So, There Are These Rules...

Third week on the job, now. One of my partner supervisors asks over lunch, "How's everything going? Is everyone in the group being nice? Do you like the work? Everything going okay?"

Me: "Everyone's awesome: incredibly nice, and giving me really interesting work. I was so relieved when, after she realized I knew the law and had good coverage of the substantive issues, Linda [the associate I was working for on a specific project; obvi, not her real name] was so patient with my Bluebooking errors."

Partner supervisor: "Yeah, don't worry about that. I explained to her that we love Yalies, and we realize that they don't actually teach you guys how to do that stuff. You got the important things."

Me (thinking to myself): Phew.

Not like I'm totally out of the woods or can just refuse to learn the rules (as I've explained, I'm really trying!), but it was nice to know that I'm not a total screw-up. And I guess it's good I brought my Bluebook with me for the summer. Clearly, I'm going to be needing it.

***

Tales from the Front Line: First Week on the Job

Tomorrow I'll start my second week of my 2L summer firm job. It's hard to believe I'm already 10% done...because it doesn't feel like I've done all that much yet! We had almost two days of orientation sessions, and every day features at least a lunch or breakfast gathering if not also an after-hours social event. Plus I'm always tempted to see my YLS and other friends after work. In short, these are long days. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't exhausted come Friday afternoon.

Everyone in my office (a BIG office: think 500+ lawyers, 40+ summers) has been unbelievably friendly and helpful. My assignments are interesting and related to things I know about, even if I have to ask some questions about format and "how do I use...?" the various administrative and research tools.

Entirely superficially: my office is beautiful, and out of the way enough that I'm not distracted by people constantly walking by (only quibble: my chair is a bit too short - but then, I'm short, so I might be asking too much to have a chair that boosts me up high); the out-of-office lunches have been fantastic (three restaurants I hadn't tried before but were gorgeous and scrumptious); and we're in a great location right on top of the subway.

On the home front: while we arrived to find that our sublessors didn't leave us plates, that was pretty easily addressed by a trip to IKEA. I also managed a pretty ingenious hack for shower curtain rings: I grabbed some 2" binder rings from Office Depot. The weekend has been a nice chance to recharge, take care of some errands, and try to catch up on some lingering tasks for school. I spent the afternoon in the sun, reading some articles I need to cite for a paper and making some phone calls for clinic. Just the break I needed before tomorrow's 8:30am meeting...

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Firm Rejection Letter: II

Actual Gchat conversation with a mutual friend of Cat & yours truly...xxxxxx is a first-year associate at a BigLaw firm:

...
xxxxxx: also

law firms are so great

me: haha. well, [the firm you work at] sent me a rejection letter yesterday, after *I* REJECTED *THEM* three or four weeks ago.

xxxxxx: HAHAHA

that's awesome

i told them to do it

i said it would be awkward to work with you

me: ahhh

xxxxxx: i'm a pretty big wheel at [my firm]

me: oh yeah? a squeaky one?

xxxxxx: i get so much grease

me: eew?

xxxxxx: i'm not sure what that even means

Firm Rejection Letter

I have gotten a lot of rejection letters from law firms. Most were really polite, but there have been some doozys. Up until today, my favorite was the firm that sent me a rejection letter postdated two days after I had withdrawn myself from consideration at their firm. (I guess to show me just where I stood.) However, I can't resist sharing my new favorite:




In case you can't read it - I think it expands if you click on it, but posting this pushed the limits of my technological abilities - it says:

"Thank you for taking the time to meet with our Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher recruiters on campus at [school name] last August [September for Penn]. Please accept our apologies for the delay in communicating with you following our on-campus interviews.

We are now coming to the end of our recruiting process, and we do not anticipate extending additional callbacks. However, we wanted to take a moment to thank you for your interest in our firm and also to wish you all the best as you complete your degree and begin your legal career."

I'll point out that their legal recruiter was actually very friendly when we met on campus, and it seemed like a great firm to work for. Still . . .

Some More Words on Interviewing

Our poster had a good point - I am, of course, very grateful to have the opportunity to do all these interviews. That does not mean, however, that the process was pleasant. I had the flu, and running all over New York to do between four and nine half-hour interviews a day was not fun. The interviewers themselves were extraordinarily varied. I met some incredibly kind and helpful people, some very direct and professional folks, and one extremely rude gentleman from a firm that shall remain nameless. I had some delicious lunches, which I couldn't really eat because I was nauseous, and met a large number of extremely nice junior associates. Despite that fact that most of the people I met were friendly, approachable, and genuinely interested in making sure that both I and they made the right decision, I think that even had I been in the best of health, the process would have been pretty miserable.

Before this week, every firm looked identical to me. I had no experience with law firms, and to be honest, very little idea of what they actually did. I still don't have a great understanding of what your archetypal New York law firm does, especially the corporate sections of it. Now, though, I see that there are actual differences between firms. One partner told me to "kick the tires a bit" while I was interviewing, and so I tried to do that. For examples, firms have different ways of assigning work to associates that seems to have a tangible impact on the associate experience. There are definite cultural differences between really large firms as compared with smaller ones. Some firms seemed more formal, while in others, no one was wearing suits. And, associates did actually say different things about how many hours they worked per week, and how happy they were with their jobs.

All in all, I hope this week will result in both some job offers, and also a better conception of how to chose between firms. I'm happy I got a chance to participate in fly-out week. However, I think I'm going to retire to bed until Monday to recover from the experience.