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Pro
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Your issue aside, this highlights exactly why biglaw is the biggest con of all time. The fact that firms are still using any attorney, even a junior, to put together signature packets (at hundreds of dollars per hour) is the reason why clients constantly feel shafted. Technology alone has made this virtually unnecessary, yet firms are not willing to utilize the technology because it would eliminate thousands of annual billables. Biglaw breeds perverse incentives that only harm our clients and makes us look like idiots.
Billable hours in general are mind bogglingly dumb. They incentivize inefficient work. They become a constant game of figuring out how to recoup time spent. When I first started I was told "billing is an art."I suspect billables will collapse in the next 20 years as boomers retire en mass and our post ww2 economic paradigm is reset.
I think occasionally helping out if the senior associate or partner (with whom you already have or want to develop a good relationship) asks as a one-off request, or their junior associate STAFFED ON THE DEAL is unavailable for some reason.
Constantly doing 1st year work for deals you're not on is a waste of your time and terribly expensive for the client. You say you're the most junior of the group. Do you not have 1st years somehow? Can secretaries or paralegals help?
I'm a third year. I'm far from the most junior but am sometimes the most junior of a deal. I'll gladly do the diligence and sig packets and such in that situation but have never been asked to help with random admin tasks for deals I'm not even on.
We have Secretaries and paralegals. I’ve looped in both on multiple occasions because this happens all the time to maybe drop a hint to utilize them when I have 0 connection to the deal, but for whatever reason doesn’t register. No 1st years.
Pro
Bill it and actually be accurate with the narrative. “Prepare signature packet per instructions from (senior associate).” That’ll put a stop to it real quick 😂
Pro
Me either A7. I like you.
Chief
Most junior of the group is the most important part of your post. If it shouldn’t be your job, whose job should it be? I don’t think these are appropriate tasks for a midlevel, but they’re even less appropriate for a senior.
You can and should delegate down to your assistant (or the senior associate or partners assistant). Maybe there’s paralegals that can help out? But ultimately it’s the job of the most junior person on the deal team to get administrative tasks handled - preferably by delegating down.
I see you mentioned you’re not even on some of these deals, which does seem inappropriate. Are you also getting good substantive work from this senior where you want to keep them happy? If this is all you’re getting from them, I’d push back, but can best do that if you’re too busy with other substantive work.
Any prospect of hiring a new junior?
The client is paying more. That email time is surely getting billed, no?
Big yikes. You don't deserve this even if you were the most junior in the group. I'd be pissed (so if you were being a brat, then that means me as well but at least that makes two of us 🙌 I'm a 5th yr btw)
Be gracious. It will pass if you do good work. Not saying you aren’t or haven’t been but you work in big law and it’s a hierarchy by it’s nature
Rising Star
Ugh this is me as well, though I don’t get asked to do this on deals I’m not on. I’m a 4th yr in biglaw, and I’m often the most junior on my deals so I have to do all the diligence, sig pages, doc distros, redlines, etc. I get that this stuff isn’t the senior’s responsibility, but I feel like I’m severely underutilized and it shouldn’t be a 4th yr’s responsibility either. I lateraled into this group from another firm where I was in the same practice area and doing much more substantive work with at least one and sometimes two juniors below me. I’m actively looking for a new job at this point. The senior associate doesn’t do much substantive work either so I feel like there’s just not much to do at this place in general. It was nice to take a break for a year, but I’m so bored now.
Rising Star
You need to find a way to spend your time on substantive matters, otherwise your career will stagnate. If it is once in a while, fine, easy hours. But if it is routine and taking up a substantial amount of time you will lose your lateral and in-house marketability as your peers outlearn you and, at some point, even your current firm will likely realize you’re a senior without senior experience and nudge you out. Though not always; this is one way people get perma-associated.
Thanks everyone! For context, I am definitely doing substantive work, but could be doing a lot more thats for sure. It sucks when you’re a midlevel but also the most junior. I don’t see that dynamic changing, so thinking of laterling to a bigger group where this isn’t an issue and I can focus exclusively on the big ticket items vs this other stuff that takes up 60% or more of my time.
The one thing no one suggested here is actually talking to the senior associate. Have a conversation. Say “hey, I don’t want to sound like a brat, but I don’t love that I’m frequently asked to do these tasks for deals I’m not associated with. I know I’m the youngest in the group, but now that I’m 4 years in I would love to take on more substantive work like X, Y and Z and it feels like at times I’m only seen as capable of handling signatures. All of that said, I respect you and would like to find a mutually suitable solution.”
Too often people leave without expressing their concerns. Then they realize when they’re halfway out the door that they could’ve just asked for a what they wanted, and they would’ve gotten it. It’s a different story when you repeatedly make your concerns crystal clear (not passively copying them on an email to their assistant) and no one does anything to address them.
And I don’t mean to sound condescending by any means, it’s just shocking to me how frequently people forget the value of frank and honest communication. It’s management 101 but no one teaches that in the law.
That’s not done when you’re four years in. All other things aside, it’s a horrible choice for the client far as costs go.
If you’re friends with the senior, make a joke “how about giving me substantive work?”