I just had a lovely lunch with two alums who work at one of my top 3 firms in town. It was awesome. I love it when the school sets stuff like this up because it is such a relaxing atmosphere, and I feel relaxed like I can be myself. The food was great. The conversation better. And they were both really candid about their jobs. Hurrah. I love it when i do something "extra" and it is totally worth my while.
Update: Zuska asked for more details, and instead of burying it in the comments, I thought that I would put it up here:
they were both litigators and newly christened partners. One of them works under a partner who is reputed to be the best litigator in town. For whatever that is worth. I asked them both about family lifestyles and if it is possible with litigation. The woman, who has one child, an 11 month old, said that it is hectic sometimes and the hours can be long, but she does a lot of it at home in the evenings when her daughter is asleep. The man, who has a 3 and a 6 year old, felt the same--it's demanding, but exciting. It is hard to plan for long term big things, like europe vacation etc, but they both enjoyed what they did so much that it didn't seem to bother them all that much.
I thought that it was interesting and significant that both of their spouses have more of a 8-5 job gig. And it seems like that really give the partners more peace of mind.
Notably, they said the people with permanent smiles on their faces at their firm are the trusts and estates people. They envy the real relationship that develops with T&E attys and their clients. They said that some clients seem to look at them as family advisors. In litigation they felt that you really don't get to know the client as well because they aren't in a "get to know you" mood. They have a problem, 99.9% of the time dramatically affecting their wallet and they want it fixed, yesterday.
One last comment they had was that litigation can be tough because you never have win/win situations. it's you win or you lose. period. and that can be heartbreaking and hard to pull through.
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2 comments:
Can you share the main points of what they said?
that seems pretty consistent with things i've seen.
especially the part about the spouse being more available. The partners at my firm are known for having either stay-at-home husbands, or (get this) a TEAM of nannies. At least 2 partners in the corporate department (women partners) have been said to have TWO nannies.
As far as the substance of litigation (i.e., losing sometimes, or forcing another to lose) - that unfortunately goes well with my personality.
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