Friday, November 11, 2005

Friday Morning %$&**&!!!!

I just discovered Opinionistas (I know, I'm late to the party, welcome to my life) and I do recommend it, it's quite well written (although her habit of sticking a last-sentence "twist" on the end of every post gets a little... predictable). It's also got me thinking (like any good blog should do)... I got it MAD good here at Lillyfirm. A few observations:

1. Although "O" definitely hyperbolizes a little for literary effect, I think she's right on in most of her descriptions of NY lawfirm life. I was a paralegal at a NY firm in a former life, and a bigger bunch of womanizing, sexually harassing, back-slapping, kiss ass carnivorous boys-club denizens I have never since encountered. (I apologize to any of my old firm friends who may read this - I can think of one who might- I love you but you know what you are).

2. Her expositories on the hours and hours of mind-numbing work are right on vis-a-vis big firm law in general. That is not avoidable, if you choose this life. And I do say choose because, no matter how much we whine that we had to take this job because we owe so much in loans and public interest jobs are so hard to get and our law schools forced us to be here etc.- we all had a choice. Bottom line- there were other jobs, from government to non-profit, out there for us and we took this path willingly.

I digress a bit- but I have had the dubious honor of working in four different biglaw firms in the four top US markets: NY, DC, Chicago and LA- and although the atmosphere and attitude change the work is always the same- soul killing. Either you become the obnoxious, aggressive partnership-grubber for whom you currently harbor disdain or your ideologies and dreams you carried with you through law school devolve into depression. There's no way around it, kids- this is what you get (or give up, maybe) in exchange for that fancy six-figure salary.

3. That said (or belabored- I'm a grouch this morning), Opinionistas' well-crafted blog makes me selfishly happy, because the above complaints notwithstanding, I got it good here at Lillyfirm. The work is the work, and it's always the same, but the people I work with are kind, forgiving, patient and generally happy with their lives. Sure, there are the screamers and the malcontents- at a firm this size there are bound to be- but generally, those with whom I've come in contact have been extraordinarily pleasant. Maybe it's LA (all that sunlight addles the brain), or maybe it's Lillyfirm (I haven't visited Lillyfirm's NY office so I can't make the city comparison), but I've said it before and I'll say it again: If it's firm life you want or need or can't avoid, work for Lillyfirm. The end.

Of course, I realize the silliness of all of the above, because although I'm recommending my firm I'm not about to divulge its actual name. Oh well- it's my blog- I can be silly if I damn well please.

5 Comments:

At 12:24 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Soul Killing?? Hmm...

 
At 12:30 PM, Blogger Noisette said...

Tu n'as aucune idee.

 
At 12:57 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Really? That's not a bit of blogger verisimilitude? By the way, have you given much thought to pursuing a book deal?

 
At 1:26 PM, Blogger Noisette said...

Oh yes, I'm in negotiations with Judith Regan regarding my upcoming tour de force: "Slingbacks in Senegal: One Chic-Geek's Journey from Compassion to Corporate Law." Ha ha. Kidding. No, I haven't (although I have thought about giving up this glamorous life and making a living writing romance novels) ;)

 
At 4:59 AM, Blogger Lizzie said...

"a bigger bunch of womanizing, sexually harassing, back-slapping, kiss ass carniverous boys-club denizens I have never since encountered"

did we work at the same firm in NYC? I'm quite familiar with those gentlemen too. Although, I have to say, a couple of the women I worked with could be just as bad. I guess I owe them though - working with them convinced me not to go to law school.

 

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