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At mine (V10), we send a staffing update every tuesday to a staffing partner. Only the staffing partner will staff associates.

In my firm, it depends on the group. I know some associates in my firm only get staffed on projects through a staffing coordinator (non-lawyer) and never even meet with the partner they are working for. They generally only meet with senior associates. My group is pretty small and run by two partners which email us directly. I've never met with my assigned staffing coordinator.

In mine, you can let the local practice group's lead Partner know that you need more cases, but I usually just get informed by the few Partners I regularly work with that I'm being added to another case.

At my firm, there was a staffing coordinator for junior associates. Once you reached a certain seniority level and found your place within a group, you would be staffed by partners and senior associates, and it would be on you to say no if you were too busy, although, depending on the size of the group, the partners and senior associates may already know what's on your plate and staff accordingly.

Free market, which means that straight while males get the best work. Then white women. There’s some seniority in play, but that’s usually not the main consideration, doing “good work” is.