We here at ATL are big believers in push-back. Tell the partners and your colleagues about your personal needs and desires, and try your best to take some control over work schedule. The firm can survive without you.

But the theory behind successful push-back is that you are not the most important person at the firm. It seems that one first-year associate didn't learn that lesson. He sent out the following "vacation memo," after just three days at the firm:

1. I will depart for vacation on Wednesday, November 26th (the Wednesday before thanksgiving). I plan to return to the office on Tuesday, December 2nd (the Tuesday after Thanksgiving).

2. In case of emergency, I will be staying at [redacted]. I can best be reached on my cell phone at [redacted]. I will be visiting my parents, and their house has a landline [redacted].

3. The secretaries in my pool will open my mail. These are [redacted].

4. I will be answering my own phone at the numbers listed above.

5. I currently have received no matters, though this will undoubtedly change by Thanksgiving.

6. I will send out an update and official vacation memorandum with this information a week before Thanksgiving.

Some helpful advice, after the jump.

In last Monday's ATL / Lateral Link survey, we asked you whether you were taking any vacations this summer.

We received just under 900 responses, and the overwhelming majority of you reported that you will be escaping the office for at least a little while this summer.

Overall, 86% of you have taken, or will take, a vacation, or at least a vacation day:

  * About 24% of respondents are taking a quick break of 1 to 3 days.
  * Another 18% of respondents reported summer vacations of 4 or 5 days.
  * 16% are taking between 6 and 8 days, and 13% are going for two weeks.
  * About 5% of respondents are taking 3 or more weeks.

Among the attorneys who aren't taking vacation this summer, 46% said that they just have too much work to get done. But 35% have the opposite problem: they need the hours. A surprisingly high number of respondents, 28%, said that they just don't feel comfortable taking vacations. Only 7%, however, said that a partner told them not to take a vacation this summer. Another 7% are sticking around because they want to impress people, which will perhaps cause their peers to want to take more vacations themselves.

Of course, whether in the office or out, not all attorneys can completely escape their responsibilities. An unlucky 13% of respondents have had to cancel vacation plans this summer, and 55% of respondents with uncancelled summer plans either did work or expect to work during their vacations.

But hey, a busy summer is much better than the alternative, right?

--
Justin Bernold is a Director at Lateral Link, the sponsor of this Associate Life Survey.

Bloggers tend to be so hyper-connected that being away from Internet service for more than two hours can feel like an eternity. Due to the numerous e-mails flying around law firms, and the expectation of rapid response, lawyers tend to have a similar connectivity addiction. The Blackberry is the sweet, sweet drug that feeds the need.

We know how dedicated you all are to your Blackberries. What if you were forced to give it up in order to really go on vacation and get away from the firm?

UK-based Linklaters is doing just that, reports Law People.

Linklaters is reported having decreed, in a fit of concern for work/life balance, that lawyers leave their Blackberrys at home while on holiday (vacation to us).The order is designed to insulate associates, in particular, from the relentless rat race for a few sweet weeks a year, according to management. "Sometimes it's the small things that count," one partner averred. While another lawyer confessed that "I feel naked without my Blackberry and there are times when you just have to be reachable." Whether the firm is successful in enforcing this edict is not yet clear.

We think this will just result in compounding of guilt, as attorneys feel the shame of obsessively checking their Blackberries while "on holiday," and the need to hide the illicit Blackberry checking from the firm. What do you think about the policy?

In today's ATL / Lateral Link survey, it's time to focus on time off.

ATL has previously reported on firms trimming the length of their summer programs, in part because of economic doldrums, but also at least purportedly in part because of vacation cycles.

As one firm's managing partner put it: "We believe that the August vacation season for our attorneys is simply not a period that is conducive to a positive Summer Associate experience."

So, it being "vacation season," are you taking any?

--
Justin Bernold is a Director at Lateral Link, the sponsor of this Associate Life Survey.

With bar exams taking place at the end of this month, a bunch of almost-lawyers are furiously studying away. It's not the worst way to spend the dog days of summer... but it's pretty bad. If you're in that boat, we wish you luck (and encourage you to spend your study breaks here at ATL).

While few look forward to taking the bar, many look forward to post-bar, pre-start-date travel: the legendary, celebrated bar trip, your last hurrah before immersion into the grim realities of law firm life. With Biglaw start dates pushed back at quite a few firms (see here, here, and here), some of you may have more travel time than expected.

So where are you headed, and how long are you staying there? Or where are you considering going? Is Europe still a desirable destination, or does the weakness of the dollar put it out of reach? Is southeast Asia still a popular pick, or is a post-bar trip to Thailand so "five minutes ago"? Please share your views, in the comments.

If nothing else, this post should trigger you to buy airplane tickets -- e.g., on a 21-day advance fare -- if you haven't done so already. Last-minute airfare deals seem to be a thing of the past (perhaps due to rising fuel costs). If you want to get a ticket using frequent flyer miles, you need to act fast -- heck, you may even be too late -- given the dwindling supply of such seats.

Kash leaves today for two months in Hong Kong -- an unfortunate destination in terms of weather right now, described by the Lonely Planet guide as "punishingly hot and humid" during the summer. Hope you've made wiser choices!

We received 1,046 responses to last week's ATL / Lateral Link survey on vacation time.

Roughly two thirds of respondents reported that their firms offered four weeks of vacation, but sixteen percent are at three-week firms, six percent are at firms with only two weeks of vacation, and a handful are at firms with but a single week. Five percent of respondents are at firms that do not offer vacation time at all, while six percent are at firms that offer more than four weeks.

Among the firms offering four weeks of paid vacation, about a quarter of respondents took at least 20 vacation days, with another twelve percent of respondents taking 16 to 19 vacation days. Another quarter of respondents took between 11 and 15 vacation days. Almost a fifth of respondents, however, took fewer than five vacation days.

At firms offering three weeks of paid vacation, almost a quarter of respondents took at least 15 vacation days, with another seventeen percent of respondents taking 11 to 15 vacation days. Thirty-six percent of respondents, however, took only 6 to 10 vacation days, and thirty-five percent took one week or less.

Roughly two fifths of respondents who didn't take all their vacations explained that they simply had too much work to get done. Another quarter, however, felt they needed the hours, and about the same number felt uncomfortable taking vacations. Five percent of respondents skipped vacations because they wanted to impress people, and roughly the same number were actually instructed by a partner to stay at the office. Twenty-two percent of respondents actually cancelled vacations last year.

Of course, not every vacation was really a vacation. Roughly 63% of respondents said they did work while on vacation last year.

Will there be better luck this year? Maybe not. Only 37% of respondents said their firms allowed them to roll over unused vacation days. Fifty-one percent were at use-it-or-lose-it firms, and the rest were unsure.

We received quite a few tips and comments after posting yesterday's table of clerkship bonuses, so we have updated the table (four times) to reflect new information on Arnold & Porter, Covington & Burling, King & Spalding, Patterson Belknap, Wilson Sonsini, Debevoise, Katten Muchin, and Munger Tolles. We also updated the running table of maternity leave policies (mirrored here) yesterday. Please let us know if your firm's information is out of date or missing.

Today's ATL / Lateral Link survey continues our exploration of perks and benefits by investigating the often overlooked subject of vacation time.

The law firm perks keep rolling in. From a source at Seyfarth Shaw:

Following the recent trend of enhanced BigLaw perks, Seyfarth announced changes to their leave policy for associates. Previously, associates were given 4 weeks of vacation per year. Now, associates can now take (at least hypothetically) as much leave as they want so long as they get their work done.

This was a bit of a non-event given that associates can't even find time to take their original 4 weeks of vacation, but the sentiment was nice anyway.

What Seyfarth associates are really waiting for are the "Associates Meetings" scheduled for this week. Word on the street is that salaries are going up. How much they will go up is the real question.

But don't get too excited, people -- we're not talking "NY to 190." Recall that, at least outside New York, Seyfarth is not yet on the $160K scale (at least according to their NALP forms).

The Seyfarth Shaw vacation memo, after the jump.

It's not as lavish as holding your law firm retreat at the Ritz in Pasadena, like O'Melveny & Myers. Nor is it as exotic as an all-expenses-paid trip to Jamaica, like Boies Schiller.

But still, this is neat. From a Fried Frank source:

Fried Frank announced to its associates on Tuesday that it is sending all associates in their third year and above, plus some partners and special counsel, to New Orleans for its 2008 attorney retreat. I thought this was pretty cool of the firm to do, especially because there's a mix of fun, workshops that sound useful, and community service to help the residents of New Orleans.

A cynic might say that the last thing a devastated city needs is to be descended upon by a bunch of lawyers (a la Bhopal). But between the tourism dollars they'll bring in and the volunteer work they'll perform, the arrival of the Fried Frank folk is clearly a good thing. John Edwards, eat your heart out.

Announcement memo, after the jump.

For our continuing survey of the perks or fringe benefits of large law firm life, we turn our attention to a subject we've received multiple requests for: vacation. Here's a representative email:

Most Biglaw associates get four weeks of vacation. Do most people take much of their vacation time? If so, is it easier to take it in one big block or a few smaller blocks?

In our experience, it depends. When we were at a firm, we usually took a week at a time. But we had one colleague who would work like a madwoman for almost the entire year, then take a three-week jaunt off to some impossibly exotic location.

Here's another email:

I had always assumed that all firms gave 4 weeks of vacation as standard, but I have learned recently that that is not the case. For example, a friend of mine recently lateraled to [firm X], and discovered when she arrived that they only get 3 weeks vacation. (This was not mentioned in her offer letter!)

Also, at Kirkland & Ellis, first through third years apparently get 3 weeks of vacation, while more senior associates get 4 weeks.

Giving more vacation as you get more senior is how the federal government works. You have to accrue vacation ("annual leave") before spending it, and your accrual rate goes up as your tenure with the government increases. When you first start, you accrue at a rate of just four hours (or half a day) per two-week pay period. We had a colleague who made the most of this limited leave time by taking many three- or four day weekends.

Vacation has surfaced as a discussion topic in several prior perk threads, but this is the "official" post. So please discuss your employer's vacation policies -- and your strategies for making the most of it -- in the comments. Thanks.