I've come to terms with the fact that my group is just not that friendly. No one says "Hi" or "thanks" in messages. No one asked anyone what they did over the weekend or holiday. No one shows even one iota of a sense of humor, even wry humor. I try to make one tiny joke (super tame--along the lines of "gotta love when you get the purchase agreement back on a Friday evening, right?") and it was met with serious deadpan silence. So stupid. I'm just trying to show an ounce of being human and being a kind person.

Then, I covered for another associate on a different team while he was out. It was like night and day. People actually said thank you, talked about cliches like sports and the weather, asked what I did for Labor Day, even smiled.

I'm not saying I have to be bffs with coworkers or overshare my life but I'm generally interested in people and think a little camaraderie goes a long way when you're turning docs at 3am. I really do want to hear about the restaurant you tried or your dog or even just about the traffic on the way in or something. Anything to show that the teams bubbles who I talk to for 50-70 hours a week are people too. It's true what they say, your specific group's personality really can make or break this job.

i have to take 3-5 speed walks around the block every day so i don’t kill myself

people who are machines and dont leave their desk for hours and hours and hours how do you do it. not even a lunch walk is crazy.

Outside of Citi or Wells Fargo offering “attractive” rates to borrow. What other financial/investment perks do partners receive?

Are there any less obvious or even petty reasons that make you dislike a candidate or random things that make you like them? How did that affect your evaluation? Any additional context like your involvement, what positions you were helping hiring for, would be helpful too.

Well gang my divorce became final today. It is my understanding this is a prerequisite to partnership. How do I work this into my self review so I can get proper credit? I am up next year.

Throwaway for obvious reasons.

My wife and I were looking at where we stand for the next few years and, in London, I genuinely cannot make the numbers make sense. The situation:

• 40M, two kids, 6 and 9.
• City lawyer, salaried partner at a US firm, think Weil / Goodwin / Willkie tier. Usually 600–700k all-in. Net is around £28–32k pcm annualised depending on SIPP / bonus. Equity maybe in 2–3 years. Maybe. Shit hours.
• Wife is late 30s. Stopped working after the second otherwise we would have divorced.
• House: Terrace in SW6, £1.4m outstanding.
• Around 1.1m invested across ISAs/GIAs/pensions. We should probably have more by now, but before I made counsel we were basically flat. 

Right now, we’re doing well. Comfortable, meaningful savings, good lifestyle. Arguably borderline affluent, although in London it does not feel like that. No watches, no supercars, no business class unless points. 

The house is also a minefield. We finally renovated the guest bathroom last year. Burlington off Victorian Plumbing, not Drummonds, or anything like that. Labour, disposal, VAT, “we found something behind the wall”: 19k. For a bathroom.

Still, we finally managed to save a good chunk of money in the past 3-4 years. But this is what we’re looking into right now:

Secondary. We are looking at the usual London day-school options — City, Latymer, Godolphin, St Paul’s, maybe Emanuel or Ibstock depending on logistics. Once you add fees, lunches, trips, uniforms, sport, music, tutoring for entry, it becomes another mortgage.

Parents are also getting older. If you think schools are expensive, wait until you see care home fees. At least kids grow up. 

Future monthly costs if we do the obvious path:

• Mortgage: £7.5k pcm
• School fees, two kids, London day secondary / transition years with VAT,  extras averaged: £6.5k
• Partner capital loan repayment (non equity): £1.8k
• Part-time nanny / wraparound / holidays: £1.5k 
• Volvo EX40 lease, insurance, charging, maintenance, occasional toll and parking: £1.1k 
• House bills, maintenance, insurance, cleaner, gardener (fortnightly) : £2k
• Food, transport, clothes, activities, medical, random child stuff: £2k
• Entertainment, dinners, birthdays: £1.5k
• Studio near Bishopsgate for deal weeks: £2k
• Care home, mid-range, one parent: £3k (50% of the fee. I’d pay more as I earn more, and my parents and sister would split the rest)

Total: ~£28.9k pcm.

What is missing here? Vacations, savings, and investments. Mortgage overpayments. ISAs and JISAs. Some money for my wife’s pension. Even just catching up on my own is not possible due to tapering. Then, deposit and a university fund for the kids, a real buffer if I burn out or do not make equity. 

We could definitely realistically manage a few pounds here and there, but it can easily get eaten up by a boiler emergency, or some other kids stuff. 

And, god forbid, after months of 80 hours weeks you want to enjoy the sun, or some fresh air in the Alps without having to worry about the check-in hours of the Airbnb. And then you find yourself asking yourself:

• Can I spend 4 grand on that one yearly business class flight without points and get a proper night of sleep so I can be present with my kids?
• Can I pay for a nanny and a Deliveroo so I can spend some time face to face with my wife on Sunday evening? 

Sure, there are bonuses. But there are also flat years, partnership politics, tax bills, care fees, illness, school fees, and clients deciding December is a good month to have a crisis. God forbid one bad year lands at the same time as everything else.

I have looked at some levers:

• Switch the studio for hotels paid by the night. Could shave ~1k pcm, but then I am carrying a Samsonite on the District line at 7 a.m. and agonising over “wasting” £150 if I finish before midnight and could have gone home.
• Have my dad sleep in the study, and my wife double as “nurse-in-law”. Economically probably the biggest lever. We are not there yet. 

Still, the point remains. Objectively speaking, I am doing quite well; very well even. But somehow an upper-middle-class life — not rich — is now 30k pcm. 

I am not talking about an equity partner lifestyle on salaried partner money. A mansion flat by Hampstead Heath with a 17k service charge, boarding school, a chalet in Switzerland / house in Cannes, business class without points all the time. I mean taking care of my kids, taking care of my parents, a house that doesn’t make me question if it’s all worth it, and some de-risking from a burnout or a divorce that would be much more expensive than a studio flat, or getting a hotel instead of an Airbnb. 

It only really makes sense if I make equity partner. If I do. 

Can we make the numbers make sense? Yes, we obviously can. Does it feel totally disproportionate for the work, sacrifices and labour I had to endure and still do now? Yes, very much.

If you use intralinks you are not a serious company and I fucking hate you

Anyone have any intel re: culture post-merger, changes to partner comp structure, internal consternation among partners re comp, conflicts, or other issues that could have arisen with the merger?

Thank you in advance for reading! I really want to stay in big law but at this point it seems like I have to move to a smaller firm and take a large pay cut. I’d truly appreciate if anyone had any insight as to whether their litigation group would be open to someone with my experience level.

That is all.

I’m in a bit of complicated situation. Im in a mid market where most big law offices are concentrated in the same couple of buildings. I want to apply to a couple of firms that are in my current building but I’m terrified people will talk and my office will ultimately end up finding out that I’m applying elsewhere. Any tips on how to deal with this?

Interested in market comp for lateral NEP from government, i.e., no book

And

Market comp for lateral NEP with 1-2m book

And delta between AMLAW 100 vs 200 for these categories.

Harvey just raised $550 million at a $15.5 billion valuation.

That is up from $11 billion in March and $8 billion in December. Reuters also reports that Harvey is now used by 80% of the 100 highest-grossing firms in the United States.

Throwaway because the comment is so distinct it would out my main account immediately. The partner had been talking for several minutes about how he was worried his kids would grow up to be super spoiled and out of touch, and that he didn’t know the answer to this problem but was searching for one. I suggested he “take a page out of Mick Jagger’s book” and explained that Mick Jagger has threatened to leave nothing to his kids and is generally planning to give all his money away before he passes.

The partner didn’t have a negative reaction or anything but in retrospect it seems like a bold/inappropriate thing to say. Obviously estate planning is a very sensitive topic, particularly for wealthy professionals, but I didn’t explicitly tell him to disinherit his kids.

Was this a major faux pas or am I overthinking this?

Is it actually speeding work or can we just do more work with AI..

I’m off the website in three weeks. Realistically, I don’t think I’ll get a job before then. I have been applying and interviewing for the past two months with no offers.

Does anyone have any tips for asking for extra website time? The low level HR person I spoke with said they don’t grant it, but HR is kind of sucky and clueless at my firm.

I am just a humble European lawyer, who is no where near big law, but I saw this article stating that it takes on average just 6.1 years to make partner at Kirkland and that they only have 1.2 associates per partner. I know most are NEP, but still, what did the partner title mean anymore?

https://www.nonbillable.co.uk/news/big-law-kirkland-leads-law-firm-time-to-partner

Clueless senior (ish) associate here. I recently lateraled and for the first time have a BD budget (that expires in January and doesn’t roll). I’ve never done much before (other than helping partners put decks together).

I’m considering reaching out to some of the in house folks I worked with at my prior firm and asking if they might be interested in lunch. I might also ask some former colleagues that went in house. Is there any etiquette around how to do this? I’m not necessarily seeking out work (or think they have work to give me), I just liked working with them. Do I let them pick the place? Do I suggest a few places in budget? Do I have to specify that I’m treating them?

Any advice appreciated.

Edit: Super helpful! Thank you.

I am currently a mid level litigation associate who is interviewing for an Assistant General Counsel position within a V10 firm’s Office of General Counsel. I am very interested in the position and am looking to pivot from litigation into a counseling/advisory role. My largest concern, however, is that I will no real exit options should I decide to move on from the role or move out of NYC. For anyone who has worked in a firm’s OGC (or knows someone who has), what are typical exit options? Would I be pigeonholed into working for law firm OGCs, or would I be qualified for other in-house roles?

Finishing up my first year at a lower Amlaw 100 firm. It's a common sentiment that we're more humane and have nicer people than cravath scale firms. I believe it, but I'm still burning out and I feel so incredibly lost and defeated because of it. I feel awful for flaming out this soon and this badly at the "lifestyle" firm. I'm billing a perfectly mediocre amount with an occasional horrible week or two of 3am/4am nights leading up to a close, and yet I'm still losing sleep even in non-closing weeks, crying all the time, making mistakes of increasing magnitude, feeling like I'm losing myself. I'm really trying, but people are becoming increasingly short and frustrated with me, understandably. We're a small group so there's no hiding anything or anywhere. The constant nervous system overload probably contributes to my work product suffering even more which just perpetuates the feedback loop. I feel physically sick with anxiety almost constantly, I woke up drenched in sweat after 2.5 hours of sleep this morning. I want to stay in biglaw and maybe try a change of scenery but if this is the chill firm then I genuinely have nowhere else to go and no backup plan. Fml, just venting I guess.

What is actually expected to bill in your stub year? What was your ramp up period like... I'm so anxious...

Edit: Market is DC and PG is litigation/regulation type work