As JE likes to say . . . "Whooops": https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/02/business/karp-epstein-paul-weiss.html

Currently in cyber consulting (3 YOE) but more interested in business strategy roles. Do I need to go back to entry level or will my technical experience allow me to come in as an experienced hire?

McK 🐟: Is it helpful if a Senior Partner from another part of the world puts in a referral (looking for role in the US)

Thoughts on body size positivity movement?

Been looking forward to the stock market to come back to earth for a long time. What should I buy

I want to give a Christmas gift to the manager of the gym I go to. She’s awesome and I just really appreciate her. I can’t think of any ideas though! Can anybody think any good ones? I do not know much about her personal life except that she’s a single mother.

There have been surprising news with layoffs lately. Has anyone here been affected by the layoffs at Twitter or META?

For arguments sake let’s say you make $180k as a Senior Creative in Los Angeles, and you’re asked by a recruiter what you’re looking for what do you say?

Scenarios
A) Lateral Move
B) Title Change

Hi, can someone please share the link to the general EY bowl? Thanks a ton!

Question for yall. How likely is an offer once a company decides to do a reference check? I know I am in the final 2, from context clues in interviews. I just dont want to get my hopes up.

Got way too drunk at a work event last night. Please tell me horror stories to make me feel better 🙇🏽

Abundancy people. What exactly are you working on? And why can't you just get absorbed into the agency instead of doing your own thing?

28 year old with ~125k in cash/brokerage. Have been wanting to begin purchasing rentals but anxious to use a good bit of my liquid savings. Thoughts on biting the bullet vs. investing in stocks. In Houston if that is a factor

Hi
I am seeking out opportunity in Data engineer for Europe/ UK location, let me know if anyone can refer.

And my husband is seeking for job in SEO, digital marketing or product marketing domain, let me know if any leads available.

Thanks alot in advance

I’m a financial advisor with jpmorgan and i verbally accepted a new job in private banking with another firm. This is my first time transferring licenses. Should i wait to give my two weeks notice until my new firms hr department clears me and gives me a start date or as soon as i sign the offer letter?

I want to go out and pick up food instead of ordering, but the cold has me frozen to my couch

Phantom of the opera on Broadway - is side orchestra worth about 30-40 more than rear mezzanine? What is better experience for this show?

I have 3 YOE as a Software Developer. I currently work as a React/Node developer making 87k per year (I know that is pretty low, my manager will admit it) He has made it clear that I am the most skilled developer on the team, and I am getting promoted to Senior Dev. I would like to know what I should be shooting to make? I really like my job and ideally don't want to move companies, but would like some realistic expectations for what I should be earning.

Is it stupid of me that I scaled back my 401k contributions 12ish months ago because the market is so high? Considering increasing again but am wondering what y’all are doing?

Have McK phone case coming up, has anyone had feedback on why you haven’t passed? Looking to avoid missteps.

Dudes who initial your shirt cuffs: why? I’m new to the fancy world of big law and I’m genuinely curious. Is there some subculture of people that are impressed by this? Do you have trouble remembering your initials?

How do you justify a $100k pay cut to go in house?

Has the time of special bonuses (covid related or otherwise) passed? Asking for a friend…

How bad is it for a junior to push back against a completely psychotic mid level? I don’t know how this mid level hasn’t been fired because they are even rude and bossy to partners and are a nightmare for juniors. I’ve decided enough is enough and am now pushing back against their arbitrary deadlines and other insane and unnecessary asks. I rarely work with this person and have good reviews. Am I asking for trouble?

Partners - what was the most stressful year of your career? The year before you made partner? Your first year of partnership? The year(s) you or your partner gave birth?

Should I or should I not send a quick email re good news of passing the bar to my small (<10p) practice group team?

Any corp associates looking to move from biglaw to a boutique? My firm remains busy and is looking to bring on a couple associates. We’re all either hybrid or fully remote, and that’s here to stay. 1500 billables and we’re serious about it. Work is primarily ECVC, Outside GC, M&A. Pay is roughly 30% biglaw haircut, with incentive bonuses for hours and originations.

Completely and totally miserable at my firm and just need a space to vent because my friends are tired of hearing about it. I wish the worst part about it was the amount of work, rather than the completely toxic culture, lack of appreciation, arbitrary and back/breaking deadlines, lack of mentorship/feedback/training, and the fact that the associates act like they don’t even know each other. I cry every day and constantly am made to feel stupid for not understanding the highly technical (cont.)

Considering a jump from Chicago to New York. I truly love living in Chicago and how far this salary gets me but I definitely want to try to make it in New York.

The only problem is my significant other has a lot of negative opinions about New York. I ultimately want to return to DC but I feel like a few good years in New York would be really good for me. In terms of a place to live, where in Manhattan can I find a place that's similar to River North in Chicago?

Are tech trans hours better/more predictable than M&A?

Any recommended books to read prior to beginning a summer associate position? Transactional/ Corporate & Finance

When your seniors aren’t motivated and pulling their weight, it shows and demotivates you. It’s a domino effect. How do you handle these situations? The senior pushes every single thing down and it’s clear to everyone this person could care less. Makes me not care and not want to do anything either…

Any white collar defense attorneys care to share a day in the life? Best part of the work? Worst part of the work? Always been interesting in that area and want to work my way into it once I get off of leave.

Instant thoughts on Servants of the Damned?

I’m have a new theory about why juniors always feel like idiots and wanted to see if anyone else thinks this makes sense. I’m a third year, and am the most junior person all of my teams (generally me, a senior or two, and a partner or two), and I always feel like I’m messing something up. Is this just because I never get to work with other juniors and don’t see the mistakes they make, and that it’s relatively normal? And FWIW I went to HYS and I’ve had a clerkship so it’s not like I’m not smart

Restructuring/Bankruptcy associates, how slow have you been this year so far? Seems like industry wide it’s been a very quiet year.

After you are stealth laid off, other than job search, what do you do? I assume they won’t give you work and even if they do, you can politely decline? How do you feel about you are not progressing anymore and seeing other people progressing in their career? I have no intention to make partner, but still feel a bit stuck not doing that much.

About to finish my first year. I’m a specialist. Only going to hit 65% of my hours (took a 4 week vacation cause of wedding/hm).

I never say no to work and i have fantastic reviews, and the head of my practice (with whom I work a lot for) has great things to say about me.

I’ve been fully utilized starting ~June, but first few months were slow. Am i fine?!

Why are lawyers less friendly as colleagues than non-lawyers? I’ve worked both in-house and in firms and noticed lawyers tend to ignore each other. Compared to the multiple corporate events and initiatives that was quite a choc when I realized people in BL just come to the office, sit down, work and leave without even trying to have a conversation.

Junior Associates - How much student loan debt are you and your peers in these days? A few young partners and counsel at my firm were discussing the student loan moratorium and most of us were convinced we could have paid the majority of our loans off with the bonuses associates got these last two years. But we are all old and when we graduated 150k to 200k was about the max student loan debt people graduated with. So educate me. What is the average student loan debt these days?