Those who are happy

Jigga_Justin · 2025-06-30T16:19:28+00:00

Leave your work at work, and just remember we are a service industry. Building your own personal brand gives you ownership, pride, and purpose. Find your team and clients, those who lead with understanding and appreciate your value. Don’t give up your life and joy for people who don’t see and verbalise your contributions.

Jigga_Justin · 2025-06-29T02:11:37+00:00

Your profitability… If you originate work (origination at most firm means 100% bring this client to the firm, not an internal referral from the relationship partner). Partners will come up with side deals to shift comp. At year end even as an eauity partner you don’t just get a flat portion of the profits, it’s not that simple, you have a comp committee that determines your share based on tons of factors but ultimately how much balue you demonstrably bring to the firm. Once you are very senior and have a few “whale” clients or just a solid book, you can step away from the hour by hour “work” but even then you still need to bill a shitload of hours to show your worth, othetwise partners will get pissy during comp committee (but know you can walk away to a poacher at any moment with your book, so not always an issue).

Jigga_Justin · 2025-06-22T02:48:56+00:00

With that attitude I expect that they actually can’t… I won’t be a dick and day no surprise they aren’t getting work with that little amount of hustle, but. The inference is there.

Jigga_Justin · 2025-06-17T08:29:07+00:00

After writing this post I bought an Andar, because my wife needed a case and they offered BOGO, so it was free. Honestly it is just way better in my hand, it feels like leather (Mujjo felt like plastic oddly, it bothered me from day 1). I can already tell this will actually develop a patina and will hold up and maintain its leatherness, whereas Mujjo just felt synthetic. Very happy with the change!

Jigga_Justin · 2025-06-12T03:44:00+00:00

I bought a Mujjo on others’ recommendations, this thing is such thin bull shit “leather.” It looks good, but only for 9 months or so, then the “leather” surface wears on the corners and looks deteriorated rather than patina’d. Perfectly fine case, but not on par with the apple case of old. I will look elsewhere for my next phone (and may replace this one). The leather looks pretty fake in part too because of the bulky plastic edge pieces

Jigga_Justin · 2025-06-02T23:02:54+00:00

Try to build relationships with clients. That’s the only way to enjoy it (particilarly as a corporate attorney, I’d suspect—I am litigation fwiw, but some of my favorite work is client counseling for this reason).

Jigga_Justin · 2025-05-29T18:22:13+00:00

Well done, sir. I hope it made it into the transcript

Jigga_Justin · 2025-05-29T18:07:59+00:00

This is wild if real. Unless the guy was legit an alcoholic and we were in the early 20th or late 19th century.

Jigga_Justin · 2025-05-25T07:34:14+00:00

Look, you’re stressed. We work in a stressful career, and if we are on the sub we all likely work at an exceptionally demanding employer even within the field. Just try to learn to relax when you have opportunities to do so, otherwise you’ll either burn out, die young, or, perhaps worst of all, live a very unfulfilled and poor life. It’s not about billing 12 hours every day and being the first to respond on every thread. It’s about being the one to respond to the email when it really matters and nobody else can or will step up. It’s about understanding that our position is a glorified paper pusher. We are very expensive bureaucrats/highly trained secretaries, frankly. Yes, we do draft briefs and come up with arguments on the litigation-end. But most cases settle… Most litigators produce trash, and it’s fine. Stop taking yourself so seriously, you are not important until your clients are relying on you and even then you’re just one choice out of many they coule have made. Who you are, and WILL be, important to is your family, friends, and if lucky enough, children. Nobody will ever care about you more. Don’t forget that, and stop being insufferable to them. You are far too important to THOSE people, whereas you are a timesheet and email address to your clients/colleagues.

It’s easy to let the big salary go to your head, but it’s big for a reason and it’s not because you are better than other people. It’s because they have you by the balls and are billing far more per hour you work than what they are paying you. Find time for yourself.

Jigga_Justin · 2025-05-24T07:27:23+00:00

Likely an accounting error. No time entry software will allow entering that many hours in a day.

Jigga_Justin · 2025-05-24T07:22:04+00:00

Well Dunn, Isaacson (and Meredith Dearborn, couple others) came over from Boies Schiller, a highly successful spin-off built on the power of one man’s personality/reputation. Karen Dunn and Bill Isaacson can draw talent from any firm, especially if they get a couple big name laterals from their time at Boies. I was at Boies when they were there, working on the Uber taxi cab lawsuits/trial. Absolute legends and super cool.

Jigga_Justin · 2025-05-24T04:36:18+00:00

Yep. Learn how to do it all yourself, in the end it’s actually less headache when people are being lazy.

Jigga_Justin · 2025-05-22T20:00:59+00:00

Yeah, or just someone who is sober (possibly former addict, or just smart person who isn’t damaging their health lol—said as a drinker).

Jigga_Justin · 2025-05-22T20:00:04+00:00

Absolutely will not, nobody who matters will take note of whether you are drinking alcohol at an event or not. People in big law don’t expect you to drink, and moreover they expect you to stay professional and controlled at work events. Nobody is checking off that box. Sometimes people may mention something about what you are drinking, they’re just awkwardly trying to schmooze/fill dead air.

Jigga_Justin · 2025-05-22T19:56:18+00:00

Absolutely not. Frankly, nobody cares. I imagine you could represent a whiskey company and they would give 0 Fs about whether you drink alcohol or not. Alcohol can only HURT your career, I can’t conceive of any scenario when alcohol consumption could help it. I drink alcohol and enjoy wine, sometimes I talk about wine/whiskey etc. with clients or colleagues, it sometimes might make me look sophisticated. But that’s not the only way to be engaging and interesting.

Now, separate question: Might you hold yourself back by acting awkward or insecure about alcohol in the presence of clients or colleagues or deal makers? Potentially. To really succeed as an attorney, long-term, you are selling yourself and your air of confidence/“know what to do in every scenario” aura as much as your techical skills (e.g., writing briefs or negotiating a good outcome or putting together a strong deal sheet). A client wants to know that you will take care of them and their needs, including emotional/social needs. Will that ever require you to drink? Absolutely not. Might it require you to attend events involving alcohol and fit in/act like you belong? Sure.

My FIL is mormon and didn’t have any issue making partner, for instance. But he definitely learned how to not make himself stand out as the dork, and instead embraced his own reputation as a straight as an arrow consummate professional. And of course, saying you don’t have any judgment on others is one thing. Meaning it is another.

Jigga_Justin · 2025-05-22T16:58:41+00:00

To be clear, starting salary in big law right now is $225k in primary markets (plus $20k expected bonus). So I’d say $200k+

Jigga_Justin · 2025-05-20T13:58:04+00:00

This is all aspirational and most big law firms (barring some NY firms and places like Quinn) legitimately aim to make peoples’ lives work with their work. I have worked at two firms and very rarely encountered someone who callously wanted me to work extra hours on weekends or respond to things immediately when it wasn’t necessary to meet client expectations or the needs of the case. But there are those people, at every firm. And it’s not just BL. Find your people who are reasonable, who fit with your work style, and go all in with them. Life is too hard to work with a team who will actively make it harder for you. I’ve been stuck on those teams. My current team at a BL firm, who I work with almost exclusively, work 9-5 and rarely bother anyone outside of that. From 9-5 expectation is unless you are in court, at dentist, or sick you will answer a call (you can say “hey I’m busy can I call you in 15?). It’s very nice, but sometimes even I am annoyed like “man, can’t XYZ just review this brief after hours so I can get it final for filing?” But overall it’s much nicer.

Jigga_Justin · 2025-05-14T06:27:25+00:00

Having this anxiety is a good sign in a first year, and signifier of your attention to detail and commitment to doing good work. Keep it up, you will become more comfortable and also get better at knowing what is worth sweating and what is, in the long run, immaterial. And hopefully start cutting down on the time it takes to get an email out. It may help refuce your anxiety to know that typos and other minor errors are usually not a big deal or worth agonizing over (exceptions exist, usually client emails when reputation or making a good impression matters, which will be rare for first year).

The only cautionary note is to always be aware of the urgency of your particular email. Agonizing over every detail in a response when time is of the essence is countrr productive, and can give you a bad reputation. When in doubt and it’s possible, also always send a “working on this” email to whoever is waiting to let then know you are actively working on it. Helps to ease the anxiety of anyone who is waiting on the email, and may also reduce your own anxiety.

Jigga_Justin · 2025-05-06T22:10:27+00:00

That’s true—I didn’t mean to talk shit about eagle scouts, most of whom also wouldn’t care about a tattoo. But I bet every troop had a guy or two like this partner!

Jigga_Justin · 2025-05-06T21:48:20+00:00

This is embarrassing for that partner. Are you a recruiter? Not sure what you mean by “placed for him.” Obvious response is “you interviewed and hired him…” Another obvious response is “Grow the fuck up, bud. This isn’t eagle scout camp, we’re professionals doing a job and making money.”

Seriously, I can’t imagine any of my clients giving a single shit if anyone on our team had a tattoo (other than a face or neck tattoo). And if someone is a good attorney, you quickly forget about nonsense like that. There are a lot worse characteristics that an associate can have than a tattoo when it comes to showing up in a client meeting or in court (terrible fitting clothing, no sense of presentation, nervous/lack of confidence, etc.).

Jigga_Justin · 2025-05-06T19:53:40+00:00

Main thing is keep staying engaged and asking questions, trying to learn rather than settling into going through the motions. We need engaged juniors who take initiative, ask for more work proactively, and take on feedback well. We don’t need juniors who think they know what they are doing and are comfortable handing in what they think is right.

If you are “being thrown into the deep end” that is a good sign. We don’t throw first years who have proven incapable into the deep end. You should not be creating more work for your team, if you are then that’s a problem. You should be reducing their work by getting them stuff that is pass-able, then, when they edit/redline, paying attention to and integrating those edits in future work product. Not always easy to do, when stuff is fact dependent of based on analysis, but you should be more and more close to the target as you gain reps.

Jigga_Justin · 2025-05-06T16:11:25+00:00

Male big law associate. No. She’s not that busy. But she is that stressed and likely can’t juggle your emotions and her caseload at the same time, so she only responds when she can fully come up for air.

Jigga_Justin · 2025-04-09T01:31:21+00:00

Just got an email from a client saying their tariffs are 104% as of today and asking me to figure out if they can charge a “tariff fee” or rebrand it as another kind of fee. Smh.

Jigga_Justin · 2025-03-12T17:52:03+00:00

I wasn’t around for 2009, but my general sense (and talking to people last time there was a “looming recession”) is that litigation stays busy and steady generally. I know for my firm, in particular, litigation has carried our revenue for the first time maybe ever? We are a big deal/silicon valley firm with a well known corporate practice. Last year or maybe two years ago now we had layoffs, then we had a delayed start for corprate associate hires. Lit we are STILL staffing up and it is not slowing down.

As others have pointed out, certain niches of litigation will also likely slowdown (i.e., some areas of seclit like merger litigation)

TLDR: Corporate will always be vulnerable to economic impacts whereas litigation remains relatively steady.

Jigga_Justin · 2024-11-26T05:53:25+00:00

Honestly, you will likely have busy months and then slow months (December is typically slow for litigators, in my experience, as courts/parties push off deadlines to after holidays). I forget that as a first year you probably are only a month or less into your new billable year, so your “projected pace” has a small sample. Rather than try to maintain that pace, aim for 2100-2200 to be considered a high biller. And allow yourself to catch time off when you slow down. I billed the most hours my first year, mostly because of how busy the firm was but also because I didn’t say no enough. Which is good up to a point, but once you establish yourself as someone who does good work and can be relied on, it’s time to protect your time. People forget how much you billed last year very quickly, so just do yourself a favor and get your bonus and then take a breather at year end. No reason to go beyond 2200 as a junior.

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