See Monica Practice Law (Continued)

The serial continues…

Title: See Monica Practice Law

Part I: Monica At The Big Firm

Installment 3: 1st Year Associate, 9 Months and Counting

I’ve been busy. No, not working. That seems to come and go in spurts. I don’t know if my group is slow or what but I don’t have all that much to do. I worry about it some but, after all, I’m a first year. Surely, they can’t expect me to bring in clients. I just make sure occasionally to pop my head in someone’s office and tell them I need work.

I’m disengaged. I don’t connect with anyone in my group really or anyone in this firm, for that matter. I still don’t know what I’m doing. I just muddle along the best I can. I had my first review. I’m not sure I get the structure. It’s one partner who isn’t in your practice group and one who is. I’m not clear on how the one who doesn’t know you could know anything about you based on a few pieces of paper. Anyway, that one said, “The main thing is, if you need help, ask questions. Don’t try to figure things out on your own.” And the partner from my practice group said, “We want you to appear confident. So when I give you an assignment, look as if you know what to do.” (?!)

Whatever. I don’t want to be here anyway. I do my best because my conscience won’t let me do any less but I cringe every time someone comes to my door. I wonder if it shows…

Anyway, what I’ve been busy with is trying to figure out how to get the heck out of here—out of this practice group, I mean. Ideally, I’d get the heck out of the law totally. But I’m not sure I’ve given practicing law a fair shot. I was prejudiced against it from the very beginning. But the only way I can think of to begin again would be to change practice groups or something, to get a fresh start. So, I’ve been exploring that option.

First, I want to switch from litigation to corporate. I don’t know how I ended up in a litigation practice to begin with. In law school I did a ton of conflict resolution work—bringing people back together, not tearing them apart. Plus, I’m a conflict avoider. How did I end up in IP Litigation?

You remember. You were interested in IP so as a summer associate, you rotated through IP Lit and Transactional and requested Transactional, and they put you in IP Lit. Of course.

Second, I want something that’s going to engage me. So, I’m exploring Labor & Employment because the work seems more people-oriented. Plus, it seems like a chummy group. I’m also looking at International, because I have a friend who works in that group and she likes it because she gets to work with people from all over the world. And she’s always learning about new industries, so there’s variety. She said the attorneys in the group are a mixed bag but she just tries to work as much as she can with certain folks she really likes.

[Later.] Turns out it’s really hard to get into Labor & Employment. But I’ve got a lunch scheduled with my friend in International and a senior associate in that group. Switching isn’t going to be as easy as I thought. I thought it would be easy because the firm line is that if you want to switch, you can. But there’s no explicit process. It’s a lot of conversations and, meanwhile, I don’t want anyone in IP Lit to know that I’m considering switching because that may insult the group. I feel like I’m sneaking around a bit.

In the meantime, I got an exciting phone call. Harvard Law called and asked if I’d be interested in coming back for Winter Term to be a Lecturer on Law for the Negotiation Workshop! I was a teaching assistant for the Workshop back in law school my 2L and 3L years and really enjoyed it. I feel really honored and like my friends who are instructors in the course haven’t forgotten about me.

And I’m thinking the firm might agree to this. Winter Term is only a month (January), and having an attorney be appointed a Harvard Law Lecturer on Law would reflect well on the firm.

[Later.] I’m right. I discussed it with the Managing Partner and my practice group leader and they agree. Not only will they let me go, they’ll also scale back my billable hours requirement to reflect the fact that I’ll be gone for a month next year. Cool.

The only thing is, now I really want out—of this firm, the law. My lunch with the International senior associate was so-so. He seemed willing to speak up for me but he cautioned me that it would be a long process. The group just took on a new associate and probably wouldn’t be interested in a lateral for some time. I’m running out of time—or, I should say, patience.

I decide to put in some calls to my friends who teach the Negotiation Workshop and some of the affiliated conflict resolution organizations in Cambridge, MA to see if there’s any potential they could offer me some work. Now that I’m going to be a Lecturer, that might be an incentive for them to include me in some projects. And if they can include me in enough of those projects, maybe I could make enough to live on.

This isn’t the first time I’ve considered doing this. I thought about it a lot my 3L year. I talked to my friends who are Instructors and some of the conflict resolution organizations about possibilities back then. But because I was so new they couldn’t guarantee me anything.

Plus, I thought it was only fair to give practicing law a try. For all I knew, I might love it. Boy, did that not happen.

Now I’ve got some legal experience under my belt. And I’ll have the lectureship. Maybe I’ll be more attractive to those folks.

[Later.] I’ve made a few calls to my friends and some of the conflict resolution companies. They can’t make any promises (of course) but they’re pretty confident that if I leave the firm, they’ll find work for me.

Should I do this??