Reply to Big Law - HR meeting out of the blue

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]There seems to be consistent responses here from the biglaw attorneys who have been in the system for at least a couple slowdown cycles, so here's a summary of the posts:

- Law firms don't do PIP or put you on a plan on notice. When you get the call, it is the call. 
- The call may be with HR and/or with a partner. 
- Law firms will not, during that meeting, hand you a box and walk you outside. 
- Low quality work or low hours are both a basis for being let go.  Both are considered performance issues.  They often overlap (that is, the poor quality unliked associate gets little work from partners, because they don't like working with them - so hours are low).  But not always.  Sometimes, the market is just slow and there is not enough work to go around to all associates, in which case, perfectly good associates are laid off.  This happens all the time.  
- The firm will absolutely let you go during this meeting, even without having mentioned a previous problem. That is the law firm contract - live by the billable hour. 
- The firm won't wait a year for low hours; they are tracking the economy and each industry and making judgment calls. If things are slow now and they are expected to continue for at least [X period of time], they will cull now.  These calls can be made within 3 months of market shifts. 
- However, women coming back from leave are typically given an informal pass on being fired for low hours, for some reasonable window after they return. Because it is a near universal experience to have a long ramp up period after leave, so if firms did not offer this reprieve, they would be firing most new mothers. Which would in fact be a PR disaster. However, most firms do penalize these women through no bonus. Some firms are fixing this. 
- Paternity leave is evolving, and taken inconsistently, so there is not enough data to know if men are being penalized the same as women. OP is a woman, so not relevant. 
- law firms don't like firing people. They invest a lot of time in associate hiring and matching of culture and personalities; they are disappointed to let you go. They also don't want to be sued.  As a consequence, their exit packages are very generous - long severance, negotiable time to stay on the webpage, continuing health insurance, don't fight unemployment, etc.
- Whether you want to start downloading files etc is a decision left to you. There are explicit firm policies against that, and they are definitely used to fire attorneys. But if they've already let you go, I doubt they will give you a hard time. Every time partners jump to new firms, they take all their work product - and I don't think that is usually prosecuted. 
- Hiring law firms get that this happens and understand that perfectly good associates may be let go - and so being gently pushed out of a law firm is not the same pox as being fired in other industries. Most associates who are pushed out are able to find similar work elsewhere (2008/9 being an exception, because no one was hiring). 
 
Good luck OP; would be very weird to be getting let go three months after leave and after a positive job review, but it's hard to imagine what else is being discussed. If it is bad news, you will genuinely be fine. There is a lot of hiring going on. [/quote]

This is op. Thanks for this summary. Will update the group later this afternoon. The only update I have for you all now is that the meeting was supposed to be in person but the partner is out sick so it will be me and the HR person in the office and the partner joining through zoom. That kind of takes some pressure off, but at the same time, it’s harder to get a read on a person and their body language through a webcam. [/quote]

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