so long in this job. Smart kids did this at 10x the rate stupid kids did. Trick is to give short enough notice that they won't staff you (my firm has strict if unwritten policies about staffing people who have given notice), but be off your deals.

= 4-6 weeks of no work at BIGLAW pay.

You're welcome in advance.

I'm confused

Give notice the day you come back from vacation?

Or when they try to staff you on something on day 2 or 3. This is BIGLAW SOP. The idea is you max out notice (well over 2 weeks notice) in a way that isn't so long they'll think they can staff you on new deals. But you also want to not be doing anything for those 3-5 weeks, so you go on vacation first, so all of your stuff is already covered. The result is 1-2 months off at full pay.

That was me, FWIW.

Lol. Guess I was just confused bc taking a week or two off for me wouldn't result in any need for new staffing--my cases would just be sitting around waiting hungrily for my return

jkpolk wrote:I got staffed on new matters after giving notice.

Seconded, new clients and new matters.

Not big law, but recently gave notice and things actually picked up for me as well. Partners who had me staffed on litigation matters wanted me to do all sorts of stuff that is months down the line in these cases.

But I gave two weeks, and I'm out of here in two weeks, and I began outright declining new work yesterday when it was going to threaten my end date here. Don't be afraid to stick up for yourself--what are they going to do, fire you?

BernieTrump wrote:Tip from a super senior associate:

Take a week long (two if possible) vacation prior to giving notice. Then give 3-4 weeks notice. You notice trends after so long in this job. Smart kids did this at 10x the rate stupid kids did. Trick is to give short enough notice that they won't staff you (my firm has strict if unwritten policies about staffing people who have given notice), but be off your deals.

= 4-6 weeks of no work at BIGLAW pay.

You're welcome in advance.

This is very dangerous advice. At my firm it is common for people to give their 2 weeks notice and be asked to leave at the end of that same week. The exception is when the person still has a lot of active work that is not easily offloaded - not the fact pattern you describe. Big law is not the sort of place that they'd knowingly pay someone to sit around for 4-6 weeks doing nothing.

My firm generally transitions people off matters once they give notice, if they're on any matters. The smart people stop accepting new work months before they give notice. A guy I know along the hallway from me stopped accepting work at least six months before giving formal notice. We have a work assignment system that kind of allows that, if you're clever about it.

Anonymous User wrote:

BernieTrump wrote:Tip from a super senior associate:

Take a week long (two if possible) vacation prior to giving notice. Then give 3-4 weeks notice. You notice trends after so long in this job. Smart kids did this at 10x the rate stupid kids did. Trick is to give short enough notice that they won't staff you (my firm has strict if unwritten policies about staffing people who have given notice), but be off your deals.

= 4-6 weeks of no work at BIGLAW pay.

You're welcome in advance.

This is very dangerous advice. At my firm it is common for people to give their 2 weeks notice and be asked to leave at the end of that same week. The exception is when the person still has a lot of active work that is not easily offloaded - not the fact pattern you describe. Big law is not the sort of place that they'd knowingly pay someone to sit around for 4-6 weeks doing nothing.

YMMV depending on where you are are going to after you leave. Had a friend going to a client, gave 4 weeks notice and no issue. Had a friend jump to a competitor firm after a deal, was willing to give 2 weeks, firm told them to stay home and paid them for the 2 weeks.

Post above unintentional anonymous

AntipodeanPhil wrote:My firm generally transitions people off matters once they give notice, if they're on any matters. The smart people stop accepting new work months before they give notice. A guy I know along the hallway from me stopped accepting work at least six months before giving formal notice. We have a work assignment system that kind of allows that, if you're clever about it.

This guy was likely frozen out and fired.

Yeah I don't know how you're supposed to time it so that you can stop accepting work exactly six months before your next job starts. Other than clerkships (which also involve not burning bridges with your current firm), what job do you know you'll have lined up in six months, and even if you do, how do you spend six months turning down work without pissing off your current firm?

I have an offer I plan on accepting and that needs to clear conflicts, etc. but I’m getting a bunch of shitty work right now and can’t figure out how to just say no when I’m not SO busy as to justify it.

On the other side of the pond, 3 month notice when you leave is customary. Actually, notice is often required.

Didn't read each entry but wanted to say I left as a mid-level (for clerkships, so a little different), but I took a 2 week vacation and then came back and gave basically 2 months of notice. I wasn't staffed on anything new (obviously), people appreciated the notice to transition, and i swear i didn't come into work for weeks at a time. I still logged in and did work and didn't screw anyone over, but would just say "i'm out today, but here's xyz" without further explanation. Never got questioned, left on great terms, invited back.

Again, different when leaving for clerkship and dangerous if you need the money in the meantime, but one anecdote.

Anonymous User wrote:Didn't read each entry but wanted to say I left as a mid-level (for clerkships, so a little different), but I took a 2 week vacation and then came back and gave basically 2 months of notice. I wasn't staffed on anything new (obviously), people appreciated the notice to transition, and i swear i didn't come into work for weeks at a time. I still logged in and did work and didn't screw anyone over, but would just say "i'm out today, but here's xyz" without further explanation. Never got questioned, left on great terms, invited back.

This is a helpful anecdote. One reason to provide lots of notice (regardless of your reason for leaving) is that you're more likely to get an extended period with not much work while still getting paid. Although there's a chance that you'll get slammed with work anyway, firms generally don't want to staff departing associates on new matters, and they also want departing associates to transition stuff to others on their existing matters. If your runway is long enough, you can end up with several weeks of collecting a big law paycheck while not having to do much of anything.

Anonymous User wrote:

BernieTrump wrote:Tip from a super senior associate:

Take a week long (two if possible) vacation prior to giving notice. Then give 3-4 weeks notice. You notice trends after so long in this job. Smart kids did this at 10x the rate stupid kids did. Trick is to give short enough notice that they won't staff you (my firm has strict if unwritten policies about staffing people who have given notice), but be off your deals.

= 4-6 weeks of no work at BIGLAW pay.

You're welcome in advance.

This is very dangerous advice. At my firm it is common for people to give their 2 weeks notice and be asked to leave at the end of that same week. The exception is when the person still has a lot of active work that is not easily offloaded - not the fact pattern you describe. Big law is not the sort of place that they'd knowingly pay someone to sit around for 4-6 weeks doing nothing.

I've done this for close to 10 years. I have and had friends and classmates and acquaintances in probably a hundred firms. I have never once heard this. Nor have I seen it. Nor have I seen it from opposing counsel (many, many times people quit on opposing deal teams. They'll be transitioned off quickly, but their email always works for 2-3 more weeks and they respond to transition to new associate). Biglaw standard operating procedure is to take you off matters immediately and not give you anything new, but nobody gets escorted out sooner than they request, assuming nothing outlandish, like giving more than a month or two notice, in which case they would keep you staffed. I strongly suspect you have no idea what you're talking about, or if it is true, what you're talking about isn't biglaw. I could see it happening at some ID mill.

Only thing even close to this is that one firm (very highly regarded), will ask that you not come in if you're not on any active deals if and only if you're going to a competitor firm. They'll still pay you for your entire notice period, up to 3-4 weeks. I believe they see it as a potential conflict of interest to be avoided.