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[quote=Anonymous]Hey op here. Just to clarify, because this thread has dialed in on a few points that aren’t really key to my question. Yes, these associates only come in the office on short days a few days a week. But their short days aren’t what’s bothering me; I was just citing those short days as examples of how we’re not treating them like crap. The associates work outside those hours too- just not a lot. We have spoken to this associate several times about their billable hours, mostly from a concern perspective (ie you won’t get bonus) but have recently gotten more specific about how many hours they should target daily and monthly. But if this associate only wants to work 1700 a year, I’m fine with that if it’s taking 1700 hours of work off my plate. So the hours aren’t a huge problem for me - so long as the work quality is good. Which it’s not.

The email attachment was a bit hyperbole (though the first associate we fired had trouble under even minor pressure with those tasks). Our current associate can handle those types of tasks, but this week dropped the ball majorly on two big things: the first, a client deadline that had been very clearly conveyed, months and months ago, and the second, a substantive research and writing assignment that was just not well done.

To clarify, our firm has extremely high retention for “home grown” associates. Our group is just having this problem with laterals. I don’t know if other groups in our firm have the same problem with laterals. No one really talks about laterals much.

To the comments above about screening, I guess I don’t know how one does that for biglaw laterals? Resume shows top law school and previous law firm. We’re hiring them as first and second years, so not sure what else can be screened? Theres not a standard work product that we can test them on, and in any event, that’s not a standard biglaw interview screening tool. How are other biglaw attorneys on here screening for lateral associates? 
Ultimately I’m pretty sure this is just because the quality of lateral applicants is horrendous these days, and that anyone looking to jump within a couple years of joining another firm is more likely than not a flawed candidate to start with. But again, just curious for experiences of others in big law. [/quote]

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