About to start my new life in a few months in big law. What does the stub year look like? What are the expectations during the gearing up period?

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You’ll go from little expectations of you to a lot very fast, and be expected to respond extremely quickly

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Be very responsive, available, and eager to learn. Take enough pride in your work product to review it for typos and grammar errors. Review attachments before sending them (example, if you go “here’s a redline!” And then I open it and it’s all corrupted, it’s clear you didn’t even look at it), and read emails you are copied on. Keep track of your to do list. Learn from prior mistakes / corrections.

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Retake

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Oof

funnyuplifting

You got this

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Responsiveness, attention to detail, and an eager attitude are the trifecta for a new associate. Fact check the documents you touch—meaning, check dates, cites, etc. against the record or source material to make sure they’re accurate. Nobody expects you to know how to practice law, but your work product should be clean and free of factual errors or typos.

Also, if you have a partner who’s not a lawyer, be aware that this job is often an adjustment for them, too. People with normal jobs tend to not really understand why it’s hard to set boundaries in big law. Both partners having a team mentality helps a lot.

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I haven’t done caselaw research since 1L and this isn’t even my practice… wtf do I do (I am fully utilized in my normal work and have a few deals closing soon…)

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