Clerking after two years of BIGLAW Forum

[DELG]

lol @ firms saying with a straight face they are cutting your seniority to give them more time to evaluate you for partnership

Fair. But my old firm had a lockstep class year evaluation schedule. No one got "the talk" until the end of their sixth year (and typically didn't get the boot until at least end of seventh).

People still stay til year 7 to get some sort of "talk"?

[exitoptions]

lol @ firms saying with a straight face they are cutting your seniority to give them more time to evaluate you for partnership

Seriously. First, no one makes partner, and second, it's absurd to think that they would push out someone they thought would make partner just because they lack suffiecient "time to evaluate you." This is a business. If you make them money they'll keep you.

[84651846190]

lol @ firms saying with a straight face they are cutting your seniority to give them more time to evaluate you for partnership

Seriously. First, no one makes partner, and second, it's absurd to think that they would push out someone they thought would make partner just because they lack suffiecient "time to evaluate you." This is a business. If you make them money they'll keep you.

The key point you are missing is that they can make even MORE money by paying someone junior to you less money and billing them out at the same or similar rates, especially if that person is in cozy with a key client or bringing in new business (rare). I remember that it was absurd how much my firm billed me out at as a junior. It was very close to what midlevel and even senior associates were billed out at.

[exitoptions]

lol @ firms saying with a straight face they are cutting your seniority to give them more time to evaluate you for partnership

Seriously. First, no one makes partner, and second, it's absurd to think that they would push out someone they thought would make partner just because they lack suffiecient "time to evaluate you." This is a business. If you make them money they'll keep you.

The key point you are missing is that they can make even MORE money by paying someone junior to you less money and billing them out at the same or similar rates, especially if that person is in cozy with a key client or bringing in new business (rare). I remember that it was absurd how much my firm billed me out at as a junior. It was very close to what midlevel and even senior associates were billed out at.

That assumes that a senior associate has little value-add other than his billable rate. At the firm I was at, the seniors largely ran the cases. Partners still need to service clients, and junior associates aren't really going to do much of that. I agree that it is certainly possible that the firm will make more money from billing out a junior, but since they have no freaking clue what they are doing, the work product won't be worth anything without senior guidance.