Q I’m a fairly new but older associate in a large firm. I’m also a recovering alcoholic Mormon. Recently, a well-positioned partner invited me and my wife to a small holiday dinner party (“intimate and casual” are the words he used). He’s probably not aware I’m in the program but likely knows I’m Mormon and don’t drink. I’m sure most of the guests plan to bring a bottle of wine as a small gift for the host—there are at least two other partners and their SO’s coming.
I’m wondering if you have suggestions for a non-alcoholic appropriate gift. And what to say to others present when the subject of a drink comes up. Mormon? Recovering alcoholic? A simple “no thanks.”
Keep Reading ⇒
QI’m a new lawyer who has been doing contract document review work for about 18 months. While the assignments can be miserable (usually related to whether I can use my iPod or not), there are some that are more bearable than others. Typically, the more bearable projects are run by shops that treat us like humans, professionals even.
The miserable assignments get my goat, the ones that make me check my phone at the front desk, overly restrict billing time, and create working conditions that are unbearable—literally a sweat shop in some airless basement in a warehouse or office building. Believe me, there are working conditions for doc review that rival those of Chinese factories. And yet we keep coming back.
Keep Reading ⇒
Q.I have what you may think of as a trivial issue but one that bothers me quite a bit. A partner in my firm smokes. No big deal. But, he often insists that I accompany him on smoke breaks, for what he calls “shop talk.” So, for the last year or so, about every third day, I find myself down in the office building’s “smoke hut” with a bunch of smokers, talking shop while the partner smokes.
Keep Reading ⇒
QI’ve been an associate at a New York area law firm since September. It’s a small firm that uses per diem attorneys for a lot of stuff, and associates like me do the bulk of the prep work for trials or hearings. Anyway, I’m less than a year out, knew the job market sucked, so took whatever I could find that was in the legal profession. I’m making $32,000 per year but did get a bonus of $600 last Fall when I passed the bar. I actually like the work and the hours are pretty regular. In other words, I’m out of the office by six each day and have yet to work a weekend. I guess that’s the upside.
But I’m underwater financially, with more than $160,000 in student loans. I live with my parents, which keeps costs down, but still need to make more so I can at least start the long road of repaying my loans and becoming a responsible citizen.
My question: I want to ask for a raise. Should I do it now or wait? And what’s best, a percentage request or a specific dollar amount?
Keep Reading ⇒
QI recently had to put my dog down. He was suffering and it was the humane thing to do. He had been with me for the last twelve years, through law school (I’d sneak him into the library on occasion), through a two-year job search, and finally at my side as I navigated the hellish time-suck of my current job at a mid-size law firm.
Actually, at my side is a tad generous toward me, as I often had to hack up my schedule or hire someone to walk him some days, as I could not consistently get away from the office at the end of the day. Yeah, I felt guilt, which is why in the last year as he was declining I spent a lot more time with him and promised I’d make his final days easier.
Keep Reading ⇒
QI came across your site late one night while waiting for my wife to get home from work, and I thought, what the hell, why not ask for some advice? But I’m not a lawyer. I married one. We’ve been married 7 years, which predates law school but not by much. In other words, I married her supposedly knowing what I was getting into.
Or did I? Sure, I learned quickly not to offer vague answers to questions or inquiries, and we can joke about that—e.g., try answering “not really” to a lawyer and see what you get. But I’m not talking word games. I’m talking the larger life issues of being married to a workaholic lawyer.
Keep Reading ⇒
QI am a senior associate (9 years) at BigLaw, predominantly in M&A and cross-border transactions. The lowdown is, I am fairly successful, hailing from a family of lawyers. I graduated from an Ivy League college, made Law Review, declined an offer from the firm where my family holds the reigns, and secured a position at this firm on my own steam.
Today I am second in command to the partner in charge of the department. Our clients respect me, compliments me when they are teleconferencing with other partners, and I bill like crazy, meeting my targets, if not exceeding them.
The gist of it all is that I know the law and I know my (our) clients. But I am not liked by my colleagues or staff.
Keep Reading ⇒
QI’m six years into my hellish gig as a big firm associate. I’ve basically worked my ass off, watched as annual bonuses dried up and disappeared, and have allowed the firm to manage my life—as just one example, I’ve have had four (4!) long-planned vacations cancelled over the years because of “last-minute work assignments.” Which were bullshit assignments, it always turned out.
It’s approaching summer and I’ve come to a beautiful dual realization: 1) I have enough cash in the bank to live and travel, although frugally, for more than two years; and 2) I need to get the hell out of this job and completely out of the life-suck known as big law. Basically, I’ve arrived at a karma moment in my career and only need a short bit of advice on two things:
- Should I quit my job in grand style?
- If I do, what should I do (or not do) to make a lasting impression?
Keep Reading ⇒
QFirst of all, I actually read your column but mostly for the occasional humor and to hear about situations that lawyers get themselves into. But I don’t read it for advice because I’m what you call a happy lawyer. I like what I do, love the practice of law (family law mostly), and enjoy working with my colleagues. Plus, I get paid fairly well in my market.
No, I’m not fresh out of school and, yes, I have student loan debt, plenty of it. But I’m happy because I wanted to be a lawyer and am now a lawyer and loving it for three reasons: 1) it’s challenging; 2) I like solving problems; and 3) people respect me. So, my question: why aren’t you happy? Or, maybe put it this way: what makes lawyers so unhappy?
Keep Reading ⇒
QI’m finishing up my second year at Harvard. Thing is, I’m at the likely dead bottom of my class. Rather than doing a lot of studying, I’d spend time at a Red Sox game or hang out reading at various coffee shops and other places (museums and such). Now I’m at the bottom and wondering if I should stick it out and see what happens or give up the quest and move on to something else. Advice?
Keep Reading ⇒
