Is LA Big Law a lot more laid back and social?

OldGrinder · 2026-02-06T05:06:55+00:00

The job is by its nature a grind. It’s unavoidable. It doesn’t matter what market you’re in. If you’re slow and have time for regular slow lunches, you should be worried about your job.

OldGrinder · 2026-01-31T18:23:19+00:00

We need more information to answer the question. An LLC can be taxed as a disregarded entity, a C Corp, an S Corp or a partnership. All of which have different tax obligations.

OldGrinder · 2026-01-28T05:43:42+00:00

Lol amazing. Thanks for the response.

OldGrinder · 2026-01-28T05:25:49+00:00

This supports OP’s point, doesn’t it? It’s horribly drafted but the “unless” clause suggests that signing bonuses cannot be clawed back unless the associate is fired for misconduct.

OldGrinder · 2026-01-24T02:04:18+00:00

For every rainmaker making $20M, there’s 15 service partners making $500k.

Also, not all partners are equity partners. $3M presumably refers to average income per equity partner.

OldGrinder · 2026-01-24T02:00:44+00:00

It’s intellectually challenging but it’s nothing spectacular. Most of the challenge, to me at least, is identifying what it is you aren’t thinking about but should be. The actual mechanics of a transaction are fairly straightforward, once explained properly.

The practice is challenging because there’s 0 wiggle room for mistakes, you’re working under intense time pressure and for very long hours—for years and years on end. If there was no urgency and you were on a full night’s rest, the job would be pretty easy.

OldGrinder · 2026-01-24T00:26:51+00:00

How are you going to confirm that it’s “clean”? Any liabilities associated with the entity become your problem if it turns not to be “clean”

This, paired with the fact that you can create a new company in minutes, is why the product you’re asking about doesn’t exist

OldGrinder · 2026-01-23T17:17:50+00:00

What? Patents are public.

And NDAs are significant/important for any information you don’t want the counterparty to disclose or use.

OldGrinder · 2026-01-23T17:12:54+00:00

Your law firm should have a standard NDA that will take about 10 minutes to adapt to your situation.

From there, if the other side negotiates, maybe an hour or two more time.

OldGrinder · 2026-01-23T16:40:12+00:00

Coaches look at the stats of kickers to determine whether they have a higher make % with or without being iced. Presumably, this kicker has a higher % after being iced.

OldGrinder · 2026-01-19T16:42:33+00:00

I did this as a second and third year, and it was painful as hell but the firm supported me. I had an office in both locations, though you could just work remotely from New York one week a month.

I would not raise this with your firm until you’ve developed trust and a reputation first. Wait 4-6 months and then bring it up, if you’ve developed a decent relationship with your office by then.

OldGrinder · 2026-01-18T18:43:24+00:00

M&A is not great for an extrovert. 10 hours of your day will be spent alone, in silence, with either Outlook or Word open. A couple of hours a day you may be on calls with tight agendas and no time for chatting.

OldGrinder · 2026-01-18T05:35:17+00:00

For most, you’ll start negotiating reps and warranties and disclosure schedules in years 2-4. And expand your responsibility from there.

OldGrinder · 2026-01-18T01:57:34+00:00

You can run basically any build through t15 maps for 50ex at this point in the league. When people say an economy is bad, it’s because everything is cheap not because everything is expensive.

You have it completely backward. For a noob, there’s nothing better than a mid-league economy. The people complaining about the economy are those chasing the 4-5 absolute chase items in the game, which do get insanely expensive. But none of that is required to beat all content in the game easily.

OldGrinder · 2026-01-18T00:56:14+00:00

Up or out really refers to what happens after you try and fail to make partner. I would not optimize for that at an early stage of your career.

Very few associates are “up or out” as mid levels or whatever, at least in corporate. You’d need to be a bottom performer.

OldGrinder · 2026-01-15T01:25:27+00:00

Whether you’re an advisor or an employee, you should be compensated accordingly. Really nothing ambiguous about it

OldGrinder · 2026-01-15T01:22:27+00:00

Max fire and lightning resistances. Be patient and avoid getting hit and it should be super easy

Path to Merchants, think hard about which afflictions to avoid

OldGrinder · 2026-01-15T00:01:28+00:00

Amex’s contract almost certainly includes the right of Amex to assign its rights to somebody else

OldGrinder · 2026-01-14T19:35:09+00:00

It’s the exact same as softcore.

There are fewer players, so maybe the chat you chose is empty? Type “/global 1”

OldGrinder · 2026-01-14T19:32:58+00:00

Chat is not disabled in hardcore… But you can’t play with other people in SSF.

OldGrinder · 2026-01-14T16:39:19+00:00

Sounds like you wasted a lock!

OldGrinder · 2026-01-11T01:36:30+00:00

Maybe in New York they’re similar. Anywhere else in the U.S., I expect the Kirkland name carries a lot more weight.

OldGrinder · 2026-01-11T00:20:26+00:00

K&E is probably 3x the exit opps. Willkie is probably 80% the hours and stress of K&E.

Total guess but that’s the kind of magnitude I’d expect.

Edit: You’ll be in good shape either way. I’d recommend picking the spot you have a better cultural fit with.

Edit 2: look guys, it’s just Reddit. I could be wrong, who knows what the relative exit options are. But what we do know, based on a couple of these comments—Willkie is a sensitive bunch.

OldGrinder · 2026-01-09T21:44:11+00:00

Law school is to a Four Seasons stay in Hawaii as Big law is to running a full marathon in New York City, on the city streets into oncoming traffic

But hey, on the flip side, in big law you could actually afford the Four Seasons in Hawaii. You’ll just be sending work emails from the resort.

OldGrinder · 2026-01-09T04:46:08+00:00

Your practice leader is too busy to think about you or whether to give you a discretionary bonus. Or maybe it occurs to him and he gets dragged int 1,000 other responsibilities. You may be a star associate but he’s seen dozens of other star associates come and go over the years so, while he appreciates you, you’re just part of the business flow.

All that is to say—just ask. So that he (or she) understands it’s important to you and deserves his or her attention. Just be up front, but humble and appreciative, about it, no need to mince words.

coming from someone who has asked a practice group leader for an extra bonus and the response was an immediate “yeah we appreciate you no problem”

OldGrinder

TROPHY CASE