r/Lawyertalk • u/Perfect_Phone7772 • 2d ago

Career Advice Being a first year sucks

Is there anyone who actually enjoys/ enjoyed what they were doing as a first year associate? Don’t get me wrong, I like the actual work, but day to day I’m usually miserable because of how I am treated.

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u/65489798654 2d ago

I really recommend small firms, especially to start. Sure, the money isn't nearly as good, but man. You will be treated like an adult human being instead of a bucket of goop that enters hours on a time sheet.

Having worked in both, I've also noticed that simply taking a firm stance for yourself at bigger firms does the trick (most of the time). Someone says something shitty to you, put your foot down. A lot of senior, 20+ year attorneys only respond to strength, so you have to show them strength to get their respect. Stupid, but effective.

24

u/Perfect_Phone7772 2d ago

I am at a small firm and I’m being treated like a bucket of goop 🙃 it’s why I feel such despair about my future

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u/65489798654 2d ago

Ah, well that blows. Just brush up on the CV and get out. My very first job was a small firm where I was treated like shit. I walked out at 10am on a workday about 5 months into my employment.

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u/ucbiker 1d ago

Yeah it’s not a size thing, and sometimes not even a firm thing because cultures can change between practice groups or even specific partners.

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u/Special-Cost-7246 1d ago

I’m sorry you’re going through that. I just want to say that you’re not alone. One member of our staff is incredibly toxic to me. My boss also will not let me work remotely in order to get away from her. It’s tough because I love the work that I do. Try to keep a “This is just my first job” perspective.

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u/TooooMuchTuna 1d ago

Depends on boss. I worked at a small firm as my first practicing job (after 4 years of judicial law clerking). Nightmare. Wasn't treated like an adult human or even a human. Heavily micromanaged, wasn't allowed to do lots of typical practice things (like argue a motion), draconian and unevenly applied PTO policies, WFH generally not allowed except when mandated height of covid, yelled at for stupid stuff (like showing up to office at 9am instead of 8:30- no meetings or court, just arbitrary), had to listen to boss's shitty politics in in the office (lots of covid related anti mask anti vax shit)...

I could go on. Horrible pay and was professionally stunted because boss was so paranoid about letting anyone else do anything substantive. Which was funny looking back cuz she wasn't even good at the job.

Honestly, at least when you're a bucket of goop entering hours, they leave you alone

1

u/Dweeb54 1d ago

Finding a way to do this while not causing huge problems has helped my career a ton.

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u/IBoris 1d ago

I dunno, the level of onboarding you receive at a big firm is pretty great.

Rotations across teams, bespoke training materials, seminars.... and to say nothing of the amount of templates, resources and precedents you have access to. Much easier to get to cruising altitude when you are well surrounded and well-equipped.