thankful I'm not FIRST.

Thanks for the good wishes Lat, but isn't your list of "things to be thankful for" a little out of order? Shouldn't family, friends and health be put before job and bonus/draw?

Foursty!

3 - Come on, this is ATL! It's all about the benjamins. ;-)

Going to be stuck at work all four days. For a 10K bonus. What a joke....

What's been tough on ATL readers? Hmmm, let's see. The economy? Check. Layoffs? Check. Lat's homoerotic postings? Check. My Job is Murder? Absolutely. Have I missed anything?

7, I think you need to add Elie's chronic grammatical and spelling errors to that list.

My bonus came in at 75k and I am on course to have billed 1550 hours in 2009. I can live with this.

I'm with you, 6.

im stuck working all weekend for 0 bonus.

-class of 09

Happy Thanksgiving, ATL crew

I give thanks every day for the quality of my education!

UC Davis 2L Secure

My sympathies to all you Big Law associates out there slaving over the holiday, having no lives and generally being lame, in exchange for no job security, no prospects for partnership and rejoicing in pathetic little bonuses.

Just to help you out, I think I'll send out some supposedly urgent requests to outside counsel that will take most of the weekend so you think you're doing something important and feel better about yourself.

Sitting on couch, reaching for blackberry...

-- Former Big Law In-House

I am thankful that I have the great privilege and honor to study in a big ass library. Eat your heart out Yale.

Cooley Secure

A fourth-year at Skadden knows no holidays; thus, I am working today. My wife is bringing me leftovers from the Thanksgiving feast that I am missing. What fun!

Well, while I started the year with a job, and am ending it without one, I am thankful to have my son and I am thankful to still be standing.

I am thankful to be working for a partner with a constipated piehole that he calls a mouth but has a big book of business so he's keeping me and others busy.

8

Reading comprehension FAIL. ATL traffic is up by 120% this year. You really think Elie has nothing to do with that?

I have decided that I would rather be an initiate of the Logrus rather than of the Pattern.

19 - Exactly. That is why Lat ignores all the people who complain about Elie. The proof is in the traffic.

CHECK YOU EMAIL ON TURKEY DAY

****************************************************

I am thankful for the fact that ELIE IS A WALRUS

****************************************************

1L here - fuck exams.

That is all.

I'm thankful I haven't been fired and can work on Thanksgiving...

19,

Logic FAIL.

- 8

I'm thankful for Mr. Thanksgivin Drama: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3lqc0_dj-drama-ft-ti-nelly-5000-ones_music

19 & 21 = Elie

I am thankful that Lat b& all of the annoying commenters who were getting out of hand.

I am thankful that the recovery is right around the corner.

Persian Gulf bonds tumbled and the cost of insuring against default across the region jumped Thursday, a day after the government of Dubai said it would ask to postpone debt of its corporate flagship Dubai World.

Credit agencies late Wednesday cut ratings of Dubai debt, as investors and analysts reassessed the region's willingness to bail out troubled borrowers.

Dubai's action also shook global markets. Stocks in London fell Thursday, with analysts blaming worry over international exposure to Dubai debt. Analysts and bankers, however, downplayed the notion of significant exposure by any one institution or any systemic risk from the announcement.

Still, the shock to confidence in the region was dramatic, even accounting for light trading because of the start of the Muslim Eid holiday in the Persian Gulf and Thanksgiving in the U.S. Even cash-rich governments such as Qatar and Abu Dhabi, a fellow member with Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, saw investors flee sovereign credit.

The cost of insuring against a Dubai default rose sharply again Thursday in London, to $547,000 per year per $10 million in debt. That was up from $318,000 on Tuesday. Insurance against a default in Saudi Arabia, backed by huge petrodollar surpluses, climbed by almost a fifth Thursday.

I am thankful to still have my non-legal job while I wait for something to develop (further or at all); I am thankful to the attorney who has hired me for part-time contract work, which could develop into a full-time position over the next year; I am thankful for client's who need work done and who pay their bills on time, which then results in me getting paid.

thankful that i'm a 2L and don't have to study for finals this weekend...stupid 1Ls.

I am thankful for the Cadwalader associate I banged in the ass over the weekend. She just texted me and wants a repeat performance this coming weekend. If I can get out of this stupid deposition and doc review project, I will.

I am thankful for Associate Emeritus.

-- Associate Emeritus

I guess I'm thankful for having a salary that lets me buy more food than one person who is all alone needs.

14 - I'm sure your company's shareholders or investors are thankful for your wasting the company's money on unnecessary weekend work assigned to some big law associate.

I am thankful for my family, health, and friends.

(I am also curious as to where no. 9 works, assuming s/he isn't flame bait.)

33,

Details please! Name and practice group appreciated.

14 is a tool

I am thankful that 2009 is almost over and hopeful that 2010 will be better.

Thanks ATL! I'm 22 and graduating from the Univ. of South Fla in 15 days and as an aspiring lawyer, your website has helped me see just what I am getting myself into. Anyway, there's no promise to my law career as SO many people are pouring into law schools, but regardless, I'll always be a reader!

I am so tired of people throwing around the word "genocide." It's an insult to groups that have actually faced that horror. There was never any coherent policy of ridding the country of native americans. In fact, the governement explicity condemned the actions of several rogue generals who launched unnecessary attacks against native american groups. There is no proof of any "cholera-blanket" conspiracy, save 2 mentions as afterthoughs in the postscripts of 2 letters. There is no proof of it ever actually being done. The natural spread of disease killed far more than war ever did.

When doe s the bitterness end? There's no one left on earth that had anything to do with the problem. The westerners weren't saints, it's true, but the native americans launched their share of unprovoked attacks on people who had just as much right to a plot of land as they did. What is productive or fulfilling about starving and "mourning," instead of being thankful for what you do have during a time when 98% of people are joyfully spending time together?

"Bitterness is like taking poison, then waiting for the other person to die."

16--

Your life sounds miserable. I pity you.

If you don't like your job, then quit. I know plenty of laid off and deferred associates who would trade sitting at Thanksgiving dinner telling their families how they got laid off or have no job with your ungrateful asses who are still raking in the dough. Shut up, or quit.

Working all weekend too. And grateful for it.

I am thankful that I have a job that let me have half a day off for thanksgiving dinner.

I am hateful of the golden handcuffs and permanent stress of biglaw.

A happy Thanksgiving from the entire emeritus family. JaKe please have one of the servants pass the turkey.

woke up to 10 emails sent at 6:00 AM, received enough emails during dinnertime to bill my dessert. fml. probably not even getting a bonus, and if i were to be so lucky, keep it and give me my holidays back.

I am thankful for many things, but the ones that are relevant to ATL are that I paid my law school loans off this summer and that I made equity partner this fall in a year where about 10% of those eligible for partnership at our firm made it. I feel extremely fortunate on both accounts, for having gone to law school back when in-state tuition was under $15K/year, and for all the lucky breaks that went into making partner.

I assume the ATL Thanksgiving dinner will include lobster?

First year associate at a small/mid-sized firm here. My question is, how do you know if you are supposed to take a firm holiday or if you are expected to come in on a firm holiday. Does someone tell you to come in? I have assignments I am working on but none are due on Monday. However, I have received emails from attorneys today and it makes me wonder if they are emailing from home or if they went into work. Do I respond to show I am checking my emails or are they just expecting me to do these things on Monday. Nothing says urgent. Thanks.

50--

Your firm's culture will generally dictate what you should do; and, you know that better than I do. Having said that, the default rule in this scenario is to respond. Otherwise, you run this risk of having partners ask themselves, "What if that email came from a client instead of me?" Better not to have such hypothetical concerns lay the groundwork for derailing your career later on down the line. But I now work for the government and, prior to that, I worked in large law firms. So, my advice may not be spot on here.

FWIW

@46, @pedobear [49] & at homosexual fucker Lat:

Thank you all for ruining my fucking Thanksgiving.

~29

I am thankful that I have a non-legal job in international development that I love even though it keeps me about as poor as the people in the developing world I am supposed to be helping. Not worried that the money will come later in my career, I am just so happy to have escaped the biglaw trap and all the bad law related personalities that come with it. Wishing freedom to all of those that have yet to escape. Next year in the promised land!

14,

You don't speak for all in-house attorneys, although it would be nice to sit around shooting off email while relaxing and watching football. Some of us, who are unfortunately working, are trying to get deals closed by Monday and have been/will be working through the weekend.
I am thankful for having time with my family and for having an interesting job that pays well. If I've earned a bonus this year, I won't know how much, or see the money, until next spring. I can wait, because it's better than the alternative.

In-house secure?

14,

You don't speak for all in-house attorneys, although it would be nice to sit around shooting off email while relaxing and watching football. Some of us, who are unfortunately working, are trying to get deals closed by Monday and have been/will be working through the weekend.
I am thankful for having time with my family and for having an interesting job that pays well. If I've earned a bonus this year, I won't know how much, or see the money, until next spring. I can wait, because it's better than the alternative.

In-house secure?

Given that I work hard, pay my taxes and support my family, I am extraordinarily grateful that the American people are waking up to the true agenda or Obama/Pelosi/Reid and their supporters in NYC and LA and are telling them to stick it.

33, I also want to bang a Cadwalader associate in the ass. Do you have any tips on where they hang out?

Brooklyn Law School 1L Secure

We need to bomb lazy in-house fat asses back to the stone age!
-DOJ Secure

I am thankful that a certain partner who moved to London to rightsize the office there is now squarely in the crosshairs of the partners back home. What's good for the goose is good for the gander.

I am thankful that people with 56's mental abilities are in large part confined to trailerpark locations in flyover states, and are not found striding the hallowed hallways of BigLaw.

- WEST COAST LIBERAL ELITE SECURE

I am thankful that contract attorneys like 31 don't know that "client's" is not the plural of "client" and that with competition like that, I might have a shot at getting a better job.

As a 1L looking at her first round of finals, and a shitty job market down the road, I'm mostly hateful right now.

61 - this is really a pet peeve of mine. When did Americans get so stupid that noun + apostrophe + s = plural noun? It's one thing when I see this on stupid internet posts by idiots, but this appears in print advertising more than occasionally. I expect better from Don Draper, even when he's drunk.

Well, looks like I'll be too busy with this stupid project and my asshole partner this weekend to even consider banging my favorite Cadwalader associate in the ass. She'll be disappointed, but she'll understand what a crappy job we both have.

33

Sorry 60, I will be clear. Given that I work hard as a senior associate at a large lawfirm in NYC, pay my taxes and support my family, I am extraordinarily grateful that the American people are waking up to the true agenda or Obama/Pelosi/Reid and their supporters in NYC and LA and are telling them to stick it.

I am thankful that I went to a relatively cheap in-state top 25 law school instead of a more prestigious one and therefore have no debt to speak of, have saved quite a bit of my salary over the years and have enough financial security that I can quit biglaw if I feel like it.

I am thankful that since I have financial security, without blinking an eye, I can complete an email assignment sent on Thursday (thanksgiving) evening on Monday, even though the partner's passive/aggressive request was for completion on friday.

62, I'm genuinely curious as to what 1Ls are thinking these days- given what you currently know, are you planning on getting deeper into debt for the next 2.5 years or walking away before the pain intensifies? At what point do you cut your losses?