Do good reviews mean anything? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Background: I'm in the lit dept of an NYC v20 firm that prides itself on its culture. Going into my second year / graduated from UVA/Duke/Penn.

I've gotten pretty good reviews so far (my partner advisor was especially effusive when reading them to me), yet they don't seem to track with the experience I'm having at the firm. I don't have any mentors, people aren't reaching out to work with me, the assignments I get are non-substantive, and the matters I get staffed on are comparatively awful compared to the work the other associates in my year get (i.e., it really feels like I'm on the "B Team").

Is the firm just paving the way to show me the door after two years? Are the good reviews just a way of avoiding any awkwardness? Feel like I'm missing something, or maybe the answer is as obvious as: good reviews mean absolutely nothing.

[Res Ipsa Loquitter]

Occam's Razor suggests the firm is just badly managed. Reviews are good, so work should be getting sent your way, but that requires common sense and proper management.

[Anonymous User]

The prototypical review dilemma. On the one hand, imposter syndrome. On the other, we all know reviews for juniors are fluff because they don't want to discourage us enough to leave before we're profitable. What to do?

The problem is this is highly firm dependent. For example, I know K&E reserves high ratings for seniors, so everyone ends up as average. But here are some thoughts from my V20 (which I know is handing out reviews right now, so perhaps we're at the same place):

If you're worried about getting pushed out, chances are you're fine if your reviews are good. Of course some firms trim the fat and cut people with perfectly fine reviews, but that's less common unless we enter a recession. You're unlikely to get a surprise boot with no hint in your review or a significant downturn in business. Think about it - are all of these people who reviewed you going to collude to paint an unduly rosy picture of your performance just so they don't have to deal with the awkwardness before they push you out in a few months? I think not. Was there any constructive criticism? If that seems minor, then just follow up on it and you should be fine.

If you're trying to figure out if you're actually great, or just good, then look for superlatives. I asked my partner mentor point blank what it means to have a good review as compared with my peers, and he said while it's common to hear words like "great" and the like, it's less common to get things like "rockstar" or "one of the best." That doesn't mean you're performing poorly if you get a lot of "greats" - it just means that you're not stand-out great.

Again, YMMV depending on your firm.

[Anonymous User]

I'm a midlevel at a V20, also with a reputation for having a "good culture" (maybe the same firm as OP). My impression is that reviews do not mean very much until you are several years in (like 5th year+). And the reason your reviews don't track with your experience is probably that partners and professional staff are very bad at helping juniors succeed. If you want anything, you have to be proactive about it.