When do you get to see the "whole picture" of the work you're doing? Forum

[Anonymous User]

My 1L SA experience felt like a series of "research this specific thing and don't ask why" because so many facts were withheld from me. I'm wondering if this is what I should expect in 2L SA and full-time work as well. Withholding info is understandable since you don't want confidential info to get leaked, but churning away at something without knowing its purpose can be tiring and I don't know for how long I can keep doing that.

When do you get to see what exactly is going on in the case, why you need to research something, etc.?

[Skool]

like lambs to the slaughter

[jotarokujo]

lit associates can easily be doing disembodied research as most of their work product until their 4th year

[Anonymous User]

lit associates can easily be doing disembodied research as most of their work product until their 4th year

This makes me really glad I went to a lit boutique. I hope for y'alls' sakes in true biglaw that this isn't representative.

[Anonymous User]

lit associates can easily be doing disembodied research as most of their work product until their 4th year

FWIW this was not my experience at my biglaw firm, which was definitely not known for associate development or anything like that. I felt similarly frustrated as a summer associate, but once I started as an associate I felt much more in the loop and like I had some understanding of why I was doing what I was doing. The two caveats that come to mind are: (1) to some extent you have to facilitate being in the loop by paying attention to stuff that’s going on and piecing it together bc people won’t necessarily bother to tell you and (2) it’s almost always the case that there will be discussions and decisions happening above your head that you won’t be a part of even when you are the person who actually has the most relevant factual background for the discussion (bc you do a lot of doc review, for example). This second point was true at my biglaw firm and remains true, albeit to a lesser degree, at my lit boutique. It does decrease some as you get more senior, I think.

Tl;dr: your 2L SA may suck, but I found actually working at the firm to be a very different experience. To be clear, I still hated it, but for different reasons lol

[Anonymous User]

lit associates can easily be doing disembodied research as most of their work product until their 4th year

FWIW this was not my experience at my biglaw firm, which was definitely not known for associate development or anything like that. I felt similarly frustrated as a summer associate, but once I started as an associate I felt much more in the loop and like I had some understanding of why I was doing what I was doing. The two caveats that come to mind are: (1) to some extent you have to facilitate being in the loop by paying attention to stuff that’s going on and piecing it together bc people won’t necessarily bother to tell you and (2) it’s almost always the case that there will be discussions and decisions happening above your head that you won’t be a part of even when you are the person who actually has the most relevant factual background for the discussion (bc you do a lot of doc review, for example). This second point was true at my biglaw firm and remains true, albeit to a lesser degree, at my lit boutique. It does decrease some as you get more senior, I think.

Tl;dr: your 2L SA may suck, but I found actually working at the firm to be a very different experience. To be clear, I still hated it, but for different reasons lol

This is true. It would be weird if you’re doing truly disembodied work as a matter of course. You’re expected to include useful analysis with your research, which requires you to know what’s going on. As a summer, yes, perfectly normal to be doing a discrete task while personally having no connection to the daily workflow.

[Skool]

lit associates can easily be doing disembodied research as most of their work product until their 4th year

FWIW this was not my experience at my biglaw firm, which was definitely not known for associate development or anything like that. I felt similarly frustrated as a summer associate, but once I started as an associate I felt much more in the loop and like I had some understanding of why I was doing what I was doing. The two caveats that come to mind are: (1) to some extent you have to facilitate being in the loop by paying attention to stuff that’s going on and piecing it together bc people won’t necessarily bother to tell you and (2) it’s almost always the case that there will be discussions and decisions happening above your head that you won’t be a part of even when you are the person who actually has the most relevant factual background for the discussion (bc you do a lot of doc review, for example). This second point was true at my biglaw firm and remains true, albeit to a lesser degree, at my lit boutique. It does decrease some as you get more senior, I think.

Tl;dr: your 2L SA may suck, but I found actually working at the firm to be a very different experience. To be clear, I still hated it, but for different reasons lol

I would add that your caveats are further qualified by how big the team is. If you show up your first day as an associate and are assigned to a massive litigation with 30 other lawyers, including 10 other first years, good luck staying looped in. But if you’re lucky enough to get on to a five person, fast moving investigation, sure, you’ll have a good sense of what’s going on. The problem for a junior is they have limited control over which situation they find themselves in. And if you find yourself stuck in the former situation early on and the litigation drags on ... you can easily be a frustrated fourth year still working on discrete, disconnected research.