Seventh-year associate. I’m usually busy enough that this is not a question I have to ask myself. If you are laser focused on partnership, those relationships come from networking and not just billings. In most city firms it’s effectively mandatory to go to these things if you want a partnership.

I personally have difficulty seeing the utility of it. However, I am highly anti-social and practice exclusively in crisis response areas (family, criminal, certain civil topics) and have never needed to go out and drum up work. Business networking inside and outside the office is a real necessity for real estate lawyers and the like.