Has anyone else felt like they were blindly drinking the “kool aid” about their PG/firm’s culture? As a 5th year associate who has only ever worked in one firm and has no point of reference for different “cultures”, I sometimes wonder if I’ve been brainwashed.

likefunny
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There definitely are different cultures, but they are within a fairly narrow range and frequently deviate from how they are characterized.

likehelpful

The fact that you are questioning this and consciously thinking about it probably means you’re not brainwashed....or else you wouldn’t be posting this.

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True, unless that’s what they want me to think...

likefunnysmart

I wondered this about a senior associate that trained me when I joined my current firm in big law. She had never worked anywhere else and started there right out of law school. I definitely felt like I had just joined a cult and everyone around me had totally drunk the kool aid. I resisted for awhile. Then I think I got sucked in. But now I see clearly again. Lol 😂

likefunny

There's definitely some Koolaid out there. My last firm had all of these "great place to work" awards. And I kept thinking, anyone who thinks this place is great is out of their skull. Management paid a lot of lip service, but when it came down to it, the people I worked with weren't nice to me. So I left.

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Everyday, but then I realize it's all the same everywhere. As long as the partners aren't abusive, all associates are more or less the same.

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I’m going to disagree on this one. Even within the same firm, the PGs have different cultures. Generally, the associates in groups with nicer partners are also nice and vice versa, of course with deviations. I’m a junior associate that mostly did work in one group, and I’ve been APPALLED by how mismanaged and abusive other groups are as I’ve been covering for other juniors on vacation recently.

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I’m a recruiter and I work with lots of firms and place lots of lawyers. Firm cultures do differ but even moreso firms differ by office and practice groups and individual rainmaker partners. So there are good situations and bad situations at every large firm.

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If you have found a good culture with nice people who build you up and respect your personal life, grab some ice, toss it in, and take a nice long sip my friend. If you ain’t happy, you ain’t happy. If you’ve been brainwashed well let’s not advertise that to the new firm...

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