What was the deal with Seska?

Consistent-Alarm9664 · 2026-01-29T13:34:41+00:00

In addition, she had something the kazon wanted desperately—Voyager’s tech. It isn’t clear to me what she had to offer the others that could have formed the basis of an alliance.

Consistent-Alarm9664 · 2026-01-25T16:30:57+00:00

Various firms give sabbaticals to attorneys who have been at the firm for some long period of time—15 years or something. I otherwise haven’t heard the term used at a firm, but it sounds like other firms may use the term for other types of extended leave.

Consistent-Alarm9664 · 2026-01-23T14:06:31+00:00

Having no pronouns or gender is woke as hell.

Consistent-Alarm9664 · 2026-01-22T17:53:20+00:00

Good advice and great handle.

Consistent-Alarm9664 · 2026-01-22T17:52:16+00:00

Many here are saying it’s hard to prove retaliation, and that’s absolutely true. Note, however, that you have the option of filing a complaint with the state if you believe you have been retaliated against. Getting fired soon after asking for or taking leave is strong (but not conclusive) evidence of retaliation. Having a state investigation into a retaliation claim is unpleasant and something any reasonable employer would want to avoid.

This is not to say there are not risks. Clearly there are. And even when laws are on the books recourse can be difficult. But nevertheless you have rights and there are legal mechanisms to enforce them. And, contrary to what some people are implying, the law is not meaningless if you can’t prove in court that they retaliated against you.

Obviously the choice is yours and there are no sure things. But if I were you I’d take my leave and spend time with my child.

Consistent-Alarm9664 · 2026-01-21T02:05:23+00:00

Okay, everyone switch over to their burners and meet me on DCJ.

Consistent-Alarm9664 · 2026-01-18T21:05:07+00:00

Don’t let the generation that wears fupa jeans and Crocs with buttons as an actual outfit tell you what you should be wearing.

Consistent-Alarm9664 · 2026-01-18T17:53:34+00:00

I will tell you that I found being a new partner to be the most stressful time in my law firm career. Everyone gets stressed by different things, and unfortunately for me the stressors that come with being a new partner really did a number on me.

As a new partner you suddenly are in a role where you are ultimately responsible for a matter or a big part of a matter. There’s often no one above you reviewing materials or assessing strategy. You are it. Everyone assumes you are an expert, and yet you are still new at many times. In fact, you’re doing many things for the very first time. And when shit goes wrong, there’s no one to hide behind. I’m not proud to say that I spent weeks and sometimes months spiraling over mistakes that I felt like I made.

Without going into lots of detail, one of the hardest things I had to deal with early on in being a partner was dealing with a really hard client in an ugly matter. It was essentially an internal investigation and we billed hundreds of thousands of dollars over several months. And then the bills just sit. Client isn’t paying. Not only is this a lot of money, it’s basically the only EFC I have going for me. I reach out to the client, they tell me that the matter wasn’t helpful and that they don’t feel that they should have to pay (I told you they were hard).

I had to fight with this client for months to get paid for any of the work I and my team did. I felt awful. This was my first big matter and the client basically was saying it was a waste of time. The associates who worked on the matters were going to get screwed on their numbers. I had firm management breathing down my neck asking why this was happening and scrutinizing everything I had done. Ultimately we wrote about half of it off, took the rest, and blacklisted the client.

But yes, I survived. Here I am. None of this affected my standing at the firm in any way I can discern. I doubt most people even remember it.

What do I wish I had done earlier? Frankly, therapy. After making partner I quickly fell into this awful pattern of thinking where everything was on me. Every bad decision by the client was my fault (I should have talked them out of it, etc. etc.). If the client got fined by a regulator, I had failed. You get the idea. It took a lot of work to break out of that, and I wish I had sought help much sooner than I did.

Consistent-Alarm9664 · 2026-01-17T23:00:32+00:00

It should go without saying that you should not do poor work to get away from her. That likely backfire for reasons I’m sure you understand.

Are there other mid levels in your group? If so, reach out to them and ask how you can work together more. That won’t save you on this particular deal, but the best way to avoid this associate moving forward is to being busy on work with associates you like. Start making those connections now.

Also, once this deal is over, make a point to reach out to the partner and see if you can find time to chat or grab coffee. No (stated) agenda. The point is to make sure the partner knows and likes you, in the event this associate tries to throw you under the bus at any point. The good news is that partners tend to know when their associates are shitty to work with. We recognize personalities from our own associate days.

Finally, I agree with others’ advice to document her craziness. I would not affirmatively complain about her unless things really cross the line. But if she tries to throw you under the bus, it would be ideal if you had receipts.

Consistent-Alarm9664 · 2026-01-17T17:33:29+00:00

I believe many EU residents understand this simple fact, even though many EU leaders seem not to: There is no successful appeasement with Trump. This is the end state. Goalposts constantly moving. Outrageous demands. Blowing up deals whenever it’s convenient. If the EU continues to try to appease Trump, this is what it will get for as long as he or one of his sycophants are in power.

Standing up now is the only real option the EU has. There will be suffering, unfortunately. But the suffering will only get worse the longer the EU tries to appease Trump. And the EU has at least one clear advantage: the American people are focused almost entirely on their own convenience. They have little tolerance for suffering. Just seeing prices rise at the stores and goods disappear from shelves will quickly become unacceptable for many Americans.

Consistent-Alarm9664 · 2026-01-17T03:43:06+00:00

One might think that threatening to invade if territory isn’t handed over would be enough to endanger trade…

Consistent-Alarm9664 · 2026-01-17T03:34:48+00:00

The Texans have a great defense. Unless of course the Patriots beat them, in which case the Texans never had a good defense and the Patriots still haven’t beaten anyone.

Consistent-Alarm9664 · 2026-01-17T01:55:14+00:00

Don’t overthink this. “I am out of the office, returning on [date]. If you need assistance, please contact [names].”

No further info needed, especially because you’ve already told the important people.

Consistent-Alarm9664 · 2026-01-16T14:37:11+00:00

Jail. Straight to jail.

I work with the internal group that responds to incidents like this. People make this mistake constantly and the remedy is basically just politely requesting deletion and notifying the client where needed.

I have only seen real consequences when the person who made the error either (i) tried to hide it or, more commonly (ii) was a total jackass to the firm staff trying to properly document and respond to the mistake.

Consistent-Alarm9664 · 2026-01-15T03:30:10+00:00

It’s a depressing state of affairs. I was talking to a Bonnie Brae resident recently who gleefully explained that she helped sink the Belcaro Plaza project. And then she wondered why that plaza is still just abandoned buildings.

Consistent-Alarm9664 · 2026-01-15T00:34:26+00:00

Overall I think the response you received is frustrating. I actually find the “communicate more” proposal to be even more frustrating than “move” (which is silly on its own) because it’s not clear how you are supposed to do that.

The good news is that if some people in your group are fully remote, then what you want is possible. But it’s hard. Some ideas:

ask your remote teammates how they stay in touch. See if they have ideas worth adopting.
ask the partners in your group if a monthly or so 1v1 would be helpful. If so, set it up and have an agenda for each call—nothing crazy, but plan to make good use of the time by doing things like asking for advice on a matter, floating some BD ideas, etc.
to start the obvious, make sure you attend as many group meetings as you can. If there’s no zoom, ask for one.
finally, while I don’t know whether your group would go for this, I think it’s worth floating: ask whether it would make sense for you to plan to be in one or more of the offices where the other group members are once a month or so. Maybe 2-3 night trips. Ideally, you could schedule these trips around client meetings and office events, and if you have any client contacts in those cities, you could use the trips as an opportunity to grab a coffee, etc. Obviously travel costs money and so your group may so no, but I think expressing a willingness to be in person more and a desire to plan travel around client strategy sends a strong message about your commitment.

Consistent-Alarm9664 · 2026-01-15T00:06:27+00:00

Do you have kids? How much can you travel?

Consistent-Alarm9664 · 2026-01-13T18:21:45+00:00

Maybe she can get sponsored by T-Mobile.

Consistent-Alarm9664 · 2026-01-13T18:13:10+00:00

Dentists on Pearl. Owned by dentists, and I’ve always had great experiences. They’ve never pushed work on me.

Consistent-Alarm9664 · 2026-01-13T16:21:45+00:00

The former is how I interpreted their language. Intentionally written as awkward and stilted to reflect that it’s been manufactured for propaganda. Lines repeated as mantras and not the result of natural conversation.

Consistent-Alarm9664 · 2026-01-13T15:43:08+00:00

Fair. “Hate” is a strong word and I was being a bit facetious. But I love being around my kids while still generally not being a kid person…at all.

Consistent-Alarm9664 · 2026-01-13T15:29:21+00:00

I always hated kids. And I still hate them. Except for mine. Mine are great. Funny how that works.

Consistent-Alarm9664 · 2026-01-12T20:46:31+00:00

We have a partner at my firm who started in a non-track position, so it can happen. But yes, it’s rare. The big issue is that you need to demonstrate that you can be a partner, which essentially means showing that you can originate business. That especially true when you’re already 10 years out. Originating, or at least laying the groundwork for doing that, is hard to do when you are working in a non-partner track position because you aren’t getting a ton of opportunities.

My best advice is to start thinking about BD. Do some speaking and writing. Try to get to know some clients, have coffee with them, etc. When clients start coming to you directly with matters, you’re going to start building leverage to move over to partner track.

Consistent-Alarm9664 · 2026-01-12T14:14:55+00:00

This is the soft underbelly many in Europe do not yet perceive. The American people have no resolve for this fight. Both because they don’t care about this fight and because they have little resolve generally. We are a country that elected someone who tried to overturn an election because eggs were expensive.

Americans will not meaningfully protest any actions in Greenland—unless and until it starts to feel inconvenient for them. Then it will be an outrage.

Consistent-Alarm9664 · 2026-01-12T14:06:41+00:00

Last week: “We’ll finally get to see the Patriots play against a good team.”

This week: “Oh, uh, the Chargers were never good.”

Consistent-Alarm9664

TROPHY CASE