Am I underpaid?

I am a first year associate in a midwest town population 200k. My firm is 5 attorneys and we do estate planning, civil lit, and business transactions.

I am billed at $325/hr and have a daily billing requirement of 6 hours. I get $1500 in annual CLE costs, malpractice insurance covered by the firm, no other benefits of any kind, no fixed annual vacation, no annual bonuses (only eligible for bonus if I bill more than 160hrs in a month), salary is $85k.

Is it just me, or does Seattle not feel as "welcoming" for first-generation immigrants?

Generally what percentage of variable pay based on company and individual performance is paid out to employees ?

LCSW 50k loan repayment- Has anyone been granted a contract through the National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program? I’m interested in applying for the 2 years of full time work as an LCSW but my loans are a bit under 50k so I’m wondering if they would only give me what I need to clear my loans or would I still get 50k as long as I complete my contract ?

If you could go back in time what would you tell yourself before taking out student loans?

I have a 25K loan from my MBA. I paid off 100k whole, after graduation. 3 years ago, I moved my loan from federal to private ( SOFI) account. I recently lost my job. I have applied for unemployment, as the severance that I received will only cover for 2 months. Together my husband and I used to make less than 250k after tax. Now, with a loss of pay , we are going to make less. Do you think I will be eligible for Loan forgiveness?

Any from Google Cloud looking for Customer Engineers? I passed my onsite, but currently recruiter mentioned there is not headcount to fit me in. Happy to be squeezed in anywhere at this point.

Non-eng... Got past the hiring committee! 🥳 does anyone know the process from now? And how long it typically takes? Thanks !

Hi fishes,
Can you help me understand the different designations in EY GDS. I am looking for 5 years to 15 years experience band. If possible please provide the expected salary package also. I am asking for cloud data engineer role.

One of my senior managers is a boomerang and told me she was laid off when she was 7 months pregnant about 10 years ago. I think she was a senior or manager. She was in a specific group and everybody was laid off. It wasn’t performance based.

Would you work at your company again if you were laid off?

Is 69K for staff 1 in Chicago at a mid-tier firm plus a 6k bonus for passing the cpa a good salary?

27yo single male trying to plan my birthday next month. 8 bros are flying in from San Diego. Would love your suggestions for fun things to plan!

Any Marsh fish willing to refer? I can provide more details in DM. Thanks!!!

Hair salon recommendations?? Don’t want to spend too much money, preferably <$80!

Hi all, I have been in social services for about 2.5 years now. Initially as a Case Manager and now a Care Coordinator. I currently make $25/hour while living in San Diego, CA. Does this pay seem fair to where I live/the job description?

I'm a cashier. We just got a new manager, and she's making things really hard for us. She starts work at 4:30am and leaves around 2:30pm, but she still expects us to stay until 6pm and work on the weekends! She gives us really long shifts and doesn't give us much time for breaks. And when we ask her about it, she gets mad.

I'm worried that if I speak up, she'll make my life even harder. I don't want to lose my job because of this—do you guys have any advice?

Who knew interviews are a whole different process on its own. Very exhausting, answering lots of questions and thinking. I’m completely done with 2022 interviews. These interviews are just mhmmmm.

What are your outlook organization tips?

Trying to organize my email in a way that makes stuff easy to find. I have folders but how do I make emails both sent and receive easily save to their respective folders (as opposed to dragging each one)

Or any other organization tips for better productivity Iike I just have things organized by matters. Any other categorical suggestions?

I have an interview at a firm that focuses on criminal defense. I currently work in ID and have years of previous PD experience. I’ve never worked in private criminal defense. What questions should I ask in the interview? What should be looking at to evaluate whether it is a good practice?

I am concerned with fulfilling billable hours requirement. I’m required to hit 2100 hours yearly and I’m at ~1,500 hours and I think I’ll hit 150-180hours this month. What will happen if I don’t hit my targeted amount by the end of my year.

Second year associate here who recently switched from litigation to corporate law. I am absolutely swamped while simultaneously having no idea what I’m doing ever and I’m feeling so burnt out. The partners are pretty great and feedback is constructive which I’m grateful for, but I’m so desperate for a compliment I’ve been saving any scrap of positivity in a folder 😭 it’s December 22 and I haven’t done my Christmas shopping because I don’t feel capable of thinking about it. I need a hug.

I feel like I’m wasting my time waiting on CA bar results 😭, any tips on how I can use this time effectively?

How much time is acceptable to bill to admin per day?

What is the scoop on med mal defense vs. plaintiff work? Is defense more respected by other practice areas if I were to switch somewhere else later?

I applied to a position that brands itself as civil litigation and apparently the role is med mal defense. Not sure what to go by but would like to do a little research before I call them back.

We have motion sensor lights in my office and the sensor is far from my desk. Consequently, if I'm on a long WebEx, the lights go out and it's embarrassing. The building won't change the sensor. Anyone find a solution for this (aside from standing up and moving, which would be very awkward)? I can't rearrange my office.

Advice Request: Started my career litigating. Switched to niche transactions (so about half and half at this point). Halfway through a year long sabbatical and reevaluating what I want to do (left before jumping to Senior associate). I’d like to get into litigation again in a practice group I don’t have experience in. Any suggestions on how to do this? How to approach firms and partners etc? Past 2 firms on my resume are top 30.

Brand new baby lawyer dumb question - I am tasked with drafting response to request to produce. How long should this take? And follow up… how do I bill this?

How often do temporary "might-become-permanent" type jobs (at small/mid size firms) actually become permanent?

How do people doing PI defense / insurance defense work like what they're doing and hows the pay generally speaking? I took an interview thinking I wasn't super interested but then after speaking with them, I thought the work seems like good litigation experience and the partners seemed nice / like they respect a good work/life balance so I'm trying to get some more perspective on it...

What do you do about computer problems? It just took me 24 minutes to send a .1 email due to my computer constantly freezing. Is it worth entering that time into non-billable? Or do I just stop whining and work longer to make it up?

I am a new (lateral) associate at a small firm where everyone currently works from the office. When I started, I wasn’t told specific firm hours. I’ve tried to figure out when to come and go based upon when the partners arrive and leave, but their schedules are very inconsistent. The other associates don’t have helpful guidance for me. Assuming that if I ask the partners they’ll say to use my discretion, what are reasonable hours to keep?

Just had a hearing on my motion to compel where OC told the judge we hadn’t conferred before filing the motion. Not only did I attempt to confer on 3 separate dates, I attached the emails and his response that he refused to confer to my motion. Judge didn’t care, as soon as she heard him say we hadn’t conferred she denied the motion. Not asking a question, just needed to vent.

Does anyone enjoy lender work? If so, what about it did you find appealing? I’ve somehow been saddled with all the lender work at my firm (despite never having expressed an interest in it and having no experience with it) and it’s miserable. Having said that, our other practice areas are slowing down significantly and I don’t know if I want to rock the boat. Any advice would be much appreciated!

So who else here is experiencing plummeting billable hours and exponential weight gain since this whole WFH thing started? Bought snacks for 30 days, finished in 48 hours.

Any thoughts on Legility vs. Relativity in terms of eDiscovery software? Or is there another I’m not aware of?

I’m my partners only associate and I went on parental leave two weeks ago. I feel horrible for leaving him to handle our cases alone, but am trying to focus on my wife and new baby. That being said, should I still offer to handle minor matters that come in to ease the workload off my boss? He’s been super cool during my entire leave, so I don’t feel pressured to one bit.