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I got fired today from a V100. I'm a second year, and my severance was 3 months. They offered transition services and health care. I did not sign the agreement immediately. Should I sign this agreement or attempt to negotiate? Should I retain the services of an employment lawyer? Also, what should I be doing now to go somewhere else?

Did they pay you the year end bonus?

Anonymous User wrote:Did they pay you the year end bonus?

Nope. Got fired before reviews.

You're (presumably) an at-will employee so without some pressing need for them to keep you on to see through ongoing projects, you don't have leverage. The three month severance with transition services and healthcare is more than they needed to offer. Barring some discrimination claim I don't see how an employment lawyer is going to help you here.

Take advantage of their transition services and ask for 6 months of firm website time. That's probably the best you can do here.

Edit: Oh, and sorry you're going through this. It sucks but you'll land somewhere, just start looking immediately.

Unless you deserved it but wtf on not giving you a bonus which is really deferred comp. I know you can’t out them but wish you could

I would just sign it and move on.
3 months is pretty generous, especially for a second year. It's at will employment and most firms don't even offer that much if any. And you have zero leverage.

Anonymous User wrote:Unless you deserved it but wtf on not giving you a bonus which is really deferred comp. I know you can’t out them but wish you could

I don't think it's deferred comp and there is reason firing happens right before bonus (i.e. to not pay them).

2nd year so I’m assuming you’ve only been at your firm for like a year and a 3-4 months. That’s rough, did they give you a reason? Was your group slow?

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Unless you deserved it but wtf on not giving you a bonus which is really deferred comp. I know you can’t out them but wish you could

I don't think it's deferred comp and there is reason firing happens right before bonus (i.e. to not pay them).

It isn’t formally but you know what I mean, expected and assumed you’ll get based on good standing and hours. Then the fck u over at the last min

Anonymous User wrote:I got fired today from a V100. I'm a second year, and my severance was 3 months. They offered transition services and health care. I did not sign the agreement immediately. Should I sign this agreement or attempt to negotiate? Should I retain the services of an employment lawyer? Also, what should I be doing now to go somewhere else? I am located in DC.

This is standard. In your shoes, I would ask for 4 months instead of three. My close friend did that and it worked for him. Didn’t need the extra time, but it’s still worth it to ask.

No need for a lawyer. Start using recruiters now. First, make a list of the firms where you have friends and try to apply via them. Then, use one recruiter, get their list, have them apply to any of the other places you’re interested in. Then, you can use another recruiter to apply to places where the first recruiter didn’t show you. Don’t tell them you were fired, of course. You will land something. The economy is booming right now.

This sucks and the process is stressful and you are probably feeling really bad right now. The people in this thread asking you to out the firm are likely not biglaw associates or at the very least not very senior.

Take a few days to feel bad about yourself, then do as prescribed. Good luck!!

Anonymous User wrote:2nd year so I’m assuming you’ve only been at your firm for like a year and a 3-4 months. That’s rough, did they give you a reason? Was your group slow?

Yes, that's right. The reason was that they were worried I wasn't happy and interested in working biglaw. They said I was too low on hours (true), but that was because I had to constantly fight for work. My practice area also hired five other lateral associates, so I think my job just became obsolete.

I admit, I was not happy. I hated the job. There was no diversity, and I felt alone by myself. But, I still tried to put myself out there; they still figured out that I was not happy. Oh well.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:I got fired today from a V100. I'm a second year, and my severance was 3 months. They offered transition services and health care. I did not sign the agreement immediately. Should I sign this agreement or attempt to negotiate? Should I retain the services of an employment lawyer? Also, what should I be doing now to go somewhere else? I am located in DC.

This is standard. In your shoes, I would ask for 4 months instead of three. My close friend did that and it worked for him. Didn’t need the extra time, but it’s still worth it to ask.

No need for a lawyer. Start using recruiters now. First, make a list of the firms where you have friends and try to apply via them. Then, use one recruiter, get their list, have them apply to any of the other places you’re interested in. Then, you can use another recruiter to apply to places where the first recruiter didn’t show you. Don’t tell them you were fired, of course. You will land something. The economy is booming right now.

This sucks and the process is stressful and you are probably feeling really bad right now. The people in this thread asking you to out the firm are likely not biglaw associates or at the very least not very senior.

Take a few days to feel bad about yourself, then do as prescribed. Good luck!!

Actually, I don't feel really badly about myself. I'd been waiting on this day. I thought it would come at the end of the month, but I knew it was coming around review time. I am definitely going to ask for 4 months. I think I need that extra month just to be safe. Thanks.

Same Anon as before. Firings in biglaw happen all the time, usually at the end of the year or very beginning and usually they come without a bonus. Not indicative of your skills always, many times you just have a personality conflict with a partner and that’s it. I think the more senior people become in biglaw the more you realize how common, even in good times, firings can be. At least I have.

Hope that helps

Anonymous User wrote:Same Anon as before. Firings in biglaw happen all the time, usually at the end of the year or very beginning and usually they come without a bonus. Not indicative of your skills always, many times you just have a personality conflict with a partner and that’s it. I think the more senior people become in biglaw the more you realize how common, even in good times, firings can be. At least I have.

Hope that helps

OP here. Oh, I definitely had issues with one partner. I hate his guts, and he knows it. So glad to not be working with him anymore. I'm sure, in the aggregate, he's the real reason I'm gone. Alas.

3 months is not a ton of time. Ask for more and ask to stay on the website and health care. Use the transition services as they should help.

Sounds like they were right about you being unhappy. Just try to get as much time as you can.

Npret wrote:3 months is not a ton of time. Ask for more and ask to stay on the website and health care. Use the transition services as they should help.

Sounds like they were right about you being unhappy. Just try to get as much time as you can.

I'm sorry to hear about this OP. I understand it's tough, but you really have no leverage here and 3 months is pretty solid. It's more important that you get increased website time. And I cannot speak to this partner, as I don't know him/her, but I'm sensing that you aren't that into BigLaw in general. There's no shame in that, as there are plenty of reasons to jump ship. Take some time to reassess. Hopefully you're not beholden to the BIgLaw paycheck.

OP, I take a more extreme view of a sentiment cited on here. I would keep your 3 months pay or whatever and then ask for another 3 of unpaid website time. If that doesn’t work, I would literally offer to sacrifice a month of pay for 3 additional months of website time. It’s actually that valuable in your new job search, in my opinion. 3 months is better than 1, but just isn’t that long for this type of search.

That’s rough though. Good luck.

OP, are you unhappy with this firm, or big law generally (you may not know). If it's big law generally, then if you want to stay in DC, you should network with any friends/former classmates who are in DC working for federal agencies, because obviously fedgov is a huge player in DC. I think it's generally an easy sell to say you are leaving your firm because you want to work in public service, or you're leaving because you want to be in a new location, but it can sometimes be harder to explain why you want to leave big law to go to another big law firm and do the exact same work (unless you're lateralling up), so to the extent you're looking to move to another big law firm, you should make sure you've locked down a good response as to why you're leaving.

I assume your firm will still give you a good reference (or at least a standard "we don't give references but we can confirm employment dates" response) to your new employer? You should consider asking HR what their policy is, if you're not sure.

I would ask for 4 months salary and 4 months of website time (but eventually cave on 3/3). Worst they will say is no. Website time can be critically important in helping you maintain recruiter contacts, and will definitely help you be marketable.

Sorry this happened to you, but it’s not uncommon, and hopefully you will bounce back quickly.

Npret wrote:3 months is not a ton of time. Ask for more and ask to stay on the website and health care. Use the transition services as they should help.

Sounds like they were right about you being unhappy. Just try to get as much time as you can.

I stopped by to say exactly this. Staying on the website is almost as valuable as pay, should finding a new gig be drawn out. A commitment to list you for up to 6 months would be good. Longer is even better.

BasilHallward wrote:

Npret wrote:3 months is not a ton of time. Ask for more and ask to stay on the website and health care. Use the transition services as they should help.

Sounds like they were right about you being unhappy. Just try to get as much time as you can.

I'm sorry to hear about this OP. I understand it's tough, but you really have no leverage here and 3 months is pretty solid. It's more important that you get increased website time. And I cannot speak to this partner, as I don't know him/her, but I'm sensing that you aren't that into BigLaw in general. There's no shame in that, as there are plenty of reasons to jump ship. Take some time to reassess. Hopefully you're not beholden to the BIgLaw paycheck.

OP here. I hated BigLaw around December of my stub year. But, I wanted to make it to at least a year before I called it quits. I am not ashamed that I hate BigLaw. I'm more ashamed that firms say they care about retaining minority associates, but we leave at faster rates than everyone else because of the shit we put up with at firms. You can't have only one minority associate in the building and expect that person to be fine that he or she is there. There were no mentorship opportunities either! It's a shame.

papermateflair wrote:OP, are you unhappy with this firm, or big law generally (you may not know). If it's big law generally, then if you want to stay in DC, you should network with any friends/former classmates who are in DC working for federal agencies, because obviously fedgov is a huge player in DC. I think it's generally an easy sell to say you are leaving your firm because you want to work in public service, or you're leaving because you want to be in a new location, but it can sometimes be harder to explain why you want to leave big law to go to another big law firm and do the exact same work (unless you're lateralling up), so to the extent you're looking to move to another big law firm, you should make sure you've locked down a good response as to why you're leaving.

I assume your firm will still give you a good reference (or at least a standard "we don't give references but we can confirm employment dates" response) to your new employer? You should consider asking HR what their policy is, if you're not sure.

OP here. I know. I hate BigLaw. And I hate the fact that there is no diversity. I will never go back to another large law firm. I am diligently working on getting federal government employment as we speak.

Anonymous User wrote:

BasilHallward wrote:

Npret wrote:3 months is not a ton of time. Ask for more and ask to stay on the website and health care. Use the transition services as they should help.

Sounds like they were right about you being unhappy. Just try to get as much time as you can.

I'm sorry to hear about this OP. I understand it's tough, but you really have no leverage here and 3 months is pretty solid. It's more important that you get increased website time. And I cannot speak to this partner, as I don't know him/her, but I'm sensing that you aren't that into BigLaw in general. There's no shame in that, as there are plenty of reasons to jump ship. Take some time to reassess. Hopefully you're not beholden to the BIgLaw paycheck.

OP here. I hated BigLaw around December of my stub year. But, I wanted to make it to at least a year before I called it quits. I am not ashamed that I hate BigLaw. I'm more ashamed that firms say they care about retaining black associates, but we leave at faster rates than everyone else because of the shit we put up with at firms. You can't have only one black associate in the building and expect that person to be "happy" that he or she is there. There were no mentorship opportunities either! It's a shame.

You can only be happy around people that look like you? Also, whose responsibility is it to seek mentorship opportunities? Seems like a pretty toxic mix of entitlement, an inability to effectively work with people based on the color of their skin and a hatred of your job led to a natural outcome. I would recommend some honest self-reflection.

nixy wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

BasilHallward wrote:

Npret wrote:3 months is not a ton of time. Ask for more and ask to stay on the website and health care. Use the transition services as they should help.

Sounds like they were right about you being unhappy. Just try to get as much time as you can.

I'm sorry to hear about this OP. I understand it's tough, but you really have no leverage here and 3 months is pretty solid. It's more important that you get increased website time. And I cannot speak to this partner, as I don't know him/her, but I'm sensing that you aren't that into BigLaw in general. There's no shame in that, as there are plenty of reasons to jump ship. Take some time to reassess. Hopefully you're not beholden to the BIgLaw paycheck.

OP here. I hated BigLaw around December of my stub year. But, I wanted to make it to at least a year before I called it quits. I am not ashamed that I hate BigLaw. I'm more ashamed that firms say they care about retaining black associates, but we leave at faster rates than everyone else because of the shit we put up with at firms. You can't have only one black associate in the building and expect that person to be "happy" that he or she is there. There were no mentorship opportunities either! It's a shame.

You can only be happy around people that look like you? Also, whose responsibility is it to seek mentorship opportunities? Seems like a pretty toxic mix of entitlement, an inability to effectively work with people based on the color of their skin and a hatred of your job led to a natural outcome. I would recommend some honest self-reflection.

This is bullshit and a cowardly use of anon.

It’s self defense. if it was OPs fault it surely won’t happen to him.

Ignoring the stupidity of the anonymous comment--it is also reflective of many of the often unstated perceptions and perspectives of some people within corporate law firms which is part of the very issue the OP mentioned. It's sad POC need to additionally think about the undercurrents of the environment when choosing among firms but its very true and some will be slightly better because of more visible efforts and attempts to be self aware about the real corporate culture in relation to diversity and mentorship.

OP best of luck. Biglaw can be different in different firms--I lateraled "up" to a firm but diversity was definitely a more major point for me and often higher ranked firms will actually have more diverse classes and can expose you to different work. I would apply broadly to anything that interests you--firms, government, non-profit whatever or think about some of the things that took you to law school in the first place.