Featured Job Survey: Where Does Your Work Come From?
So far, almost 1,000 ballots have been cast in this week's ATL / Lateral Link survey on where you'd most want to work, and it's clear that some firms are trying to win those votes.
Front-runner Latham has announced a "no layoffs" promise, and Ropes & Gray has upped the ante on the cool factor with revelations of card sharking partners. Speaking of cool, let's not forget that Quinn Emanuel's firm retreat is in Switzerland. Switzerland.
But while the firms work the vote, how do they work you? Are your assignments handed out by a careful administrator, or overseen by a mentor? Or is there a free market where you choose your own adventure?
Let's find out, in today's ATL / Lateral Link survey.
(16) Comments
first
I feel your pain "unemployed new york law school graduate."
I know I sound like Loyola 2L but I wish law schools wouldn't admit people and give you infinite loan debt that you can't get rid of if once you graduate no one will hire you.
solution to problem raised in the picture to the right: take some work/cases/articles into a conference room on Friday around 3 and spread paper all over the table. Tell your secretary where you are and have her screen your calls. When your secretary tells assigning partner you are in conference room 3 the assigning partner will move on to the next sap on the list.
The survey is inherently flawed. At my firm (and probably most firms), there is a "system" in place for assigning work. However, most of the work flows naturally, either through associates seeking it out, or Partner X calling Associate Y and saying, "can you work on this?". Therefore, I bet that for most people, more than one answer above is "correct."
These surveys are consistently stupid. No one cares about the results. Please stop them.
These surveys have got to stop.
Make the next survey 3 photos of Kash and viewers pick the one they like the most.
Is that an office porn stock photo?
You're not Kash...
My office has no system. I'm interested to see how other firms approach it.
The survey needs clarification. At my firm, each practice group has its own system for dividing up work, and each office handles that system a little differently. I question how many firms mandate that every practice group and office use a particular system.
same here as 1:23's firm. each PG does it differently; Comm Lit has an assigning partner; IP is free-market.
What work?
My work comes from Santa Claus.
I know this is a little late in the game, but I want to make a comment about the Latham "no layoffs" promise. My comment is, what's the big deal?
It's overhyped. At S&C after Sept. 11th, when the corp. department was very slow, Rodge Cohen said on several occasions "we're not going to lay people off". These were in relatively informal settings -- e.g., addressing distinct groups of associates. Maybe in other settings as well.
It wasn't any kind of big, formal announcement or promise. It didn't need to be. Obviously if the firm were to suffer some kind of unpredictable, catastrophic event and layoffs were necessary to prevent bankruptcy, Rodge would've ordered layoffs. Everybody who's an adult would understand that.
So a promise would be inadvisable. It was enough that he just said it. That's all anyone needed.
In any event, I'll bet if business is slowing there now, he has said or will say the same things. And I'll bet it's the same with Cravath, Wachtell, Davis Polk and the other top firms. Latham isn't doing anything special
No mystery in the method empoyed at my firm; Here- fucking take care of this."