Senior lit associates: What gets better / worse? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Would love to hear from some fifth and sixth year lit associates (esp white collar). Compared to your time as a first/second year associate, what’s better? What’s worse?

How has your outlook changed? Do you feel like you have more autonomy and control over your day?

[Anonymous User]

8th year in a v10. What gets better is that you are able to push some of the less desirable work down the chain and keep the work you prefer for yourself. Also in terms of drafting things, I find it is often easier to edit/reshape someone else's work product than to start out with a blank piece of paper.

What gets worse is that you are involved with/copied on everything. My inbox blows up and 80% of my day can be subsumed in calls and answering emails. It is also more pressure to feel like you are the last line of defense before something goes up to the partner (and sometimes directly to the client) for review. This may be self-imposed, but it also feels like more pressure because mistakes are tolerable, and often expected, at the junior level, but as a senior I feel like my mistakes are not as easily forgiven, and in the back of your head you're always worried how everything may ultimately affect your prospects for advancement.

[sleepyzombie]

Are you trying to make partner? If yes, what made you rule out something more chill like in-house/govt?

[Anonymous User]

8th year in a v10. What gets better is that you are able to push some of the less desirable work down the chain and keep the work you prefer for yourself. Also in terms of drafting things, I find it is often easier to edit/reshape someone else's work product than to start out with a blank piece of paper.

What gets worse is that you are involved with/copied on everything. My inbox blows up and 80% of my day can be subsumed in calls and answering emails. It is also more pressure to feel like you are the last line of defense before something goes up to the partner (and sometimes directly to the client) for review. This may be self-imposed, but it also feels like more pressure because mistakes are tolerable, and often expected, at the junior level, but as a senior I feel like my mistakes are not as easily forgiven, and in the back of your head you're always worried how everything may ultimately affect your prospects for advancement.

Agree with the above. Piggybacking on the pressure point, you're squarely in middle management, which means that you now have to manage both up (which you have been doing) and down (which you haven't). Mentoring is great most of the time (you really get what you put into it), but there are a select few juniors who are either not committed or don't have the mental horsepower, which in turn makes middle management a royal PITA.

Also, depending on the firm, you may also be more involved in budgeting/scoping/billing, which is always boring, and never as successful as you'd hoped.