Reply to Big Law - HR meeting out of the blue

Forum Index » Jobs and Careers

Reply to "Big Law - HR meeting out of the blue "

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]This all sounds like OP was passed over for partnership -or that as part of the partner reviews they decided that OP is no longer on partner track and that there is no longer room for a senior associate who is not on partner track . This is a pretty common experience.  I’m sorry that you were surprised but with all due respect - how could you be working in Big Law and not see this coming?  [/quote]

Yep, I’ve been there. Was a senior associate with a career’s worth of good reviews, good reputation as a “firm citizen” (absolutely worthless in retrospect lol!), and then at year 7 the reviews aren’t materially different but are suddenly being interpreted differently in my evaluation meeting. “You’re doing everything right and we want you to be our colleague forever” suddenly became “we all love you but maybe it’s time to help you look for other options” when it was time for the firm to put up or shut up.

Fwiw, I’m better and more successful than my old firm could have ever dreamed. Spent 8 years in a 9-5 government job developing a particular expertise, and now back in the private sector as one of the few people with this skill set. [/quote]

Similar. I was a “rockstar” getting great reviews from hard to impress partners. Economic downtown in the group led to many of us being coached out. [/quote]

Ditto. You are a star until you are not. [/quote]

Disagree with this.  You can be a well liked associate until you're not.  But the 'stars' don't get laid off, even when hours drop.

Again, I've said that being a star isn't just simply a better attorney - it's just that circumstances that the partners have decided to vest their efforts into you more than other associates.  The partners know that there are identified star associates that they are investing in, and those ones will not get fired.  When you are an associate that is well liked, but you're not getting that extra level of attention from partners where they are clearly grooming you for partnership, that's when you are always possibly on the chopping block.  [/quote]

Agreed. I know someone whose entire performance review was basically: "well, what is there to say? With some associates we're just waiting for them to come of age." And when he made partner several people were surprised because they assumed he already was a partner, based on the level of responsibility he had been given and the way senior leadership interacted with him. Of course things might not have worked out for him if the economy tanked, but otherwise there is no way he was going to be counseled out. Unlike me. :)[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics