Job Survey

Career Center: Associate Morale Survey Results – Part 1

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A key issue for the workplace, both during recession and recovery, is employee morale. In last week’s survey, we asked Biglaw associates how current associate morale at their firms compares to morale from one year ago.

For those of you who need a quick refresher on what the fall of 2009 was like, envision a time when the majority of the massive associate bloodletting had ended, but firms were still reeling from the aftermath; salary freezes and cuts were the trends du jour; and associates who were lucky enough to receive 2009 bonuses saw drastic reductions from the previous year. Could fall 2010 possibly be any more demoralizing for associates?

Find out, after the jump.

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Career Center Survey: Is Associate Morale on the Mend?

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Good news: the recession is officially over– and actually has been since June 2009, according to a group of economists. Are Biglaw associates everywhere breathing a collective sigh of relief? Or does the recovering economy have little effect on associate morale?

This week, in our ATL / Lateral Link survey, we ask whether morale among associates has changed since last year, and what it is about your firm that is either bothering you or bolstering your spirits. Please take our short survey to give us your input (as always, survey responses are kept completely confidential). We’ll bring you the survey results next week.

We’ll use the information to update the ATL Career Center and bring you the results next week.

If you have information about your firm that you want to share with other career center users, please email us at careercenter@abovethelaw.com.

Career Center: The 2010 Summer Associate Survey Results

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We’ve completely updated the Summer Associate Program sections in each of the Firm Snapshots with the 2010 summer associate survey results and the latest news.  With on-campus interviewing already underway at most schools, law students won’t want to miss getting the inside scoop on the highlights – and lowlights – of each firm’s summer program.

So head on over to the Career Center to see how the firm you summered at, or want to interview with, stacks up. Highlights include:

  • Summer associates at this litigation powerhouse brag that their “workload is super light,” completing one to five assignments over the course of the 12-week summer program, and typically spending about five hours a day on billable work.  Just don’t expect to be making the lunch rounds at the city’s trendiest restaurants.  Summers eat in at the firm’s dining room, which serves free but “excellent” lunch daily.
  • It certainly pays to have high-profile clients at this firm, which treats its summer associates to unique social events like the Tony Awards and the NBA Draft.
  • The line between summer and full-time associates is blurred at this firm, with summers “put[ting] in well over 80 hours” during some weeks to complete 15 or more assignments during the eight-week summer program.  Despite their high work demands, these summer associates still find the time to be do-gooders by volunteering to cook at the Ronald McDonald House for kids and their families.
  • The good old days never left this firm.  Summer associates typically bill about four hours a day on assignments, leave at 5:30 p.m., play softball at Fenway Park, and still get 100% offers. But you might want to think about taking an extended post-bar trip, since you might not start work on time as a first-year associate.
  • No complaints at this firm, which gives summer associates “exactly the work that they want” and still provides a “very generous” $65 lunch budget in New York.  Be sure to brush up on your foreign language skills; one-third of the summer class gets to spend up to three weeks working in one of the firm’s overseas offices

For information on the summer programs at all the top firms visit the Career Center.

Summer Associates: Last Call

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Ah, the end of summer. For many law students, this time of year ushers in the arrival of the fall on-campus recruiting season (or what’s left of it), the dreaded wait for a permanent offer of employment following graduation, as well as a new diet regime for those summer associates who took their firm’s “unlimited lunches” policy a little too literally.

While your summer associate experience is still fresh in your mind, please take our short survey. Responses will be kept entirely confidential, of course.  So give us your raw insights into the stuff that no one told you about summer programs, such as how many hours you really work a day, whether the assignments you receive are “real” or just busy work, and which social events are worth attending.

This is last call on the survey for this summer as it will be closed on Friday, so please share your insights before then. Thanks!

Summer Associates: We Can’t Hear You

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The good old days of Biglaw summer associate programs have now become the stuff of legend. Long gone are the days of doing doc review at the beach, unlimited lunches on the firm’s tab, swanky social events, and 100% offers for full-time employment.

Instead, today’s typical summer associate program has been streamlined down to 8 to 10 weeks, reduced the size of its class (by 50 percent or even 80 percent), and adopted new cost-saving rules for meals and entertainment.

We want to hear from you about what your experience has been like under this new paradigm. If you are a 2010 summer associate, please click here to complete a short survey, which will be kept completely confidential.

Feel free to use this opportunity to dish all about your firm’s work assignments, facetime requirements, meal budgets, and events – whether good, bad, or indifferent. Survey results will be posted on the Career Center — just in time to help you, your colleagues, or potential summer associates make some important career choices. Thanks!

Summer Associates: Let Your Voices Be Heard

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We are updating the Career Center and want to know what you think of your summer program.  Are the attorneys at your firm screamers or camp counselors? Are you eating at 5-star restaurants, or splitting meals from the Dollar Menu at McDonalds? Are you working on the next mega-merger, or picking up a partner’s dry cleaning?

Let us know about your firm and its summer associate program by taking the short but substantive Lateral Link Summer Associate Survey. The survey should only take you five minutes and is completely anonymous. Gloat about your experiences or warn law students about the real summer associate life. Your responses will give future summer associates the "I-wish-I-knew-those-answers-before-I-joined" information about the firm that isn’t on the recruiting brochures.

Click here to start the survey.

After you complete the survey, feel free to visit the Career Center and review what the current associates at the nation’s top firms think about their experience.

Career Center 2.0 (Beta) Is Now Live!

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Career Center AboveTheLaw Lateral Link ATL.jpgWe are pleased to announce the launch of our newly re-developed Career Center, featuring an enhanced design and completely updated firm profiles based on the results of the 2010 ATL / Lateral Link Career Center Associate Satisfaction survey.

Are you curious which firms are getting the most buzz? Which firms do people most want to work for? Want to compare firms on compensation, billable hours, partnership prospects, summer programs, maternity leave, etc.? Check out the revamped Career Center, powered by Lateral Link, for user generated insider information, and see how your colleagues and peers rank your firm and others. It’s like Yelp! for law firms!

On the updated Career Center, you will find out that this firm’s compensation includes a unique bonus program for associates who attract new business to the firm, this firm considers associates for partnership after a “refreshingly brief” four to seven years at the firm, and this firm’s unlimited pro bono policy results in its lawyers averaging over 160 pro bono hours annually.

We are still working out a couple bugs here and there so if you see any errors (in the site or the data), please email us.  As always, we encourage you to send information about your law firm experience by emailing us or by clicking the "Update Firm Data" button in each firm snapshot.

Career Center: When Do You Get a Raise?

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Career Center AboveTheLaw Lateral Link ATL.jpgWith all the salary freezes, thaws and permanent meltdowns over the past year, it’s hard to keep track of what associates at law firms are actually making these days. And associates are learning that an annual lock-step raise is no longer a sure thing under new compensation systems at many firms.

This week our ATL / Lateral Link survey asks about starting salaries and annual salary increases at your firm. We’ll use the information to update the ATL Career Center and bring you the results next week.

If you have information about your firm that you want to share with other career center users, please email us at careercenter@abovethelaw.com.

Career Center: Clerkship Survey Results

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Career Center AboveTheLaw Lateral Link ATL.jpgOur recent Career Center survey asked about whether the recession has affected clerkship bonuses and law firm hiring of clerks.  Of respondents at law firms, a slight majority — 57% — indicated that their firms are not interviewing judicial clerks for Fall 2010 positions.  Of respondents who are currently clerking, only 30% indicated that they have a position for Fall 2010 or have even been able to get interviews for such positions.  Despite these depressing statistics for post-clerkship employment, a majority of law student respondents indicated that they are planning on clerking after law school. 

Check out the full survey results after the jump — and visit the Career Center, powered by Lateral Link, for more on clerkship bonuses and hiring trends at firms across the country.

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