Big Law
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Anonymous
| Anyone child in Big Law. What their experience and what schools did they go to? |
Anonymous
|
Dickinson then Penn. They are second year associate at a Biglaw firm in M&A. Got out early (6 pm) on Thanksgiving. We saved them a plate and then they had dessert with us.
Total comp this year will be $260k. So we talked about that for 45 minutes and then they took Metro back to their apartment in CityCenterDC. |
Anonymous
Sounds miserable. |
Anonymous
Sounds troll . . . and false. Big law shuts down Wed-Sun on Thanksgiving week. Unless there is a deal ------ and if there was -- DC associates would not be working Thanksgiving. |
Anonymous
I was in DC Biglaw and worked over several Thanksgivings. I was able to do so remotely, but ended up sequestering myself in a bedroom at my relatives' houses. If I was local I might have gone into the office for a quieter work spot. |
Anonymous
Big law shuts down on holidays just like it shuts down on weekends. As an associate, you are completely at the mercy of the partners you are working for and the workload of the cases/deals you are on. Golden handcuffs. OP, if you kid chooses this life on their own, support them in every way possible. But please don’t push it on them. For many of us, this road is not a happy one. |
Anonymous
Of the five BigLaw partners I know, all are doing everything possible to ensure their own kids don’t follow the path (short of handing them tons of $$$s). They figure at least if the kid does follow, the kid will know exactly how mind-numbing and painful the job may be so no pollyannish view. |
Anonymous
Two different years, I had Thanksgiving day meal at DC Coast with my team. And I was a litigation associate. One year summary judgment brief was due week after Thanksgiving and the other year was some BS partner-imposed deadline. |
Anonymous
Sort of agree. Agree that they didn't "get out early" at 6pm on Thanksgiving to the extent anyone was expecting them to be in the office. But it is not unheard of for lawyers (including myself) to be in the office on Thanksgiving. It's so easy to get stuff done with no one there. But yeah, odds are that PP was trolling. |
Anonymous
Ha no it doesn’t |
Anonymous
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Op you can go on any of the big law websites and see what people’s undergrad and law schools were. There’s no exact formula, but usually a top 10-15 law firm will give you a decent chance at going into big law, and it’s practically guaranteed to get an offer coming from a top 5 law school as long as you’re a reasonably social person.
Get more junior you are, the more unpredictable your hours are (I know many colleagues who worked on Thanksgiving and the following days after) especially when more junior. I’m in a niche litigation practice and now don’t often work holidays because I can plan ahead now and am directing work streams. But it’s still a ton of work. It’s not for anyone who doesn’t really want to be here. Lots drop out throughout the years because they went to law school without a vision or soon thereafter figured out they dont enjoy having 0 absolutely guaranteed off time. |
Anonymous
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OP, the rule of thumb for getting a job in BigLaw is to attend one of the T14 law schools. Any one of them is fine. Get good grades first year especially. Obviously, hiring will vary with the state of the market.
For undergrad, get a high GPA in a normal major at a top 100+ school. Your state flagship will do just fine. You don't need to be picky and you definitely do not need to attend a prestigious undergrad for T14 admission or for BigLaw. Consider working full-time after college in a real-world setting for a couple of years. Definitely does not have to be a legal setting; business of some kind is perfect. (Any minute now, someone will come along with a list of undergrad "feeders" to T14 and focus on Yale Law School specifically. Ignore them.) |
Anonymous
| "Big Law"...puke. So pretentious. |
Anonymous
Lol if you truly think that Big law “shuts down” from Wed to Sun on Thanksgiving. That’s laughable. |
Anonymous
Agree, better to hitch a ride on that pipeline from Bucknell to The Street. Now THAT'S livin'. |