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Hi everyone - ex-big law here (one year), and since then I have been at a boutique securities law firm out of NJ/NY. No billable requirements where I’m at and deal flow is decent enough (most weeks I’m billing 35/45 hours). They do not pay market. MSK (Mitchell Silberberg and Knupp) reached out to me and may be getting ready to make an offer after two rounds of interviews. Has anyone heard how their capital markets group is? Any tips or recommendations? Thanks!
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How long did it take you to land your dream job?
No offence but 😂😂
Jordan x Vogue event in nyc until 8pm tonight.
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Agree with the ‘make it official’ suggestion from Partner. Just announce you’re taking a vacation with plenty of notice.
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Assuming your disappearance won’t just shift work to the rest of the team during the holidays, go for it. Make it official and take vacation.
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Do it, but cya.
Subject Expert
If you’re not on any current active matters, sure. If you are, unfortunately no cus you’re shifting your work to other members of your team who’d also want the holidays off
I wouldn’t hide but also don’t try to pound the pavement looking for new work. I’m a second year in a similar boat. I’ve selectively reached out to a couple people I enjoy working with to offer to pitch in - you don’t want to too slow or you will show up on staffing lists, and often the partners who use those lists are not the best to work for, in my experience. On the other hand, many associates are behind on hours this year, so it’s highly likely that you can get by with ~20-30 hours a week in December without any guilt or pushback.
Also, try to take at least a week of vacation in December to fully unplug but do let folks know at least a few weeks ahead for planning purposes.
I wouldn't disappear. Just don't make an effort to take on additional work, don't volunteer yourself for anything, and cruise through the rest of the year with what's on your current docket. Also, not sure if you are lit or corp, but lit does tend to slow down during the holidays. Oh, and I wouldn't even bother tracking/mentioning your non-billable hours, unless it counts towards bonus.
Take vacation if you have any left. If unlimited pto, take 2 weeks off.
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Hitting your hours is sort of irrelevant to this question. The better question is whether your workload and team structure can cover for your vacations. You’re really late to be asking folks to cover you for Thanksgiving. If you want Christmas, I’d start making arrangements now. Just be aware that everyone around you wants the same time off, and being low on the totem pole will likely mean you’re expected to cover if needed.
This would be a great way to get fired at some of the shops I have worked at. Tread carefully here.
OP wants thanksgiving week off and Christmas week off… if that’s a fireable offense plz out the firm
Subject Expert
You can do this if it means that no one will be able to identify you as the person they’re being to forced to cover for over Thanksgiving/Christmas. Or I guess if those people are pretty powerless. But as a midlevel, being forced to work 4 hours (instead of 2) on Thanksgiving Day because my first year dipped out did not make me feel favorable towards them. Team spirit stuff is kind of bullshit and people should take vacation, but during Thanksgiving and Christmas, every hour you take off is another hour someone else has to work on a day when they would really rather spend it with family, so you will be perceived as very selfish.
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I agree with what others have said about how disappearing completely is a bad idea. I’ll also note, along those same lines, that try billable year clock starts running again January 1. So if you end up with zero work by the end of the year, that’s where you’ll be starting your next billable cycle.
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You know nothing, Jon Snow.