Anonymous User wrote: ↑Sun Jun 12, 2022 9:10 am
SA at a v100 in a secondary market.
Associates in our office have been telling us not to worry about getting offers, and I appreciate that, but I'm wondering how far that goes. There are 2 other summers in my office, and they seem to be taking this idea and running with it: they're arriving late and leaving early without telling anyone; they're telling associates that they want particular summer events when no one is asking, and when our summer events have already been planned and organized in advance; they're turning down assignments when they're asked, even when they have 0 or 1 active assignments; they're saying that they're going to take days off regardless of what anyone at the firm says; and they aren't posting their relatively few assignments to our internal system (and we've been repeatedly instructed to do this).
The other SAs have started talking to me about how I'm doing too much, they're constantly reminding me that I don't need to worry about getting an offer, and now they're telling me that they're uncomfortable because I'm not arriving late/leaving early with them. I'm not gunning--I haven't asked for work at all, but I've been completing the assignments that are given to me, entering them in our internal system, and showing up/leaving on time.
I understand that we're all likely to get offers, but I do intend to work here after I graduate, and I don't want to be known as someone that is unreliable. At the same time, I don't want to alienate the other summers by acting differently. So far, I've just been keeping my head down and doing my thing, but should I change course at all? Am I overly concerned?
What entitled brats. Sure, you don't need to do much as a summer, but this is taking it to an extreme. I think you're right that they will get offers, but it doesn't bode well for these SA's reputation at the firm. There was one SA in my class who routinely prioritized summer lunches over real work, and that pissed off a number of attorneys that they had to work with after graduation. Hard to come back from that.
What do you mean by "other SAs have started talking to me"? Is it just these two? Or are others starting to join the two bad apples? If the former, then keep your sideways blinders on. Those two won't last at the firm, and their opinion doesn't matter. The firm is probably aware of what these two are doing, and will handle it how they want. If the later, then it's a bit harder. If it were me, I wouldn't change, but I'd try to be more stealth (e.g., talk less about assignments with them and more about your extravagant lunch plans).
If it gets worse (i.e., these and other summers ramp up the pressure), I'd consider politely raising the issue (without naming names) to recruiting (or whomever is in charge of the program) not to tattle on what they are doing, but instead to say that their behavior is having a negative impact on your experience as you try to meet and work with your future colleagues. If the firm was just going to ignore it because it seems isolated to a couple individuals, that might push them to do something about it.
Does your firm have mid-summer evals? Mine did and they were admittedly a joke. But I would think intentionally arriving late/leaving early and turning down assignments when you have no work would be something that would be raised at one of those.
Do you have an assigned associate mentor? They might have some helpful perspectives on this as well.
