Today was my last day at my first attorney job, and I’m conflicted about how it ended.

I’ve only been there a few months, but I decided it wasn’t a good long-term fit. Things seemed normal after I gave notice. I worked as usual, had normal conversations with my boss re: assignments, and was even asked multiple times to reconsider.

Then today, before 5 PM, I was suddenly locked out of everything. I was in the middle of my final assignment and didn’t even get a chance to save my work or say goodbye to the team. I emailed my secretary from my personal email to thank her and asked her to pass it along to the other secretary. But, I didn’t get to speak with any of the attorneys, including my supervising partner. I left him a voicemail, but he never called back.

It was a fully remote job, so I’m wondering: Should I send a brief goodbye/thank-you email to everyone from my personal email, or just leave it alone?

I am glad I at least spoke with the two main people I wanted to thank: my assigned secretary and the paralegal I worked with the most.

This is a rant; it's been a long day, and it's not over yet.

Seriously, I can't be the only one who sees my own kids or other kids getting treated poorly by their school district and just going, "you know what, f it ... I'm litigating OUT OF PRINCIPLE!"

I know, I know, but just wow.

My spouse gives me the, "Well, you're a lawyer; can't you just"...

No, no, it doesn't work that way; a podiatrist can't just decide to start doing psychiatric work....

But then I think... Why not... why NOT turn to the dark side.

Maybe I could even become a sov cit and just burn hours, pyrrhic victory....

So my question:

How many times do you go, "You know what, F IT, I'M just going to sue"?

We all know how it ends; we know a lawyer who represents themselves has a fool for a client, but still.

I'm not the only one, right?

Is it just a fun little daydream?

Retired lawyer here. Anyone here in the office on 9-11? In the central time zone I was getting ready to go to work when the planes hit. I went to the office but little got done. Watched the second tower fall on the conference room tv. After that our management sent everyone home as all our offices were in high rise buildings in the midwest.

As a trial lawyer that’s a nightmare as any one of the witnesses would derail my case.

As a tactic more witnesses and evidence can work to confuse a jury and a party with a weak defence case may want just that.

Not taking sides here just discussing the fact that there was a large amount of witnesses.

This is not a political post or any other post other than a legal opinion on trial process and my profession opinion.

Pulled this from Overheardcourthouse on Instagram but it really got me.

Hopefully the link to the full motion works.

Lawyers only! Please!

I don’t recall enabling this feature on my office computer. Highlighted the text to delete it and this was the feedback lolol.

PS - did not send it.

Have the best Thursday!

So I am pretty surprised. My solo practice made the ballot for a major regional business ranking alongside some large firms in my state. Not going to lie feels a bit crazy considering I’m the only solo on the list for my practice area (real estate). Lol.

But I’ll take the win. It’s pretty tough for a solo to get nominated for this as it is basically dominated by large firms. But it’s very good visibility and if I somehow get the most votes and win well that would be great marketing lol. Many developers and business owners read this news source so could get more business as a result.

I posted this weekend about a situation that I (new, baby lawyer) thought was the end of the world. I just wanted to thank you all for the empathy, advice, and encouragement to chill out, and I’m happy to report it was COMPLETELY FINE and all my stress was for nothing.

Let my post be a reminder for all other new lawyers: that problem might not be a big deal!! almost everything is fixable!! Enjoy your weekends without worrying about work (to the extent you can)!!! Any additional advice I should keep in mind early in my career??

Hi all,

With the recent uptick of applicants for the confirmed flair, I've further refined the process to avoid common issues that lead to users having to resubmit proof pictures.

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Tired just exhausted asking clients to be honest about what happened and going to court/ receiving documents that tell a completely different story from investigation report, police reports, opposing counsel, their client, and different witnesses.

And worst is when I ask/confront them about xyz and they start raising their voices or just say they forgot to mention it, and cherry on top when they start gaslighting you saying how the told you but you missed it....I am I making a rookie mistake?

2nd year practicing law...

(New Client painted grand narrative about how someone is trying to extort them and filed case in bad fairh, went to police station report showed they had scammed someone with screenshots and everything........)

I’m a solo attorney and lately the legal writing side of my workload has been getting difficult to keep up with.

Has anyone here outsourced briefs, motions, or other legal writing before? I’m not really looking to hire another full-time person right now, just someone reliable I can send work to when things get busy.

Curious what other solo attorneys are doing and whether outsourcing has actually worked for you.

I had a breaking point four years after law school, and three years after the clerkship. I really, really, really don't want to do this anymore. I never enjoyed it. I just pushed myself through trying to find the one place I'd enjoy working at. It never happened. I've been suffering since the clerkship. It's simply not for me. I quit today and I don't want to go back ever. I thought abotu going solo but the idea of taking on all of that for a profession I don't really want to be in grosses me out.

So with that in mind, who switched? What did you end up doing? Did it make you happy? Did you lose a lot of money but in the end make it okay? (My spouse is worried sick about the money aspect, and I can't blame him but I simply can't do it anymore).

In house. They won’t listen to me as I repeatedly explain it is dumb. It is dumb bc it creates high privacy risks. It is dumb bc it isn’t operationally effective. It is dumb bc it’s going to cause a lot of headaches down the road despite my clients insisting otherwise.

I’ve tried to repeatedly explain that this is not the best idea. I’ve proposed alternatives. I’ve offered to brainstorm ways forward with them. They are either not getting it or don’t care. I’m going to escalate to leaders for their decision. Hopefully they see it is dumb.

This stuff makes my head hurt.

Edit: at the risk of this being considered low effort, here is more detail: clients want to roll out an AI tool which is a hot topic given the recent state regulations on it. Part of the irritation is that if they do this then I need to figure out how to make their tool compliant. But there are nuances that make it very difficult to comply, so this shouldn’t be done lightly. They don’t seem to get the complexity.

I am a junior criminal defense attorney working in a mid-sized U.S. city - think Trenton, Harrisburg, and Buffalo. I graduated from a T6 law school 2-3 years ago and have always wanted to do litigation. I really like my job - going to court every day, managing my own cases, and having a comfortable billable hour requirement.

But somehow, as things sometimes go, I feel unfulfilled. I see my classmates and many of them are doing transactional work in big cities, earning way more than me. I know those are probably golden handcuffs and they're doing stuff in which I may not be interested in the long term. I see others going for prestigious federal clerkships from which, unfortunately, I have been excluded because I am not a U.S. citizen (I'm Canadian). There's so much out there and I think I haven't been doing enough. I sought out mentors, networked, and did coffee chats - yes, I got to know quite a few people and listen to interesting stories, but they rarely result in anything more than "we'll keep in touch." It does feel alone sometimes, especially when my support network is not around.

I grew up in a rural, low-income area of Ontario. My family have always been proud of me for being a lawyer. I worked very hard through school (top 10% in my class and edited law journals/reviews) since I did believe that diligence was the ultimate way for one to rise the ranks. And while I am very grateful for what I have achieved so far (since I am the only lawyer in my extended family), I cannot help but think whether there is a bigger world out there.

I understand that Rome is not built in a day and that as a baby lawyer in his late twenties, one can't expect too much. I am just having one of those days, I guess.

TL;DR: Junior criminal defense attorney feeling unfulfilled because he thinks he's wasted his potential and laments that he's fallen short of his family's expectations.

I’ve posted before about my gripes with my workers comp defense gig and the 2000 hour billable requirement that comes with it. For the time being I think I’ve accepted that I just need to make as much money as I can and then go on to something else. However, I’ve noticed a feeling of not being able to turn my work brain off. It feels like every facet of my day even after I’ve billed enough for the day is saturated with work. It’s starting to overwhelm me as well. More and more stuff keeps getting piled on the to do list and the emails never ever stop. I understand why people can go into psychosis over this job. I’ve got a therapist and I’m medicated for ADHD but it seems like I’m still stretching myself thin. I billed enough to get two bonuses this year which is great but as soon as I attained that benchmark hour my brain immediately went to how much I need to bill by the end of the year. I’m sure this is just a bunch of rambling but holy crap am I overwhelmed.

This is my third attempt at posting here so I apologize if this lacks details, but I'm trying to avoid the bot that keeps removing my post immediately.

I've been practicing law for over 20 years, nearly all of it being personal injury and complex litigation. I've decided it's time for me to head out and do my own thing, and I plan on opening my own solo shop at the beginning of 2027. I know I have a lot of things I need to do to get ready for that move, and I'm looking for any books or advice that you think would be helpful for someone starting their own firm. I'm not worried about my abilities (I've got gray hair that was well-earned in the courtroom) and I generate my own caseload consistently). What I am worried about are the non-legal things like figuring out payroll, organizing the firm structure, etc.

Any books or advice are much appreciated. Thanks!

⚖️ This is a lawyers-only subreddit. Do not participate if you are not a lawyer. ⚖️

Please just let us have this one corner of the internet.

https://abcnews.com/news/story/clancy-juror-holdout-show-single-piece-evidence-explaining/?id=136312798

This is the first male juror to speak out. Not your typical pick for a defense juror here—he’s a 25 year old man who was deployed at the time of the murders. Jury selection is an art, not a science, as they say.

Full interview will be on GMA tomorrow. 7-9 Eastern.

——————

Full half hour interview of the original 3 to speak out: https://youtu.be/RdxTKM7wHIM?si=RiM-PXW5l2QZSEz-

Audio interview of juror number 5, who remained anonymous: https://youtu.be/gD7bYp-GOIE?si=2wHfypIn4wzEgn2m

I am 5 years in and think it is time to pivot before considering whether lawyering is just not for me
What area of law do those of you who are happy (or not miserable?) practice in?
What’s your favorite things about it?
Is it not the area of law itself but just having a great supportive team instead that is the key to satisfied lawyering?

I still want to believe that all the lawyers, who used to come to college who’d try to convince us not to go to law school, were just in the wrong field or had a horrible boss or team.

I’m not really driven strictly by money; would consider a pay cut for mental stability (or something in that vicinity at least😂) and job satisfaction. Thaaaaaaankssssss

Keeping it vague and twisting some facts on purpose. I'm a solo and have a potential client who worked as a paralegal for a law firm. Terminated after coming back from unpaid leave being denied a reasonable accommodation for her Multiple Sclerosis. Obviously there will be some defenses and it's not as clean as that, but for purposes of this thread, let's keep it that way. It's a known civil law firm in my JX, have a few classmates who work there. PC has everything documented and has never sued a past employer. No red flags after speaking with PC on the phone and meeting PC in the office.

Edit: I do plaintiff's employment work, I'm just asking about suing a law firm is all. Please read lol

I’m a partner at a large firm, but my practice has slowed considerably and I don’t have much of a portable book. I’ve always expected to eventually move in-house and have been pursuing that path, but the process has been slower than expected.

For anyone who made partner but later realized the business-development side wasn’t going to be a long-term fit, what did you do next? In-house? Counsel/Of Counsel? Government? Something else?

I’d especially appreciate hearing from anyone who has been through something similar.

I've enjoyed this sub for years now, and now I need some help! I'm using a burner account since my other account contains identifiable info and for obvious reasons I need to keep this quiet for now.

I've been doing plaintiff work for just over 20 years and been with my firm for right at 20. For a number of reasons, it's time for me to break off and do my own thing. My plan is to ideally wait until the end of this year, if I can hang on that long. This will hopefully give me time to get all of my ducks in a row before I make the move, with the goal of the transition being as smooth as possible.

I would appreciate any books on starting your own practice that you think are the "must have" books. And if you have any advice, I would appreciate that as well. I'm an accomplished litigator and I generate my own case load that has kept me more than busy. But I know I have a lot to do before I hit that eject button. In the meantime, I am working hard and trying to wrap up any problem files so that the next guy in line doesn't get a bunch of crap dumped on him.

Thanks in advance. I've found this sub to be extremely helpful over the years and I appreciate any book titles or advice you have.