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When you leave Big Law?
More like when you straight up leave law all together lol
Subject Expert
You don’t work less hours as you get more senior. Partners work more hours than me, at least at my firm.
But you do get better at anticipating what needs to be done so things come less of a surprise and you can (and have to!) manage yourself and your time more as you get more senior rather than having your seniors set deadlines for you. Plus you have to try and manage your juniors time and set deadlines for them that allow you enough time to review and also work with the juniors schedule.
Flip side, this is also difficult to do and can trip you up when you think the client will want something in 2 weeks so you back-burner it but then they follow up and want it this week, and now the partner is doubting your ability to manage your matter and may get more micromanagey… and juniors will inevitably miss deadlines sometimes and/or turn in work product that needs more work than you anticipated so there’s that fun to deal with too.
That $215k Milbank starting salary ain’t free…
Enthusiast
As others have eluded, I wouldn't say the work gets easier / hours get lower, but as you progress you become better at anticipating what will be required. The items your staffed on and your responsibilities will also change so that rather being staffed on 6-8 projects where you're responsible for 1-2 specific tasks, you will be more integrally involved in the matter which means rather than just getting bombarded out of the blue you will know something is coming down the pipe. You will also have the luxury of delegating work to the more junior associates on the matter.
Mentor
I hope someone comes on here and lets us all know when that happens. There does become a point, if you are smart financially, you can just stop. However, to continue to stay at the firm and have a WLB, never heard of it. It does go from turning docs to endless calls and delegating stuff, but its work (only different). Just remember, it is hard to become a partner and equally as hard to stay one.
The hours don’t get better, but more predictable and different. There’s a lot more business and development social time, late dinners, conferences, etc. which may or may not be fun to you.
Never?
A man can only serve one master. Big Law requires sacrificing most of your personal life and time in exchange for power/prestige and oodles of money. More money than you know what to do with, because you don’t have any time to spend it. That’s the deal.