s/o Bad law jobs

[Anonymous]

I am a lawyer who worked at a small non-profit on Pennsylvania Ave. during 9/11. I worked the next day and every weekday after. I do not think that having to work makes it a "bad law job" or any kind of bad job. Thaw country, from garage workers and retail through government and private sector kept working. Unless your family, workplace, or mode of transportation was directly impacted, what is the problem with continuing to work.

[Anonymous]

First, it was to get out of harms way. Going from my high rise overlooking the Pentagon to my suburban home was a good thing. Also, we did not know what was going to happen next. Thirdly, we needed to clear out areas for the first responders.

I took metro that day to my Rosslyn office (not law). I did not take metro home, because I knew Metro was a soft target, and what a wonderful way to really screw up DC: in the middle of it all, attack metro. Fortunately Al Quaida did not do that. I left my office at about 11:00, and made it home at about 3:00....commuted on the W O & D on foot.

And my office story: at about 9:50, we were gathered in the conference room, watching the action at the Pentagon with the TV on, and the director comes in and wonders "What Charge Number are you using?" I responed with the number for vacation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a lawyer who worked at a small non-profit on Pennsylvania Ave. during 9/11. I worked the next day and every weekday after. I do not think that having to work makes it a "bad law job" or any kind of bad job. Thaw country, from garage workers and retail through government and private sector kept working. Unless your family, workplace, or mode of transportation was directly impacted, what is the problem with continuing to work.

Some people see this a a loss of perspective. And you can't see it if you've lost it. What works for you isn't universal for sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a lawyer who worked at a small non-profit on Pennsylvania Ave. during 9/11. I worked the next day and every weekday after. I do not think that having to work makes it a "bad law job" or any kind of bad job. Thaw country, from garage workers and retail through government and private sector kept working. Unless your family, workplace, or mode of transportation was directly impacted, what is the problem with continuing to work.

Some people see this a a loss of perspective. And you can't see it if you've lost it. What works for you isn't universal for sure.

I don't see it as a loss of perspective. Its always struck me as stranger when people cite a major event as the "moment" that they realized their life needs dramatic re-balancing. Did it really take a major terrorist event to make it apparent that spending time with loved ones is important? To each his or her own, but I find it moderately annoying when someone who's had this sort of epiphany acts as though they've realized something all the other drones haven't, and therefore others have lost perspective. All you know, from your experience, is that at some point you lost perspective and somehow refound it. Perhaps others never missed the point to begin with, and are simply comfortable and happy with how they've balanced their lives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a lawyer who worked at a small non-profit on Pennsylvania Ave. during 9/11. I worked the next day and every weekday after. I do not think that having to work makes it a "bad law job" or any kind of bad job. Thaw country, from garage workers and retail through government and private sector kept working. Unless your family, workplace, or mode of transportation was directly impacted, what is the problem with continuing to work.

Some people see this a a loss of perspective. And you can't see it if you've lost it. What works for you isn't universal for sure.

I don't see it as a loss of perspective. Its always struck me as stranger when people cite a major event as the "moment" that they realized their life needs dramatic re-balancing. Did it really take a major terrorist event to make it apparent that spending time with loved ones is important? To each his or her own, but I find it moderately annoying when someone who's had this sort of epiphany acts as though they've realized something all the other drones haven't, and therefore others have lost perspective. All you know, from your experience, is that at some point you lost perspective and somehow refound it. Perhaps others never missed the point to begin with, and are simply comfortable and happy with how they've balanced their lives.

And you're certainly entitled to your point of view. Just as I am. No need to be "moderately annoyed."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a lawyer who worked at a small non-profit on Pennsylvania Ave. during 9/11. I worked the next day and every weekday after. I do not think that having to work makes it a "bad law job" or any kind of bad job. Thaw country, from garage workers and retail through government and private sector kept working. Unless your family, workplace, or mode of transportation was directly impacted, what is the problem with continuing to work.

Some people see this a a loss of perspective. And you can't see it if you've lost it. What works for you isn't universal for sure.

I don't see it as a loss of perspective. Its always struck me as stranger when people cite a major event as the "moment" that they realized their life needs dramatic re-balancing. Did it really take a major terrorist event to make it apparent that spending time with loved ones is important? To each his or her own, but I find it moderately annoying when someone who's had this sort of epiphany acts as though they've realized something all the other drones haven't, and therefore others have lost perspective. All you know, from your experience, is that at some point you lost perspective and somehow refound it. Perhaps others never missed the point to begin with, and are simply comfortable and happy with how they've balanced their lives.

+1. There's something faintly pedantic about such posts, not to mention unseemly about people capitalizing on tragedies as a pretext to claim the moral high ground.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a lawyer who worked at a small non-profit on Pennsylvania Ave. during 9/11. I worked the next day and every weekday after. I do not think that having to work makes it a "bad law job" or any kind of bad job. Thaw country, from garage workers and retail through government and private sector kept working. Unless your family, workplace, or mode of transportation was directly impacted, what is the problem with continuing to work.

Some people see this a a loss of perspective. And you can't see it if you've lost it. What works for you isn't universal for sure.

I don't see it as a loss of perspective. Its always struck me as stranger when people cite a major event as the "moment" that they realized their life needs dramatic re-balancing. Did it really take a major terrorist event to make it apparent that spending time with loved ones is important? To each his or her own, but I find it moderately annoying when someone who's had this sort of epiphany acts as though they've realized something all the other drones haven't, and therefore others have lost perspective. All you know, from your experience, is that at some point you lost perspective and somehow refound it. Perhaps others never missed the point to begin with, and are simply comfortable and happy with how they've balanced their lives.

+1. There's something faintly pedantic about such posts, not to mention unseemly about people capitalizing on tragedies as a pretext to claim the moral high ground.

There's people who moralize about how much they work (and berate people they see as slackers) -- and are unable to understand situations that might cause reasonable people to not be as interested in work for a while.

One example being the guy who wanted to know what charge code was being used while folks were watching TV on 9/11 -- another being the woman who wanted to have the conference call a few hours after having the C-section.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I worked at a horrible law firm. This one partner set up a nanny cam in another associate's office (also female, who worked for her). Another associate noticed it and asked what it was.

This other partner insisted that the associates working for her department input their billables every night before leaving. She would randomly print out a list of everyone's billables that month to date and walk around berating people.

DId I work there with you? Was it in the early 2000s and the crazy billable partner did government contracts litigation? That firm also told us to keep working on 9/11. It was a terrible place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know a team of litigators who kept working on 9-11 because they had a court filing due.

Totally different, although most courts ended up closing.

DC firm overlooking the White House and DC evacuations. Could see smoke fromPentagon burning and court was ITC (in DC). I quit shortly thereafter.

We closed a deal that morning in NY in a building across from the WTC (1 Liberty). You do what you have to do. Nobody really knew what to do anyway. Eventually we evacuated. It wasn't a horrible job. It was a horrible DAY.

I was in mid-town nyc that day. I'd say that until both the buildings actually FELL DOWN (10:30am) people outside of the WTC were still in a kind of denial about what was happening. But when the buildings fell and you started seeing dust-covered people walking up 5th Ave then reality set in. Still, closing a deal at 1 Liberty on the morning of 9/11 is pretty bad ass/slash/crazy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That's good for you. Really. It was enough for me to realize that I wanted to spend my day with my kids doing things important to my family (not my client).

I didn't have kids at the time, so save the holier-than-thou atitude for someone else. I still work in BL and I do have kids now, but it would not have somehow transformed it into a horrible job for me. It was a horrible day. Many clients lost people that day. Part of my job was holding it together for them, and I would do it again

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's good for you. Really. It was enough for me to realize that I wanted to spend my day with my kids doing things important to my family (not my client).

I didn't have kids at the time, so save the holier-than-thou atitude for someone else. I still work in BL and I do have kids now, but it would not have somehow transformed it into a horrible job for me. It was a horrible day. Many clients lost people that day. Part of my job was holding it together for them, and I would do it again

Where would your kids go?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's good for you. Really. It was enough for me to realize that I wanted to spend my day with my kids doing things important to my family (not my client).

I didn't have kids at the time, so save the holier-than-thou atitude for someone else. I still work in BL and I do have kids now, but it would not have somehow transformed it into a horrible job for me. It was a horrible day. Many clients lost people that day. Part of my job was holding it together for them, and I would do it again

Clap clap clap. I was a biglaw partner that day. I had just the Friday before asked the partnership for a drastically reduced work schedule (unheard of at the time at this "top" firm). On Sept 13 my proposal was granted "whole-heartedly." As much as the excom had hearts, I think there were sincere. Most of the senior partners I saw on 9-11 looked terribly affected by events of the day (and there were a few others who kept the meeting in the conference room going full swing despite the constant sound of ambulances--we overlooked the DC response staging area--and helicopters and more). And you're the one who keeps talking about a horrible job. I liked my job.

[Anonymous]

I am the PP who mentioned that I went back to my job one block from the White House on 9-12. I think some of these posts are a little mixed up. If people were working otherwise horrible jobs and the events of 9-11 made them feel that it was time to make a change, that is one thing. But I do not think that having to work that day, or the day after, makes something a horrible job in and of itself. The country kept moving and the jobs kept getting done. Nothing "bad" about that

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am the PP who mentioned that I went back to my job one block from the White House on 9-12. I think some of these posts are a little mixed up. If people were working otherwise horrible jobs and the events of 9-11 made them feel that it was time to make a change, that is one thing. But I do not think that having to work that day, or the day after, makes something a horrible job in and of itself. The country kept moving and the jobs kept getting done. Nothing "bad" about that

I think those of us who were working downtown and legitimately wondering where the next shoe (or plane, as it were) was going to drop, and were not "holding it together" for people suffering more directly from the attacks or otherwise engaged in critical time sensitive work, were entitled to work or go home as felt appropriate, and I think any firm that made people work for the sake of billing a few more hours that day exhibited a lack of perspective that probably made it a bad place to work.

the next day, eh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am the PP who mentioned that I went back to my job one block from the White House on 9-12. I think some of these posts are a little mixed up. If people were working otherwise horrible jobs and the events of 9-11 made them feel that it was time to make a change, that is one thing. But I do not think that having to work that day, or the day after, makes something a horrible job in and of itself. The country kept moving and the jobs kept getting done. Nothing "bad" about that

I think those of us who were working downtown and legitimately wondering where the next shoe (or plane, as it were) was going to drop, and were not "holding it together" for people suffering more directly from the attacks or otherwise engaged in critical time sensitive work, were entitled to work or go home as felt appropriate, and I think any firm that made people work for the sake of billing a few more hours that day exhibited a lack of perspective that probably made it a bad place to work.

the next day, eh.

This. No one here, except the one pp as far as I can tell, keeps saying the job is terrible.