I was always responsive, willing to work late, and took ownership and initiative to follow up. But I got some surprising harsh feedbacks in recent evaluations. My team is very white so are the seniors and partners. I noticed they give me more criticism than to the other white associate in my year. I didn’t fit in that well. During evaluation meeting, I apologized and said I will work on improvement bc I feel the partners took the evaluation feedback as truth. What can I do now? Feeling no hope.

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You shouldn’t have apologized because then it becomes true. Ironically, when ppl feel they can’t BS you, they respect you more. Two partners in my associate review tried to spin lies and I pushed back on everything I disagreed with and they squirmed and made up a different lie on the spot. Sometimes standing up for yourself is the boldest thing you can do and you’ll be respected for it. Start sharpening your resume.

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How did this go? I am dealing with something similar and while I am actively speaking to recruiters, I plan to push back…but generally feeling unsure

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Lateral out. If you truly think it's not reflective of your work product, get out now. I've been seeing way too many of these posts lately.

likesmart

Agreed!

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Check out the study "Written in Black & White". The exact same memo was shared with 60 partners who were told it was written by a lawyer named Thomas Meyer, however half were told that the lawyer was white and the other half were told he was black. The white Thomas Meyer scored 4.1/5 and the black one scored 3.2/5.

Minorities are graded on a harsher scale. Though we should not take it personally, I know I find it hard not to, and struggle with the inequity at times. What we can do is raise the issue through the channels available to us, whether it is EDI committees or affinity groups, and figure out how we can improve things for minorities as a whole.

https://www.ncada.org/resources/CLE/WW17/Materials/Wegner%20_%20Wilson--Confirmation%20Bias%20in%20Writing.pdf

likeupliftinghelpful

Well, I am glad this is well recieved.

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Too many BIPOC associates are experiencing this right now

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This happened to me at my firm. I was fired shortly after due to “performance issues.” I was billing the same as my white counterpart but didn’t click with my all-white team like they did. I’d look for other positions.

likehelpful

Absolutely.

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Happened to me too. It was devastating. I lost all trust in the people I considered mentors and worked very hard for.

likehelpful

The same exact thing happened to me. Still reeling over it.

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Thank you for sharing this, so many of us are going through the same thing and suffering in silence. I’m truly questioning whether I should be an attorney.

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Feeling the same way

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Lateral out for sure, but until you build a book of business I’m afraid the pattern will likely repeat itself. Just simply being in the mindset of obtaining business rather than servicing clients will help. Worst comes to worst you hang a shingle. My 2 cents.

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Even though i am a summer associate, something similar happened to me during my mid summer review. I got fantastic feed back on all of my work (ie thorough, communicates deadlines well, impeccable, pays attention to detail) but essentially got “its not your work, its your personality.” That crushed me. I held it together and went home and cried bc i had never had anyone say that to me. I was “working” the same hours as associates to prove myself and it feels like instead of appreciating the hard work and how determined i am, i got slapped in the face. How do you even comprehend that…?

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Sorry to hear that happened to you. It’ll get better one day.

We are not on the same standard and their is no equity and no true meritocracy. Minorities can be perfect, but a speck will still be found and characterized as problematic. Call it out for what you allege that it is so it’s on the record.

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I thought it was just me. I quit and am leaving. Even the DEI director said I was being bullied.

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Is this a V10?

I am experiencing this same thing

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This is literally my life right now…

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Does your firm have a DEI committee? Or ERG’s? If not it may be beneficial (if you want to stay) to encourage leadership to consider implementing one. It won’t help immediately but it will put the company on notice that you believe there are issues these types of groups would address. I did the same at my old firm, got denied in a very demeaning way and knew I for sure I had no place there.

Yes, the firm has a very good DEI committee but it doesn’t help much when it comes to practice group level. Partners decide the associate’s path here mostly.

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