I'm a soon to be unemployed federal district law clerk. I'd work today if it meant I could have a job in eight weeks...

If you have a job at all you seriously need to stop complaining.

There are no vacation days for doc reviewers.

At work. Pleased to have a job.

I'm not in the office today but I wish I were (with work to do). My hours are so low, I am living in fear of the guillotine. I'm doing everything I can to get billables and otherwise be useful, but I'm not getting too far. Yes, Yes, Yes - I know I should be thankful I'm still employed. And I am. But try as I might, I can't seem to live a happy life in this state. I'm old, have medical bills and need this job badly. I admire those in the who can still be happy living in this state.

Echo #5, at work today (government), left firm life just before the fit hit the shan, and am very happy to have my current gig. Pretty sure that Biglaw gave me the office/white-collar equivalent of PTSD.

Typo above -- "I admire those in the SAME SITUATION who can still be happy living in this state."

-6

Working from home in the morning.

Everyone who says "glad to have a job" should shut the f*uck up -- less than 10% of all BigLaw associates got laid off in the last year and half of those probably deserved it. I'll be glad if I still have a decent salary after my firm does away with lockstep at the end of the year.

MysTTTal

A summer is involved in a sex scandal at a major law firm. Get on this shit.

9, you heartless fuck - many of us didn't "deserve it." we happened to be the lucky ones who got offers at the wrong firm (CC, PHJW, CWT, LW, Thelen, Orrick, Heller, Pillsbury, etc.) and/or chose to or got roped into working in a hot practice group a few years ago (almost anything corporate: M&A, securitization, structured finance, capital markets, private equity, hedge funds, banking, lending).

then it started hitting the fan in the early days of the credit crunch in August 2007, the work slowed and eventually stopped, and we were out of a job, many of us for invented "performance reasons," though some firms admitted that it was because of economic factors.

wait until it happens to you, asshole.

Anyway, Happy Independence Day to all!

My hours are absolute shit and I don't care. I'm doing everything I possibly can to get shitcanned - including having a few beers during two hour lunches - and nothing seems to be working. Reviews are coming up and I can't wait to mention my vacation plans...

Next weekend is SLAYER and MARILYN MANSON in devore, CA! Firm retreat!

I'm in Chicago and at work... though the office is mostly empty. And I'm lonely. And cold. And hungry. :-(

KaTTTen?

I'm at my office in a state courthouse, and so pleased it is cold, because it means the a/c is on, which is a blessing as it means the governator has not cut us off yet. Work is good.

Hi Kash, whatcha doin?

Hi Kash, whatcha doin?

did kash go to law school?

No rest for those of us studying for the bar....at least those of you at work are getting paid

10, why don't you tell us what you know so far?

21

10 here. Details are sketchy. All I know is that it involved a bottle of tanqueray on the firm's roof after hours.

22, East Coast, West Coast, flyover state? Any other hints you can provide without outing yourself?

You know it is possible to work and make money while studying for the bar exam. I was lucky to get two days off from my company to take the freakin' thing. Later candidates were forced to use two vacation days.

Retired partner here: The 4th of July is tomorrow, not today. Today is a work day, just like any other work day. If the work needs to get done such that you need to work today, then by god you best work today. If you wanted a normal union schedule, you should have gone to work with the government. Of course, you would be making about $100K less as a starting salary. Hell, if you've got a deadline on Monday, then you should be in the office on Saturday and Sunday if that's what it takes to be ready. A lawyer must do whatever it takes to get the job done right and on time, period.

10, I guess you gotta do what you gotta do now a days. This should be good.

25 and 12 have good points. This new generation of law school grads with zero experience bitching about a 10% salary cut for a 160K year job are whiny little babies. Why don't you go ask a senior partner to come in your office, change your diaper and wipe your bottom while your at it? Med students actually help save lives yet bear the brunt of working for $40K a year in their first years. You all deserve to get canned. And yes the job marker for inexperienced lawyers will get worse. If you clean out your office, and keep a flask in your desk, you'll probably be safe from layoffs. Just wish to fired and they'll find a way to keep you on.

25 and 12 have good points. This new generation of law school grads with zero experience bitching about a 10% salary cut for a 160K year job are whiny little babies. Why don't you go ask a senior partner to come in your office, change your diaper and wipe your bottom while your at it? Med students actually help save lives yet bear the brunt of working for $40K a year in their first years. You all deserve to get canned. And yes the job marker for inexperienced lawyers will get worse. If you clean out your office, and keep a flask in your desk, you'll probably be safe from layoffs. Just wish to be fired and they'll find a way to keep you on.

To RETIRED PARTNER:

You're right a lawyer should do whatever it takes to get the job done. Thats what you signed up for. However, paralegals are different ; and we can't go work for the government because they drug test. In fact, most of the lawyers I know can't work for government for the same reasons.

To RETIRED PARTNER:

You're right a lawyer should do whatever it takes to get the job done. Thats what you signed up for. However, paralegals are different ; and we can't go work for the government because they drug test. In fact, most of the lawyers I know can't work for the government for the same reasons.

Number 30 hits the nail on the head. If I didn't already suffer from 12 years of Big Law PTSD, I wouldn't consume the amount of mary jane that I do.

ReTTTired partner: in case you didn't get the memo, the reason associates aren't working today has nothing to do with the holiday. It's the same reason your non-retired colleagues have no work today. You and your partners' ideas about Law Firm as a business enterprise=FAIL.

Smoke em if you got em.

When I was little I didn't wanna be like Mike
I wanted to be like Ike,
Cause....
Papa Was A Rolling Stone in the sixties
And he liked green like Bill Bixby
Told me that my best friend was a ten and a twenty
Pokets never skinny.

Played "Let's Get It On" in the living room
Cause he'll turn the party out sayin, "This is MY muthafuckin house"
And y'all got's to go
Through the door
And if you can't find the door
He'll help you with the four-four

Talkin much shit on the grass
And straight down to blast
I'm still in my p.j.'s
He's in a turtleneck sweater
And we down for whatever

I'm at work because I have no family here and very little life outside of the firm.

I'd be the perfect associate drone if I were just a little better of an attorney.

31, my poison is liquor, but for the same (law firm-induced PTSD) reasons. See my post above (#7).

Oh, and Retired Partner? If the game was still the same as when you were in it--expectation of 1800 per year, worker bees (not just rainmakers) become partners as well, a single (equity) partner track, people don't get de-equitized for doing their jobs (instead of being salesmen 24/7), there was actual hope for meaningful advancement, genuine mentoring and training as a young associate--then yes, I would agree with you, at least in spirit. The rules have changed, and don't think for a second younger associates haven't realized it. They're not lazy--instead, they're not stupid, and realize that if the game, as played by the partners, is get as much as you can as quickly as you can with as little work actually done by yourself as possible, then they will play the same game as well. You reap what you sow. Oh, and for the big firms that have generous partnership retirement plans, don't forget you need a lot of worker bees (with work!) to fund those retirements long after you retire. You've set them up to jump at the first viable exit opportunity they get. Translation? Your expected annuity can (and probably will) be half or less than what you thought it would be. After two or three marriages, probably not a whole lot left, I would guess. Not exactly long-term planning, eh?

way too hungover ... just blarfed

11 bottom line is that it happened to relatively few people - 90% of biglaw attorneys from a year ago still have a job.

Sorry that it happened to you, especially if you were good at what you were doing (in which case you will get a second shot). But of the people who got canned from my office, about half did not have a snowball's chance in hell of making partner. I think it is fair to assume that the same holds true for other firms/offices as well.

I am at work and pounding my secretary in her ass. You wish you were me. You want to be me.

Louis Ziccarelli

I want to be free.

23

10, 22 here. Happened on the East Coast. Can't really provide too many more details because everyone is tight-lipped so the details are pretty sketchy.

41 - just make something up. It's not like the clowns here will care if it is true or not...

Is the TTT Corporate Associate still at Katten???.....proof that if you are hot you don't need stellar credentials!

24 - what shit state did you take it in that only has a 2-day exam?

Is pounding a secretary in the ass as good on a holiday as any other day? Just wondering.

corporate counsel running all over the office. what holiday?

#43. Katten New York?

44 - NY has a two day bar exam. In fact, plenty of states do.

36--well said!

#25: That's what makes being a lawyer so awesome. You are someone's bitch for your whole career. Why have a life when you could review documents?

Sarah Palin is resigning as governor.

Mark Sanford has just booked a one way ticket to Alaska.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/03/nyregion/03firefighter.html?pagewanted=1&hp

Retarded Partner,
KaTTTen is wasting money by having their office open today. They could have saved that money and to hire back one of their laid off attorneys for a week or pay back some of the 20% pay cut they instituted even for people who hit their annual hours. If there is work to be done, associates (and staff) are going to go into work and take care of there business, but why have all staff and associates show up when work is slow and little business will be done today? I know - lets run the firm "like a business" and see how many people stick around once the economy picks up.

My bet is that you have a real exciting life with lots of people that really like you! Get with the program.

i worked all day friday july 4th & saturday the 5th as a summer, doing doc review, the only person in the office. wtf.

did you get an offer 55?

Who would give an offer to a summer stupid enough to work on the 4th?

57 - maybe he was one of them foreign attorneys trying to take over BigLaw?

Im working today. Unfortunately it is because I couldn't get a summer associate job and I am literally flipping burgers at a beach concession stand.

As Kirkland & Ellis moves forward with their plans to have a magnificient 100th anniversary party -- which they are spending tons of money on -- it is reported that one of Kirkland's laid off staff members ended his life! He hung himself in the basement of his home. His blood is on their hands! May he rest now in peace!

25 is a nitwit. # 16 here, and BACK ON THE GOV JOB again today, our nation's birthday, plowing through the governator's furlough work load. Just be happy I'm in here working up your SJMs BigLaw.

#60--if this is true about the former K&E staffer, I can understand it. Most of the lawyers commenting on ATL don't give a shit about staffers. The ratio of staff to associate layoffs has generally been 3 to 1 or 4 to 1. The staff included in layoffs (and yes I am one of them) are given cheesy severance packages and told to leave the office that day (as if they are criminals). And what do you think the chances of a 58 year old paralegal who has 25+ years of transactional experience getting hired? Zip. Although I am willing to take a $30,000 salary cut, I still can't get a job. So to all those whining attorneys out there, up yours.

Katten is a miserable sweatshop full of the meanest people I have ever worked with. The people at the other firms I've worked for are SO much nicer. I'm shocked ATL has never picked up on Katten stories - it really makes K&E look like a pleasant place to work.

Posted by guest | Permalink
Friday, July 3, 2009 11:56 AM
Echo #5, at work today (government), left firm life just before the fit hit the shan, and am very happy to have my current gig. Pretty sure that Biglaw gave me the office/white-collar equivalent of PTSD.
-----------------------------------------------
LOL. I hear you #7 and am in the same exact situation. BigLaw PTSD Survivor; now proud gov't employee.

63 - I have worked at both. Quit K&E after 6 months. K&E much worse in re people. Katten is pretty bad. I have always said the EEOC would have a field day here. The only reason I think many incompetent and mean people have not been let go yet is b/c so many people know waaaaayyyyy to much. If ATL had some investigative reporters they could have their own site dedicated to KaTTTen alone.

25-12-27..... all great points.

As a summer who is working for an international group in a foreign office and will not be receiving an offer, I totally agree. Personally, I would take a job for a serious reduction in salary, just so that I know I will have some way to start paying off the $140K in debts I have. I would love to get in with a $160K offer (and have 0 experience as a qualified attorney), but the expectations of law school grads has gotten ridiculous.

When my friends who have been working themselves to the bone since our undergrad days hear what my possible first-year salary could be, they literally go speechless.

K&E is not planning/having a 100th anniversary party. The annual partner dinner has been canceled. it is strictly business. And no one at K&E knows about a staffer suicide.