Are you curious about what it's actually like to work as a big law
firm associate in New York City?
If so, you are in the right place.
And in this video here I gave my first reactions to
Netflix's partner track series.
But there are just so many great gems in these episodes to really dig into and
kind of highlight the experiences that are real that you can actually expect
and the ones that are completely made up.
So let's dive in.
There's Marty Adler and half the management committee.
It's hard to carry this firm on.
Looks like Marty's RainDance paid off.
Marty's not a rainmaker.
He's a king maker.
Whoever gets on his deal wins the golden ticket.
They're still promoting everyone who's tracking, right?
What do you have to worry about Mr.
Gretchen?
Landres?
? So what they're talking about in this clip is whether all of the associates
who are on track to make partner are actually going to make partner.
And the short answer is no, not all associates who are eligible for
partner are going to actually make it.
And what's really screwed up about this process in reality is kind
of what's reflected here in that there's not a lot of visibility.
Who's gonna make partner until you actually make it or not.
And so that builds up a lot of resentment among the associates because if you're
not really being told through the years, your eight years, 10 years of being an
associate, whether you're on track or what you need to do better or sort of what
your chances are or how to improve those chances, once you get to that partnership
vote or that partnership decision and, and you don't make it, it really feels.
You've kind of been hoodwinked these last eight to 10 years into billing
a ton of hours and working really hard and being really loyal to a
firm that doesn't then promote you.
And so there is a real problem of transparency in the actual process of
becoming partner, and a lot of associates aren't told whether that is likely
for them or not until six months, 12 months before that actual partnership.
Get your feet off the goddamn desk.
This woman graduated number two in her class at Harvard Law while
your ass was probably flunking.
Colgate.
Show some freaking respect.
I wanted to include this clip because even just hearing it trigger something
inside of me and specifically about Ingrid being number two at her class at Harvard.
And so what this sort of brings to mind for me is just this a really intense
inferiority complex that I had working in a big law firm in Newark, New York City,
coming from a non T 14 law school, and I.
Assumed off the bat that if you had graduated from a T 14 or
a T 10 or a T five law school, you were inherently better.
You were a better writer, you were a better oral advocate.
You were just an overall smarter, more accomplished lawyer.
And so, although you could, of course never generalize about any group of
people and their abilities, I just want you guys to know that in my personal.
Experience working with associates and working for partners who
came from those top law schools.
I was overall way less impressed with them than I was with people
graduating from non T 14 law schools.
And I have a theory about why this is so.
The people, the associates in the partners coming from these higher
ranked law schools, I assume that that process, once they got.
From the start of law school to getting this job was just a lot easier for them.
I assumed that they didn't have to work as hard.
I assumed that they could coast and that it just wasn't that
challenging to get where they were.
And so they got used to kind of throwing in the towel and giving a B minus effort.
Whereas the associates and the partners who came from lower ranked law schools and
kind of no name law schools really had to work hard to make a name for themselves
and, and make themselves stand out.
maybe just in inherently feel sort of worthy of this role.
And so I, it would always be really funny when I got staffed on cases to see where
these people went to law school, because generally speaking, the best writers, the
best oral advocates, the best strategists came from these lower ranked law schools.
So I just wanted to share that with you guys in case you also have this
imposter syndrome inferiority complex that I had when I started out as an a.
Seriously, Ingrid.
Life is not just about making partner.
You've gotta get out there and live a little.
I will after I make junior partner.
Speaking of, I've got the department meeting.
Good luck with, you know who, and I don't mean Marty Adler.
Life is not just about making partner.
This is possibly simultaneously the most accurate advice and also
the most ignored advice that a big law associate could possibly get.
Because if you are someone who is drawn to working as an associate in
a big law firm, you are generally going to be driven and ambitious
and some version of a workaholic, and really, Focused on your career.
And so yeah, even though we know that there are different aspects
to life that we should be balance.
It's really hard not to have one of your singular focus be
that potential for partnership.
And so one of the things that I think is helpful to keep in mind if being a partner
is something you think you might wanna do is the understanding that once you make
partner, it doesn't magically get easier.
It's not like this finish line that you cross and then you can take a breath.
In fact, of the associates that I know who have made partner across the.
People have said that it is actually more work because simultaneously you are being
expected to bill ours like you are an associate and you now have this additional
expectation of starting to develop these client relationships so you can eventually
bring in business to the law firm.
I'm a first year here at Parsons.
I am really excited to be here.
, may I ask you a question?
Don't ask permission to ask a question.
Just ask questions.
, of course.
Um, so in intellectual property law, we studied the Lian Huntsman case.
, and well, how you handled the patent issues was brilliant.
And I stop, stop talking Sanders, right?
No one's buying your wide eyed on your new act.
It's manipulative and a cliche . And stop.
That's making me mad.
Laughter is a cowards expression of fear.
You know, I've asked them to move this paragraph three times.
I don't want, they really should go over, Marty learn orientation,
read your audience help.
This clip is so cringey to watch, but it's not inaccurate.
There, of course, are hundreds and thousands of law firm partners out
there, and everybody has different personality types, but there
are a lot of partners out there.
and even the ones who aren't, are going to be busy and stressed and
have a lot of demands on their time.
And so kind of coming up in the middle of a workday to strike up a conversation
or ask a general question is not really going to be received very well.
And so no matter how often or how much a law firm.
Touts open door policies and asking a lot of questions.
There are definitely strategies for how to go about asking questions and
when, and you never wanna just walk up to a partner, into a partner's
office and, and start chatting.
And so one of the things that my dad actually taught me years ago, and he's an
engineer in, in the oil industry, and so not at all associated with law firms and.
And lawyers, but one of the things that he noticed sort of in corporate
America was this concept of be brief, be brilliant, be gone.
So get me the information I need as quickly into the point as you
possibly can and then get out.
And the same is true for law firms.
As a young associate, the most valuable, uh, you can be in the, the biggest value
add you can make for partners is to find out what information they need, get them
that information in a sort of small.
Uh, and as clearly and, and quickly as possible, and then leave.
And that is absolutely what I found to be true as well.
So just sort of a, a, a word of warning and award of wisdom onto new business.
Suncorp, big time energy conglomerate in Houston is acquiring Men Enterprises.
A clean tech play for 2.9 billion.
Whew, that's real money.
This deal could make or break.
One of the things about working in big law that feels exciting or seems really
enticing are the sizes of the cases and deals that you're gonna be working on.
So in this clip, they're working on a 2.9 billion deal, and it's
not uncommon to have cases and deals that are in the hundreds of
millions or even billions of dollars.
And so one of the things about big law is being.
See the work that you're doing, show up on the Wall Street Journal
or in different legal blogs and things, and that is exciting.
It makes you feel like you're sort of at the top of your industry and
you're doing really important work, which I'm not discounting at all.
But one of the flip sides to be aware of is that in a big law firm where
these case and and deal sizes are so huge, When you're a junior associate,
you're going to be doing a lot less substantive work on those cases.
And so from a litigation perspective, you could be doing a lot of document
review, a lot of case research, a lot of written discovery.
Whereas if you are working on smaller cases or deals in smaller law firms,
mid-size law firms, you could be taking depositions, making oral arguments
in court, even meeting with clients a whole lot earlier, and you have that
level of ownership and that level of responsibility a lot earlier on.
then you will in a big law firm that has a really, really structured hierarchy.
You're early, you're early on time, you're on time, you're late.
Punctuality is a virtue.
I'm Ted Lasser.
Hey, um, Justin Coleman.
Justin, nice to see you.
Um, listen, when you get a second, we get some, uh, Pellegrino brought up.
Of course.
Justin, please call Dining services and let them know.
Well shoot.
Ingrid Young.
I'm the senior associate on the deal.
It's great to meet you Ted.
Ted Lasseter.
No hard feelings.
I hope you just don't look a day over 18 to me.
You folks are lucky that way.
Right?
This is my, uh, general counsel.
It's Mark Trainor.
This clip is incredibly insulting and absolutely hits home.
So I personally have never been mistaken for a paralegal or a legal secretary
just because I was a woman in a law firm.
But that absolutely 100% still happens.
And the thing that I remember in terms of the sexism that still exists
in law firms, which tend to be more conservative institutions, is that
there was a range from sort of passively demeaning to absolutely in your face.
And so one of the things.
Remember is being called sweetheart by a lot of older male attorneys, and I don't
think that they meant anything by it.
I don't think that they meant to be insulting, but it was incredibly demeaning
and being in a professional environment and being basically referred to as kind
of their granddaughter or their young.
Three year old daughter or something like that was the vibe that I got from it.
So it was, um, definitely something that I let slide and never said
anything about, but it absolutely affected me in the moment.
And then the other sort of in your face sexism that I experienced was, I
was actually in a law firm interview and I was told that I would play
well with female jurors because I was pretty, but not too pretty.
And I had no idea what to do with that.
I didn't say anything.
I never brought it up again.
And I don't know that I have any real words of wisdom other than if you
feel confident saying something in the moment or talking to that person
afterwards about their comment, definitely do that, but also don't feel
badly if it takes you a few years to really feel like you have grounding
at that firm and a really sort of.
Stance where you feel safe enough to call out comments like that,
that are critical or disrespectful.
So those are my part two partner track takeaways.
And of course, if you guys wanna connect with people who have boots on the
ground going through this stuff in real time, then definitely check out the
Free Law School Network Facebook group.
It has over 3000 pre-law students and law students who are literally
having these summer associate ships and these junior associate ships in
big law firms across the country.
And they're great people to connect with, grow your network.
The questions that you can't really get answers to anywhere else.
So I hope you guys enjoyed it and I'll see you in the next one.