First year. No work. Forum

[Anonymous User]

I am a first year (clerked) in the litigation group of a satellite office of a V100 firm in Houston/Dallas. I started work in January and attributed my low billable hours to being new/orientation/etc. It is now the middle of April and I quite literally have NO work. I send out emails to my teams every other day letting them know that I am available and need work--occasionally I will get a two hour or three hour project. At this point, I do not know what to do. (1) I am bored. (2) I am constantly worried about my hours and the effect that will have on my employment. (3) I want actual training/big law experience--At this point in my life I am young and single and actually want to work. The other associate who started with me (I clerked, so technically I am a class year above him) has some work from what I gather, but we are on different teams. The older associates are also busy. Short of speaking with the office managing partner, I cannot think of anything else to do in regards to my lack of work. My partner mentor has told me that the partners are aware of my situation and they know that I am actively trying to get work. I have gotten positive feedback on almost all of my work, so I do not think it is a competency problem. I was already planning on changing firms (for different reasons), but was hoping to stay at least a year to avoid having to pay back covid stipends. At this point, I am texting friends at other firms and seriously considering taking the hit on my resume of staying less than six months. I just do not know what to do.

*Anonymous because I do not want out myself, which would not be hard with previous posts.

[cavalier1138]

I know it's hard to listen to literally everyone telling you that this is normal, but it really is. This is certainly not a reason to lateral/accelerate lateraling. You're going to find these kinds of stops/starts in workflow during your first year at every firm.

[snehpets]

I mostly agree with the other comment. Having no work at all is a little less common in my experience, but having materially less work than more senior associates is definitely normal, and I can imagine the pandemic exacerbating the issue because usually what keeps teams from giving work to first years is that they’re not sufficiently up to speed on the facts and/or they don’t know how to do things, and both of these issues can be harder to address remotely (especially for people who refuse to use available technology).

[Anonymous User]

I billed around 1k my first year. Some groups/people are horrible about utilizing/training first years. It's normal.

[motojir]

I am a first year (clerked) in the litigation group of a satellite office of a V100 firm in Houston/Dallas. I started work in January and attributed my low billable hours to being new/orientation/etc. It is now the middle of April and I quite literally have NO work. I send out emails to my teams every other day letting them know that I am available and need work--occasionally I will get a two hour or three hour project. At this point, I do not know what to do. (1) I am bored. (2) I am constantly worried about my hours and the effect that will have on my employment. (3) I want actual training/big law experience--At this point in my life I am young and single and actually want to work. The other associate who started with me (I clerked, so technically I am a class year above him) has some work from what I gather, but we are on different teams. The older associates are also busy. Short of speaking with the office managing partner, I cannot think of anything else to do in regards to my lack of work. My partner mentor has told me that the partners are aware of my situation and they know that I am actively trying to get work. I have gotten positive feedback on almost all of my work, so I do not think it is a competency problem. I was already planning on changing firms (for different reasons), but was hoping to stay at least a year to avoid having to pay back covid stipends. At this point, I am texting friends at other firms and seriously considering taking the hit on my resume of staying less than six months. I just do not know what to do.

*Anonymous because I do not want out myself, which would not be hard with previous posts.

They wouldn't have hired you three months ago if they didn't have a need, and that need could be reserve staff for when they get more work.

[So_it_goes]

1) chill out; 2) enjoy it, maybe work on getting your personal life in order, go out with friend, date, etc., since it's hard to find time when you're billing 250 hours a month; 3) you're not going to get fired; 4) the work will come

[Anonymous User]

1) chill out; 2) enjoy it, maybe work on getting your personal life in order, go out with friend, date, etc., since it's hard to find time when you're billing 250 hours a month; 3) you're not going to get fired; 4) the work will come

I’ll take the contrary position here. I think you should evaluate whether the group you’re in is in a lull or whether it’s just not a group that’s reputable/has a steady flow of work.

I had the same issue as a first year. I was barely squeaking by every month getting hours by knocking on doors, doing pro bono, talking to other practice groups. Everyone said the same thing — “don’t worry, it’ll get busy.” I stayed for about two years then lateraled.

My old firm and my current firm are both major market vault ranked firms, but the practice group I was in at my old firm had a not so good reputation in the industry. We didn’t have major clients, we didn’t have a great success track record, so work was very choppy. I was under-utilized, not because I was a first year, but because seniors and even partners didn’t want to cannibalize the little work that was coming in the door. If you’re honest with yourself, you can probably figure out what the issue is. Either the firm you’re at, though well ranked and in a big market, just sucks at this kind of work, or for some reason, you just aren’t busy and it’s temporary.

[jotarokujo]

just take on some pro bono and enjoy the easy months. agreed if you want to find a relationship go out and do so, now's the best time. during law school it's hard to date, particularly if your school wasn't in a city, and during a clerkship you're only there for a year.

[whats an updog]

And so starts the cycle. Welcome to being unhappy when you don't have "enough" work and unhappy when you have "too much work."