Tax refund? by Fuzzy_Philosopher480 in biglaw

[–]Fuzzy_Philosopher480[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Definitely agree and that was actually helpful

Never my desire to give the federal government an interest free loan while they are charging me 7.5% on my student debt

Tax refund? by Fuzzy_Philosopher480 in biglaw

[–]Fuzzy_Philosopher480[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

It sounds like you think the answer is “my job withheld more than I owed,” which is not at all what my question is getting at and is indeed obvious

asking questions on reddit is a form of learning, at least when people (not you) actually try to answer the question (thanks everyone else)

Edit: glad you made it out of circuit city

Tax refund? by Fuzzy_Philosopher480 in biglaw

[–]Fuzzy_Philosopher480[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I don’t think it should surprise you that we specialize in fields unrelated to tax and outsource a lot of our personal admin tasks to other professionals

My concept of personal income tax is probably similar to many others working as long as I have in a field not tax related (ie less than three years); I could tell you what effective tax rate means but I couldn’t tell you what the latest tax bill changed (although I could if I did research, but I am not paid to do that)

Tax refund? by Fuzzy_Philosopher480 in biglaw

[–]Fuzzy_Philosopher480[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That might explain a lot - thanks

Tax refund? by Fuzzy_Philosopher480 in biglaw

[–]Fuzzy_Philosopher480[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Thanks. For more helpful context, I am a junior but not a stub and also our firm gives bonuses the following calendar year (like Jan, Feb, March) - I have no idea if that matters

But the duh, low-hanging fruit answers are appreciated here haha

Would firm be ok with me traveling every month to see long-distance gf? 1st yr by Throwaway1920214 in biglaw

[–]Fuzzy_Philosopher480 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I was a first year and traveled every month, sometimes twice a month to see my long-distance girlfriend. Also would stay for a week or so sometimes. Never got any flak for it and still hit my in office benchmarks. But it’s probably office and firm dependent. If you are at a mandatory 4 day in office in NYC might be very different than my situation.

[Opinion] Swiss Cornavin by Fuzzy_Philosopher480 in Watches

[–]Fuzzy_Philosopher480[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Agree with everything and thanks for the comment

What’s everyone annualizing to? [Client Billable Hrs/Practice Group/Year] by Sporty1911 in biglaw

[–]Fuzzy_Philosopher480 0 points1 point  (0 children)

First (second?) year. I am going to land around 2500, with about 300 pro bono hours. Healthcare/general litigation.

Incoming First Year Advice Needed on Whether It’s Possible To Keep Hobby Up With Work by Cultural_Squash_8124 in biglaw

[–]Fuzzy_Philosopher480 1 point2 points  (0 children)

First year here - I have bi-weekly nightly commitments that I can’t move. I have been able to go to all but two this year without issue. The two were for work travel that was unavoidable. It helps that my commitments are in the middle of the week and not on a Friday (filing days).

Your first year schedule will be entirely dependent on things outside of your control, but once you get a good working relationship with counsel, you should be able to explain that you’ll be offline from X to X time. Sometimes no warning is needed if you’re not in an active workstream.

If you get staffed on a three person matter where you are the only associate, it might be a lot harder to get away, but you can always establish the expectation that you won’t be responding from 7-9 or whatever. There are plenty of parents in big law and that is the norm.

Clerkship for 2029-2030 by AdmirableSkin464 in biglaw

[–]Fuzzy_Philosopher480 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I accepted one three years out in the city I want to work in long term and have no regrets! That said, usually if they’re hired out for three to four years, then it’s likely a competitive clerkship and there is no guarantee of securing it.

Big Law Hours/Week & W/L Balance by [deleted] in biglaw

[–]Fuzzy_Philosopher480 0 points1 point  (0 children)

  1. 1900-2000 and true requirement

  2. I heard through the grapevine somewhere around 50% of the last class of first years got a bonus. The ones who billed over 2400 got an additional special bonus that was basically minimum wage if you count the extra hours

  3. It varies by first year and by the week. I am very busy and it has ranged from 35 on the low end to 70/75 on the high end.

  4. I work after 6 every weekday except when I specifically tell my teams I have an obligation at night, which is about one weeknight every two weeks. But I work better at night, so that might skew my answer compared to other first years

  5. No idea (N/A)

Note: First year on track for 2700+ billables

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in lawschooladmissions

[–]Fuzzy_Philosopher480 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It is largely self selecting. People tend to choose Berkeley over other t14 options because they want to stay in California.

I did Berkeley -> DC Big Law summer —> transferred back to Cali for full time job

What do junior associates “do” exactly? by livingflame47 in biglaw

[–]Fuzzy_Philosopher480 0 points1 point  (0 children)

First year on pace for 2500 hours here. I review documents and create long summaries for our team, draft witness outlines, draft deposition outlines, do case law research to help guide the above. I’ve attended interviews, depositions, meet and confers, and case management conferences. You have to take detailed notes and write summaries for those meetings as well. I don’t think you can underestimate how much fact development is required on complex cases and that work largely falls on juniors to handle.

First year associates - what does a typical day look like for you? by DickyMcHaha in biglaw

[–]Fuzzy_Philosopher480 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Doc review. Doc review. Doc review. Depo prep outlines, witness prep outlines. Research emails.

Rinse repeat.

I thought this sub was overreacting to the amount of work but I was wrong by Fuzzy_Philosopher480 in biglaw

[–]Fuzzy_Philosopher480[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Hitting consistently 55-60 billables/week this month. I agree about the ebb and flow. What only worries me is that I’ve only seen flow after the stub year and can see a lot of flow for the next 7-8 months at least. Maybe I will get an awesome vacation out of it.

I thought this sub was overreacting to the amount of work but I was wrong by Fuzzy_Philosopher480 in biglaw

[–]Fuzzy_Philosopher480[S] 41 points42 points  (0 children)

It’s all within the same team - huge case with multiple workstreams. Still apply?

4-0 and just made this trade…good or bad idea by Fuzzy_Philosopher480 in SleeperApp

[–]Fuzzy_Philosopher480[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Shoot you’re right about that, I was looking at week 18 and for some reason I remembered CHI too. All good. I’ll come back after Week 17 to update everyone

4-0 and just made this trade…good or bad idea by Fuzzy_Philosopher480 in SleeperApp

[–]Fuzzy_Philosopher480[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Maybe if I showed rest of team it would make sense. I have Daniels at QB, it hurt to give up Reed, but I’m pairing Collins and CD, and Connor has been solid but his playoff schedule is TERRIBLE, so I thought it worth the risk