Upcoming evaluation: what to expect and what to convey Forum

[Anonymous User]

I will be having my first evaluation talk this week. Recently completed my first year, Biglaw v50. I had a few queries:
- I assume it will just be "This is what went well; this is what you could do better"? Is there anything else that normally comes up from the partners during these things?
- Am I to come up with points myself? Like "This is what I would like to work on in the coming year, and this is what I want to improve on"?
- A more concrete point: I want to switch offices. Due to family and fiance reasons, I want to move. I already brought this up before I started after accepting the offer, and it was looked into then, but it didn't work out, and no further update was given since. I have been unable to touch upon it further due to COVID (no casual walk ins into the partner's office anymore, after all). Would the eval talk be a good time to bring it up again? I'm assuming the partner completely forgot about it, but don't want to bring it up at the wrong time. Another reason is also that the office I am eyeing has a practice group I want to switch to (but I assume it is definitely a bridge too far to bring that up?).

Thanks!

[MrTooToo]

I will be having my first evaluation talk this week. Recently completed my first year, Biglaw v50. I had a few tqueries:
- I assume it will just be "This is what went well; this is what you could do better"? Is there anything else that normally comes up from the partners during these things?
- Am I to come up with points myself? Like "This is what I would like to work on in the coming year, and this is what I want to improve on"?
- A more concrete point: I want to switch offices. Due to family and fiance reasons, I want to move. I already brought this up before I started after accepting the offer, and it was looked into then, but it didn't work out, and no further update was given since. I have been unable to touch upon it further due to COVID (no casual walk ins into the partner's office anymore, after all). Would the eval talk be a good time to bring it up again? I'm assuming the partner completely forgot about it, but don't want to bring it up at the wrong time. Another reason is also that the office I am eyeing has a practice group I want to switch to (but I assume it is definitely a bridge too far to bring that up?).

Thanks!

Evaluations aren't meant for open-ended back and forth dialogue. They're an artificial component of a system that is designed to either promote people or wash them out. It's a game and you need to play the game if you'd like to succeed. The sole extent of your commentary should be:

"Thanks for the feedback. I appreciate the hard work I've done this year being noticed. I also appreciate the areas that have been identified for improvement and I am going to focus on them in the coming year. This is a great firm. I am really happy to be here."

Formal evaluations aren't the time for heart-to-heart conversations. The faster young attorneys get this the better you'll do. As far as when to have the real conversations, it's with senior mentors and practice group leaders in a direct, 1:1 fashion. So if you'd like to move offices you need to work that discussion through channels outside the evaluation.

[Anonymous User]

My eval was 30 minutes. They listed the good, the bad, and how far I am from partner (in terms of work quality). We discussed biz dev ops and focused on some general concerns about my place in the firm, etc. This is as a midlevel though. I would never bring up anything outside of associate progress in an eval.

As a junior, you say thank you and say you will work hard to improve on areas of concern.

[Anonymous User]

OP here, just to give an update in case anyone in the future has the same question.

I'd play it by ear. It's dependent on the partners and the firm. I later heard one of the other first years did bring up some things that aren't per se "evaluation talk." But you have to read the room. I regret not bringing up my needs any further, as it was a pretty casual sit down and not really an evaluation, but more of a "well, how are things?" talk. I got explicitly asked if there was anything else that I wanted to bring up and I chickened out, and instead just gave some cookie cutter response that I want more things of nonsense A and BS B. Meanwhile, the other first year discussed secondment opportunities and the partners agreed it they would see what would be possible in the near future.

But yeah, that is my experience. Probably indeed just smile and nod at most firms.