Which partners at your firms are notoriously terrible to work for? Forum

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Re: Which partners at your firms are notoriously terrible to work for?

Post by Anonymous User » Sun Mar 28, 2021 4:05 pm

12YrsAnAssociate wrote:
Sat Mar 27, 2021 10:35 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Sat Mar 27, 2021 7:11 pm
The worst partners tend to be whichever ones I get staffed with against my will.
Related to this comment, I was at a firm that recruited mid-levels very heavily for a specific group. Why was that group always hiring mid-levels? The two partners that headed it were nuts, and no one lasted more than a year or two in it.
To this point, it’s always worthwhile to see how many homegrown associates are in a certain group. Take Skadden cap markets for example — when I left, they had like 2 (maybe?) homegrown associates who were fifth years or senior. Their entire mid/senior cohort were laterals because all their juniors quit by fourth year.

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Re: Which partners at your firms are notoriously terrible to work for?

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Mar 29, 2021 12:44 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Thu Mar 25, 2021 1:07 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Mar 15, 2021 10:51 am
On a hellish matter with a hellish partner at my V10 and it's driving me up the wall. Commiserate with me.
relative lack of comments on DC is intriguing...
Would also be interested to hear of any in DC.

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Re: Which partners at your firms are notoriously terrible to work for?

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Mar 29, 2021 2:17 pm

There is a specific partner in Kramer Levin's finance group who is notoriously awful, which is known throughout the firm. Has driven out half the practice. He shall remain nameless, but will say that they were initially a Cahill partner, for those who wish to know.

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Re: Which partners at your firms are notoriously terrible to work for?

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Mar 29, 2021 2:35 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Mar 29, 2021 12:44 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Thu Mar 25, 2021 1:07 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Mar 15, 2021 10:51 am
On a hellish matter with a hellish partner at my V10 and it's driving me up the wall. Commiserate with me.
relative lack of comments on DC is intriguing...
Would also be interested to hear of any in DC.
Also interested in DC

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lolwutpar

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Re: Which partners at your firms are notoriously terrible to work for?

Post by lolwutpar » Mon Mar 29, 2021 2:55 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Sun Mar 28, 2021 4:05 pm
12YrsAnAssociate wrote:
Sat Mar 27, 2021 10:35 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Sat Mar 27, 2021 7:11 pm
The worst partners tend to be whichever ones I get staffed with against my will.
Related to this comment, I was at a firm that recruited mid-levels very heavily for a specific group. Why was that group always hiring mid-levels? The two partners that headed it were nuts, and no one lasted more than a year or two in it.
To this point, it’s always worthwhile to see how many homegrown associates are in a certain group. Take Skadden cap markets for example — when I left, they had like 2 (maybe?) homegrown associates who were fifth years or senior. Their entire mid/senior cohort were laterals because all their juniors quit by fourth year.
Eh, it's also just natural biglaw attrition. Between going in house or relocating, most associates who start as 1st years are no longer at the firm by years 5 or 6. I don't know many people at their original firms, mostly because they moved or went in house.

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Anonymous User
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Re: Which partners at your firms are notoriously terrible to work for?

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Mar 29, 2021 3:43 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Mar 29, 2021 2:35 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Mar 29, 2021 12:44 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Thu Mar 25, 2021 1:07 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Mar 15, 2021 10:51 am
On a hellish matter with a hellish partner at my V10 and it's driving me up the wall. Commiserate with me.
relative lack of comments on DC is intriguing...
Would also be interested to hear of any in DC.
Also interested in DC
I don’t know of any truly awful partners at Covington DC. Plenty of people are kind of annoying, but everyone Ive worked with is respectful and mostly reasonable (for Biglaw). The person I’ve disliked working for the most is Mythili Raman, but she’s not a screamer or anything, just unnecessarily demanding and obsessed with (imo) pointless details, eg, typos in internal interview memos.

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Re: Which partners at your firms are notoriously terrible to work for?

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Mar 29, 2021 5:53 pm

Anyone to avoid at A&P's DC office?


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Re: Which partners at your firms are notoriously terrible to work for?

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Mar 30, 2021 9:00 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Mar 29, 2021 3:43 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Mar 29, 2021 2:35 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Mar 29, 2021 12:44 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Thu Mar 25, 2021 1:07 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Mar 15, 2021 10:51 am
On a hellish matter with a hellish partner at my V10 and it's driving me up the wall. Commiserate with me.
relative lack of comments on DC is intriguing...
Would also be interested to hear of any in DC.
Also interested in DC
I don’t know of any truly awful partners at Covington DC. Plenty of people are kind of annoying, but everyone Ive worked with is respectful and mostly reasonable (for Biglaw). The person I’ve disliked working for the most is Mythili Raman, but she’s not a screamer or anything, just unnecessarily demanding and obsessed with (imo) pointless details, eg, typos in internal interview memos.
Litigation partner who posted earlier in the thread. For what it's worth, most of the especially difficult people I have worked for/with have been former government lawyers. Again, most are not screamers, but there is a tendency among them to be overly aggressive, pick unnecessary fights, get mad about things that don't matter, etc.

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Anonymous User
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Re: Which partners at your firms are notoriously terrible to work for?

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Mar 31, 2021 8:41 am

Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Mar 29, 2021 2:17 pm
There is a specific partner in Kramer Levin's finance group who is notoriously awful, which is known throughout the firm. Has driven out half the practice. He shall remain nameless, but will say that they were initially a Cahill partner, for those who wish to know.
I believe I have worked across this particular partner before and agree with "notoriously awful".

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Re: Which partners at your firms are notoriously terrible to work for?

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Mar 31, 2021 10:57 am

Sackboy wrote:
Wed Mar 17, 2021 12:08 am
Anonymous User wrote:
Tue Mar 16, 2021 11:24 pm
David Marriott from Cravath is also as notorious as others I believe.
Not quite what I expected from a Mormon
IMO - you can generally count on an associate who is a mormon generally being good to work with (or for, if they are more senior). As far as partners go, a partner being mormon is basically a non-indicator of how they are to work with/for.

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Re: Which partners at your firms are notoriously terrible to work for?

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Mar 31, 2021 11:04 am

Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Mar 19, 2021 12:17 am
Any horror stories from Texas firms? By and large, the homegrown firms still seem to pitch the "this is kinder, gentler Biglaw" spiel, even though no one buys that anymore. I am curious if there are any particularly tyrannical folks in Houston/Dallas/Austin.
As far as K&E TX, I'm not sure I would say any share partners are particularly terrible (there are some worse or more demanding than others, and there are plenty of NSPs who are terrible) other than the big guy himself, but I don't really hear of anyone working for him anymore as he is busy just making it rain, so that is kind of moot. I almost feel bad saying this because I think the guy clearly has a serious mental illness, but RVS is notoriously annoying to work for.

Anonymous User
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Re: Which partners at your firms are notoriously terrible to work for?

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Mar 31, 2021 1:24 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Tue Mar 30, 2021 9:00 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Mar 29, 2021 3:43 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Mar 29, 2021 2:35 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Mar 29, 2021 12:44 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Thu Mar 25, 2021 1:07 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Mon Mar 15, 2021 10:51 am
On a hellish matter with a hellish partner at my V10 and it's driving me up the wall. Commiserate with me.
relative lack of comments on DC is intriguing...
Would also be interested to hear of any in DC.
Also interested in DC
I don’t know of any truly awful partners at Covington DC. Plenty of people are kind of annoying, but everyone Ive worked with is respectful and mostly reasonable (for Biglaw). The person I’ve disliked working for the most is Mythili Raman, but she’s not a screamer or anything, just unnecessarily demanding and obsessed with (imo) pointless details, eg, typos in internal interview memos.
Litigation partner who posted earlier in the thread. For what it's worth, most of the especially difficult people I have worked for/with have been former government lawyers. Again, most are not screamers, but there is a tendency among them to be overly aggressive, pick unnecessary fights, get mad about things that don't matter, etc.
That's funny, because I work for BigFed right now, and these last two posts describe my supervisor to a tee. Except my supervisor is also sort of a screamer, to boot. I've seen my supervisor get into a shouting match with an IT manager here because he was having trouble setting up internet in one of our conference rooms for a big meeting. Like shouting in his face in front of everyone in the meeting. Also shouts at opposing counsel during depositions over objection disputes.

Oh well, at least I don't have Biglaw hours.

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Anonymous User
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Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

Re: Which partners at your firms are notoriously terrible to work for?

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Mar 31, 2021 1:37 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Wed Mar 31, 2021 11:04 am
Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Mar 19, 2021 12:17 am
Any horror stories from Texas firms? By and large, the homegrown firms still seem to pitch the "this is kinder, gentler Biglaw" spiel, even though no one buys that anymore. I am curious if there are any particularly tyrannical folks in Houston/Dallas/Austin.
As far as K&E TX, I'm not sure I would say any share partners are particularly terrible (there are some worse or more demanding than others, and there are plenty of NSPs who are terrible) other than the big guy himself, but I don't really hear of anyone working for him anymore as he is busy just making it rain, so that is kind of moot. I almost feel bad saying this because I think the guy clearly has a serious mental illness, but RVS is notoriously annoying to work for.
Who is "the big guy," and please expand on this mental illness thing

Anonymous User
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Re: Which partners at your firms are notoriously terrible to work for?

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Mar 31, 2021 2:07 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Wed Mar 31, 2021 10:57 am
Sackboy wrote:
Wed Mar 17, 2021 12:08 am
Anonymous User wrote:
Tue Mar 16, 2021 11:24 pm
David Marriott from Cravath is also as notorious as others I believe.
Not quite what I expected from a Mormon
IMO - you can generally count on an associate who is a mormon generally being good to work with (or for, if they are more senior). As far as partners go, a partner being mormon is basically a non-indicator of how they are to work with/for.
Is he related to the hotel Marriotts or is this just a common name among mormons?

Anonymous User
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Re: Which partners at your firms are notoriously terrible to work for?

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Mar 31, 2021 5:46 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Wed Mar 31, 2021 10:57 am
Sackboy wrote:
Wed Mar 17, 2021 12:08 am
Anonymous User wrote:
Tue Mar 16, 2021 11:24 pm
David Marriott from Cravath is also as notorious as others I believe.
Not quite what I expected from a Mormon
IMO - you can generally count on an associate who is a mormon generally being good to work with (or for, if they are more senior). As far as partners go, a partner being mormon is basically a non-indicator of how they are to work with/for.
That would make some sense, Mormons are generally family-oriented, so it makes sense that they tend to be reasonable on hours, etc., but it's hard to make partner if you ever see your kids, so Mormon partners at major firms are anomalies who probably don't reflect the general trend among them.

Anonymous User
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Re: Which partners at your firms are notoriously terrible to work for?

Post by Anonymous User » Thu Apr 01, 2021 11:22 am

Anonymous User wrote:
Tue Mar 30, 2021 9:00 pm
Litigation partner who posted earlier in the thread. For what it's worth, most of the especially difficult people I have worked for/with have been former government lawyers. Again, most are not screamers, but there is a tendency among them to be overly aggressive, pick unnecessary fights, get mad about things that don't matter, etc.
This. I also find there’s a weird culture of pretending to be “cool” and not like “normal” stuffy biglaw partners, and so much name-dropping of where people that we encounter used to work in the govt and what case(s) the partner knows them from. Some of them are also sloppy with the facts in a way that drives me crazy - lots of partners aren’t in the weeds, which makes sense, but the government lawyers are often the ones confidently spouting off wrong facts in a meeting rather than deferring to the associate or saying they’ll circle back on whatever the question is, resulting in me needing to debate with myself about whether the mistake is material enough that I need to risk their ire by interrupting to correct them in front of the client/opposing counsel/govt.

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Anonymous User
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Re: Which partners at your firms are notoriously terrible to work for?

Post by Anonymous User » Thu Apr 01, 2021 3:23 pm

Anyone have any insight into the three PE partners that jumped from Kirkland to Gibson recently in SF? I noticed they didn't take any associates with them which seems like a bad sign.

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Re: Which partners at your firms are notoriously terrible to work for?

Post by Anonymous User » Thu Apr 01, 2021 4:30 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Thu Apr 01, 2021 3:23 pm
Anyone have any insight into the three PE partners that jumped from Kirkland to Gibson recently in SF? I noticed they didn't take any associates with them which seems like a bad sign.
I had a limited interaction with AJ once and he seems like a dick. I can't speak to the others.

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Re: Which partners at your firms are notoriously terrible to work for?

Post by Anonymous User » Thu Apr 01, 2021 4:32 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Wed Mar 31, 2021 11:04 am
Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Mar 19, 2021 12:17 am
Any horror stories from Texas firms? By and large, the homegrown firms still seem to pitch the "this is kinder, gentler Biglaw" spiel, even though no one buys that anymore. I am curious if there are any particularly tyrannical folks in Houston/Dallas/Austin.
As far as K&E TX, I'm not sure I would say any share partners are particularly terrible (there are some worse or more demanding than others, and there are plenty of NSPs who are terrible) other than the big guy himself, but I don't really hear of anyone working for him anymore as he is busy just making it rain, so that is kind of moot. I almost feel bad saying this because I think the guy clearly has a serious mental illness, but RVS is notoriously annoying to work for.
At K&E Chi, there is a notorious corporate NSP who shares the initials of a Colombian guerrilla group. Stay away.

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Re: Which partners at your firms are notoriously terrible to work for?

Post by Anonymous User » Thu Apr 01, 2021 4:51 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Wed Mar 31, 2021 1:37 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Wed Mar 31, 2021 11:04 am
Anonymous User wrote:
Fri Mar 19, 2021 12:17 am
Any horror stories from Texas firms? By and large, the homegrown firms still seem to pitch the "this is kinder, gentler Biglaw" spiel, even though no one buys that anymore. I am curious if there are any particularly tyrannical folks in Houston/Dallas/Austin.
As far as K&E TX, I'm not sure I would say any share partners are particularly terrible (there are some worse or more demanding than others, and there are plenty of NSPs who are terrible) other than the big guy himself, but I don't really hear of anyone working for him anymore as he is busy just making it rain, so that is kind of moot. I almost feel bad saying this because I think the guy clearly has a serious mental illness, but RVS is notoriously annoying to work for.
Who is "the big guy," and please expand on this mental illness thing
For anyone else here who's googling all these people but doesn't want to spend the 3 minutes I just spent on the K&E website, RVS would appear to be Rhett Van Syoc

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Re: Which partners at your firms are notoriously terrible to work for?

Post by lolwutpar » Thu Apr 01, 2021 5:09 pm

hurr durr i'm not going to name the person but here's everything you need to know to find them

fucking just as bad as the creative writers on reddit who make up their revenge stories from their shitty retail jobs as they impotently seethe at some perceived slight while serving Karen her big mac - "I'M NOT GOING TO SAY WHERE I WORK BUT IT'S A FAST FOOD CHAIN WITH GOLDEN ARCHES AREN'T I SO CLEVER"

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Re: Which partners at your firms are notoriously terrible to work for?

Post by Anonymous User » Thu Apr 01, 2021 5:48 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Thu Apr 01, 2021 11:22 am
Anonymous User wrote:
Tue Mar 30, 2021 9:00 pm
Litigation partner who posted earlier in the thread. For what it's worth, most of the especially difficult people I have worked for/with have been former government lawyers. Again, most are not screamers, but there is a tendency among them to be overly aggressive, pick unnecessary fights, get mad about things that don't matter, etc.
This. I also find there’s a weird culture of pretending to be “cool” and not like “normal” stuffy biglaw partners, and so much name-dropping of where people that we encounter used to work in the govt and what case(s) the partner knows them from. Some of them are also sloppy with the facts in a way that drives me crazy - lots of partners aren’t in the weeds, which makes sense, but the government lawyers are often the ones confidently spouting off wrong facts in a meeting rather than deferring to the associate or saying they’ll circle back on whatever the question is, resulting in me needing to debate with myself about whether the mistake is material enough that I need to risk their ire by interrupting to correct them in front of the client/opposing counsel/govt.
Being a gov lawyer at any level (whether at a local prosecutor or at DOJ) gives you bad lawyer habits imo. You simply will never have the impetus to win that non-government lawyers have, since you don’t really have a client. You also develop shitty habits from the power imbalance that the government has in court, where every card is stacked in your favor (doesn’t apply universally, but often enough a judge is absurdly solicitous of the government in a way that would never happen for a private litigant).

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Re: Which partners at your firms are notoriously terrible to work for?

Post by Anonymous User » Thu Apr 01, 2021 6:24 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Thu Apr 01, 2021 5:48 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Thu Apr 01, 2021 11:22 am
Anonymous User wrote:
Tue Mar 30, 2021 9:00 pm
Litigation partner who posted earlier in the thread. For what it's worth, most of the especially difficult people I have worked for/with have been former government lawyers. Again, most are not screamers, but there is a tendency among them to be overly aggressive, pick unnecessary fights, get mad about things that don't matter, etc.
This. I also find there’s a weird culture of pretending to be “cool” and not like “normal” stuffy biglaw partners, and so much name-dropping of where people that we encounter used to work in the govt and what case(s) the partner knows them from. Some of them are also sloppy with the facts in a way that drives me crazy - lots of partners aren’t in the weeds, which makes sense, but the government lawyers are often the ones confidently spouting off wrong facts in a meeting rather than deferring to the associate or saying they’ll circle back on whatever the question is, resulting in me needing to debate with myself about whether the mistake is material enough that I need to risk their ire by interrupting to correct them in front of the client/opposing counsel/govt.
Being a gov lawyer at any level (whether at a local prosecutor or at DOJ) gives you bad lawyer habits imo. You simply will never have the impetus to win that non-government lawyers have, since you don’t really have a client. You also develop shitty habits from the power imbalance that the government has in court, where every card is stacked in your favor (doesn’t apply universally, but often enough a judge is absurdly solicitous of the government in a way that would never happen for a private litigant).
As someone who moved from private practice (albeit at a plaintiff's firm) to BigFed, I find just the opposite to be true. Since you have the resources of the federal government at your disposal, judges expect far more out of you. Also, some judges have a political agenda, and are just looking to punish the government for anything they can think of, fair or unfair. The impetus to win is there, since if the federal (and even most times state) government loses, it usually generates headlines, and you get publicly shamed and screamed at by your supervisors as a result (whereas if a private plaintiff loses, no one cares).

I agree with all the other criticisms of government attorneys in general, though: obsessed with picking small, meaningless fights, obsessed with meaningless details, getting the big things like the facts wrong, etc. It doesn't make sense, since it should be a pretty chill job that attracts calmer personalities. You don't have to worry about stuff like getting laid off due to lack of business, billing hours, working through the weekend, etc.

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Re: Which partners at your firms are notoriously terrible to work for?

Post by Anonymous User » Thu Apr 01, 2021 6:30 pm

Less chit chat, more naming & shaming

Seriously? What are you waiting for?

Now there's a charge.
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