5 Things I Miss About Biglaw
Small-firm columnist Gary J. Ross reflects on what's beautiful about Biglaw.
I tend to bust on Biglaw a bit in this space, but the truth is I’m grateful for the experience. There are even a few things I miss about it. Too many to put in one column, honestly, so here’s the first installment of Five Things I Miss About Biglaw.
- Everyone was smart. Not everyone was nice, not everyone was sociable, not everyone displayed even one iota of self-awareness, but everyone was smart. And the folks who maybe weren’t as bright as the others tended to make up for it with an advanced work ethic. (And those were the ones who ended up moving up the ladder.)
- Updated Red Book. This is a big ring-binder style book of the federal securities laws, which the library assistants or admins would automatically update. There’s nothing like having the printed word in front of you. Now I find out the thing costs $800! Even more than a law school textbook, and I’m not even sure that includes the updates. Needless to say, I’ve gotten used to using the Cornell site, e-CFR, and other online regs, but I still miss the days of being able to plop that mammoth tome of regulation splendor on my desk and looking up those exemptions. [pregnant pause] I better move on before I get too misty-eyed.
- People were from all over. The larger and more notable the firm, the more it’s going to attract folks from all over the world. I worked alongside people from Italy, Nigeria, Brazil, New Jersey, just to name a few places. And I’m not even counting the people in the foreign associate program. In fact, I think at my level in my practice group I was one of only two Americans, and then everyone else was from somewhere else. And even I was from somewhere else. I grew up in Memphis, so not surprisingly I have a Southern accent. (You’ll probably hear it if you ever take one of my CLEs.) In the big firm, no one ever said anything. It would have been weird for someone to walk around talking about people’s accents. These days I go to a lot of networking events, and I’ll have people asking me about my accent multiple times a week, if not a night. Trust me: you’d get tired of it too. Makes me miss Biglaw.
- Clients didn’t obsess over filing fees. I love my SmallLaw clients, but some of them will make decisions based on a one-time total savings in filing fees of less than $100, even if I tell them they’d be better off in another jurisdiction. And by paying me to figure out how they can save that $100, they’re not exactly coming out ahead.
- Travel in style. I was sent to Europe for work, and they told me I was going just a few days before the trip. My administrative assistant was busy—for some reason I was never a high priority with any of my admins—so I booked the flights myself. The day before the trip I was talking with a partner and he mentioned he really liked the airline’s business class seats. I said I was flying coach and the partner almost choked on his coffee. “Coach?!?? You are not flying coach.” He called his admin, and after much scrambling, they managed to find me a last-minute business-class ticket. (I won’t say who paid for it.) As I glided over the Atlantic stretched out on that oversize business-class bed, I thanked the stars I had it so much better than the little people in the back.
Ah, those glorious Biglaw days…
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Gary J. Ross opened his own practice, Jackson Ross PLLC, in 2013 after several years in Biglaw and the federal government. Gary handles corporate and compliance matters for investment funds, small businesses, and non-profits, occasionally dabbling in litigation. You can reach Gary by email at Gary.Ross@JacksonRossLaw.com.