Musings on BigLaw Life

Dear 1L, I was an associate at two firms. Both were BigLaw.

♦️ FIRM A

Associates were not allowed to send department-wide emails, such as emails seeking models or asking if anyone had faced an issue before.

I believe the theory was that receiving associate emails was annoying for partners; it wasted their valuable time.

♦️ FIRM B

Associates were encouraged to draw on all department resources at the earliest stage. Department-wide emails flowed freely.

I believe the theory was that maximum efficiency came from associates receiving the best resources early and often.

⤵️

No doubt:

Firm A was a culture of competition.
Firm B was a culture of collaboration.

Also no doubt,

I greatly preferred Firm B’s collaborative approach.

🛑 BUT . . .

I was very happy at BOTH firms.

I want to say that again:

I was very happy at BOTH firms.

Why?

The people.

There were amazing people at both firms.

👉 And so, for me (and I can only speak to my own experience), FAR more important than a list of rules on some training slide is the quality of a the people at a firm.

For me, it was:
✅ Find good people.
✅ Find good culture.

🗳️ What’s your view? Have you had a different experience? I find it fascinating to learn about how things work at different BigLaw firms.

These firms all look so similar on paper, it can be difficult for law students to make sense of them.

Fondly,

💌 Amanda

P.S. Follow —> #Dear1L (>2K followers) for future letters.

P.P.S. I don’t intend this post to be controversial. It represents my own, individual and personal experience in BigLaw. I do not mean to speak to the experience of anyone else, or to suggest that anyone else should feel any particular way about that experience.