Top Law Schools

Hi TLS. I’m a 2/3 year v10 M&A associate. I love working out in the mornings but lately I’ve been staffed on a few deals where the clients/partners have been emailing me starting really early in the morning (like, 6 to 6:30 range). On days I don’t work out, I normally wake up at 6:45ish and begin responding to the urgent emails that have come through. On days I DO work out, I typically finish up around 6:45. However, working out isn’t very fun when I see my phone start lighting up with all the early morning emails. Probably a personal issue but I get anxious thinking about everything I need to do that day and I don’t enjoy the workout.

My question is, has anyone tried turning off their phone (or at least turning off notifications) in the early morning until they are ready to start looking at/responding to emails? i.e. I would keep my phone off during my workout and only turn it back on when I’m done (which would be the same time as I would be waking up on non-gym days anyway).

Sorry for the rambling, but would appreciate hearing people’s thoughts on this approach! Thanks!

I do this but don’t turn my phone off. I just refuse to respond to emails before a reasonable hour in the morning (like 7:30 am) even if I’m awake. The client/partner does not know you’re in the gym or awake and they can wait for you to respond an hour or two later. If you’re not signing or closing that day then their emails are not truly urgent and can wait until after 6:45. I’ve been straight up told by some people senior to me that I can wait to respond to their super early emails until I’m ready to start my day but I use this strategy with everyone I work with.

A lot of this is about setting a precedent too. If the partner thinks you’re also an early bird and will respond to all their early emails immediately, then they’re more likely to email you that early and more likely to expect a response. If you set a precedent of never responding before 7 am then it’s not going to be as expected.

I will caveat that this also somewhat depends on where you’re located. I’ve noticed that my strategy is less forgiving for west coast lawyers with east coast partners since the people emailing you are 2-3 hours ahead and 7 am PT is squarely in east coast work hours. If they’re all in your time zone then they can definitely wait.

I put my phone on Do Not Disturb (but change the setting so that calls still ring) until I’m ready to actually start the day (ie, probably 7:30). Obviously different partners have different expectations, but I’ve never had a problem.

On a normal day I don’t even wake up until 7:30 - definitely use the do not disturb feature. I used to wake up earlier and respond but realized that was dumb and set bad expectations. No need unless you know something is urgent. Partners/clients are getting up and firing stuff off to be handled. Doesn’t mean it’s urgent.

Learning to strategically NOT respond to emails or delay responses was one of the best things I learned.

I was having an issue with email while I was working out (but at night), and eventually just needed to put my phone in my pocket and stop checking it, because it's never ending. I keep it on vibrate/silent so I'll still know if someone calls, but it doesn't vibrate for every single email that comes in, and that made it easier to ignore. I also second putting a do not disturb for emails at whatever hours you think are unreasonable - mine goes from 10 PM until 6 AM. Obviously I'll still check before I go to bed at night and make sure there's nothing critical, but ultimately if there's an emergency they can call me.

I work out almost every work day morning and just take a monitoring approach to emails. Obviously, if something needs to get done asap I can log in and get it done but I just try to keep an eye on the situation. I learned early on that responding while at the gym super early just mistakenly gives people the sense that you're up for the day and ready to do whatever for them so I'll generally just qualify whatever responses I do feel compelled to send out with, "will do [x] as soon as I get in, blah blah blah" unless its a legitimate need now situation.

6-8ish am on weekdays is the only time block I really, truly try my hardest to protect. If I lost control over that I would be miserable.

On a related note, how would you advise me to handle expectations as a first year associate with young children?

I’m starting in the fall at a small-ish (20) corporate group. I already know (and have a good relationship) with the associates and partners I’ll be mainly working with.

Some associates (even juniors) in my group leave the office at 5 pm to pick up the kids and then log back on from home. I’m hoping I’ll eventually be able to do the same, so what’s the best strategy?

1. Stay in late and reply to every email asap, so that they know that I’m reliable and responsive; or
2. Start setting boundaries early on, i.e., leave work at 5:30/6 if there’s no fire drill, and log back on from home.

I’ll obviously be available whenever I’m needed, but I’m afraid they’ll get used to me working non-stop, and then later have a hard time adjusting when I start “pushing back.”

Anonymous User wrote:On a related note, how would you advise me to handle expectations as a first year associate with young children?

I’m starting in the fall at a small-ish (20) corporate group. I already know (and have a good relationship) with the associates and partners I’ll be mainly working with.

Some associates (even juniors) in my group leave the office at 5 pm to pick up the kids and then log back on from home. I’m hoping I’ll eventually be able to do the same, so what’s the best strategy?

1. Stay in late and reply to every email asap, so that they know that I’m reliable and responsive; or
2. Start setting boundaries early on, i.e., leave work at 5:30/6 if there’s no fire drill, and log back on from home.

I’ll obviously be available whenever I’m needed, but I’m afraid they’ll get used to me working non-stop, and then later have a hard time adjusting when I start “pushing back.”

I’ll say that at my CA office some associates definitely rolled their eyes at junior associates who left early bc of kids. But, said associates were also miserable and will likely die alone. On the one hand, they had the “you knew what you were getting into” attitude. On the other hand, non-psychos like myself don’t give a shit where you are provided you get your work done. Really depends on your group - yours seems more family friendly.

Got PTSD from just reading this post, life at the top of the law firm food chain can be brutal. For me, I realized that it just wasn't worth it being "available" before 8:30 am unless we had a closing coming up. As you get more senior, you realize the "need to respond right now" attitude is sort of bullshit.

My rule of thumb was - if its a client, respond with a short "we'll take a look" sort of statement. If its a partner/senior associate, just wait until 9 am unless the email seems to be really urgent. This has worked out just fine for me so far, and at my new firm, I'm even more lenient on myself in terms of my "hours of availability".

Honestly, if you are responding to emails after 7:15 am, you should definitely be ok. No one will care if you take until 7:15/7:30 to respond and any people that do care are insane, and you don't want to work with them anyway.

People that respond to emails at 7am - what time are you sleeping by the night before? 10pm? 11?

s1m4 wrote:People that respond to emails at 7am - what time are you sleeping by the night before? 10pm? 11?

FWIW, I usually go to bed between 10-11 and start responding to emails either (a) when I get back from the gym, on days I go to the gym or (b) when I get up, on days I don't go to the gym. I'm typically in the office roughly 9:30-6:30 but checking/responding to email beginning between 6-8 and ending between 10-11. (V100 senior litigation associate on the West Coast; this may not work as well in NYC or other markets.)

s1m4 wrote:People that respond to emails at 7am - what time are you sleeping by the night before? 10pm? 11?

I feel like this is primarily for West Coasters. NYC BigLaw IME tends to start late. Though there are certainly some early-bird senior associates/partners, I don't think it's at all the rule that East Coasters are/need to be available that early in the morning. Being responsive starting sometime between 9-10 generally works (absent a particular need). Much more important to be available in the evening than to be available by 7-8 AM (again, absent a particular need). I understand there are even East Coast groups/firms that generally start cracking between 10-11 (and work correspondingly late into the night).

For NYc firms starting at 10am, what time do people goto sleep and wake up generally?