Best big law perks

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My dh works for big law. I'd say the best perk is that he is treated like a grown up. He works crazy hours, bu he can work from home whenever unless he has a meeting. He doesn't have to ask for permission to go to the dentist. He takes vacation when he wants, if work allows.

It sounds nice in theory. In practice, you never take vacation. Either you're slammed with work, so you can't take vacation, or you don't have enough work, and you don't want to be away from the office and look like a slacker, so you can't take vacation.

When I left as a second year, I got four weeks of vacation back pay. Nice (I never took vacation except a day or two around holidays)

Huh? Even the geovernment pays you for unused vacation. Why is this such a sweet benefit?

Must depend on the firm; my biglaw firm did not pay me for unused vacation when I left. I knew this was the policy though so I used up almost all of my vacation prior to leaving.

I am the PP - maybe I misunderstood the question. Are we talking about the best law firm perks relative to other BigLaw firms OR perks that you get at law firms that are not available in other environments?

[Anonymous]

Um, I don't work for big law. I work as an attorney for government, and yes, I have to ask permission to schedule a doctors appt. I have to fill out a leave slip. [code]
Um, I really don't see this as a big issue, having worked as an attorney for the government myself. You fill out a slip and submit it electronically. I have never once had a manager say no, or even follow up with me on the issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Um, I don't work for big law. I work as an attorney for government, and yes, I have to ask permission to schedule a doctors appt. I have to fill out a leave slip. [code]
Um, I really don't see this as a big issue, having worked as an attorney for the government myself. You fill out a slip and submit it electronically. I have never once had a manager say no, or even follow up with me on the issue.

+1, it's really more administrative than anything else so they can track your sick time. My supervisor has more important things to worry about and could care less when I'm going to the dr.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My dh works for big law. I'd say the best perk is that he is treated like a grown up. He works crazy hours, bu he can work from home whenever unless he has a meeting. He doesn't have to ask for permission to go to the dentist. He takes vacation when he wants, if work allows.

It sounds nice in theory. In practice, you never take vacation. Either you're slammed with work, so you can't take vacation, or you don't have enough work, and you don't want to be away from the office and look like a slacker, so you can't take vacation.

That's true. But still...while he is a slave to the work, he still is treated like a grown up. He doesn't have to ask permission to go to a doctors appointment or step outside for lunch when he wants.

Um, who has to do that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My dh works for big law. I'd say the best perk is that he is treated like a grown up. He works crazy hours, bu he can work from home whenever unless he has a meeting. He doesn't have to ask for permission to go to the dentist. He takes vacation when he wants, if work allows.

It sounds nice in theory. In practice, you never take vacation. Either you're slammed with work, so you can't take vacation, or you don't have enough work, and you don't want to be away from the office and look like a slacker, so you can't take vacation.

When I left as a second year, I got four weeks of vacation back pay. Nice (I never took vacation except a day or two around holidays)

Huh? Even the geovernment pays you for unused vacation. Why is this such a sweet benefit?

Must depend on the firm; my biglaw firm did not pay me for unused vacation when I left. I knew this was the policy though so I used up almost all of my vacation prior to leaving.

My firm paid for unused vacation when I left. But you didn't get charged with a vacation day if you billed at least one hour to a client. So when I knew I was leaving within a year, I made sure I worked at least an hour every vacation day so that I'd get paid $800 for that day when I left. Firm management knew that this happened, but viewed it as an informal departure bonus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My dh works for big law. I'd say the best perk is that he is treated like a grown up. He works crazy hours, bu he can work from home whenever unless he has a meeting. He doesn't have to ask for permission to go to the dentist. He takes vacation when he wants, if work allows.

It sounds nice in theory. In practice, you never take vacation. Either you're slammed with work, so you can't take vacation, or you don't have enough work, and you don't want to be away from the office and look like a slacker, so you can't take vacation.

That's true. But still...while he is a slave to the work, he still is treated like a grown up. He doesn't have to ask permission to go to a doctors appointment or step outside for lunch when he wants.

Um, who has to do that?

I worked at 1000-employee corporation headquartered locally for ten years. One year the CEO freaked out on December 26 because there was hardly anyone in the office and not enough people had officially taken leave. Thereafter, every employee up to the SVP level had to punch a time clock.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Free emergency childcare

Because God forbid you take a day off because your kid is sick.

[Anonymous]

The cash money. That is it. That is why we do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The cash money. That is it. That is why we do it.

Amen

[Anonymous]

We used to have a daily dessert cart that came around at 4 pm. They would ring a little silver bell and everyone would come out of their offices to buy a slice of cake or a sweet. Come to think of it, the desserts weren't free. It would've been better if they had been, I guess. That practice discontinued shortly before I left the firm, though.

[Anonymous]

Car service. Good hotels and restaurants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Free emergency childcare

Because God forbid you take a day off because your kid is sick.

Um, it's frequently used when regular childcare falls through.

[Anonymous]

what is with the person beginning all of his/her posts with "um,"? STOP THAT!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:what is with the person beginning all of his/her posts with "um,"? STOP THAT!

What makes you think it's one person?

[Anonymous]

most people don't write like that. the "um..." posts are pretty much all showing up in this thread.