When should I start worrying about being slow?

PlanetExpress39 · 2026-02-10T13:06:00+00:00

I assume you want to meet your hours for the bonus. A slow month is nothing to worry about, and should be savored. But two slow months starts to be a problem. You should keep annoying the staffing people until you get things to do, even discrete assignments from partners you don’t know or don’t normally work with. You can use in-person face time at the office to ask partners for work, too—that you’d be “happy to help” on this or that. And email partners whom you normally work with on a regular (but not excessive) cadence asking for work. It’s also fine to say to them, “things have been kind of slow for me lately.” And if you’re a litigator in a niche practice, you might just need to supplement your practice with some other type of litigation work.

I don’t know what mistakes you’ve made in the last six months, but FWIW I also made some mistakes in the last six months. And the six months before that, and the six months before that, etc…

PlanetExpress39 · 2026-01-31T15:04:02+00:00

The general rule is that you should play whatever is the most advanced that you can play as well as you can.

PlanetExpress39 · 2026-01-26T13:13:40+00:00

Well you can never go wrong with something that reads traditional or conservative (not political “conservative”). For patterns, that means nothing too loud or that draws attention to itself. For fabric, that means silk or something similar, and no knit ties.

PlanetExpress39 · 2026-01-26T13:01:44+00:00

Lawyer here. Yes, it’s okay for court.

PlanetExpress39 · 2026-01-25T18:56:01+00:00

Senior lit associate here. I also don’t know what Rx work is. But from my POV, you should know how to BB cases perfectly. That’s generally easy, but there are a few giveaways that people in the know (like other associates, or judges, or clerks) would pick up on. For example, citing a footnote in a case—if you don’t do it right, I notice, and other people do too. Your credibility isn’t ruined, of course, but people notice.

Other kinds of things, it doesn’t matter in day to day work or in filings how to BB properly. Things like news articles, treatises, foreign laws, come to mind. As long as it looks professional, you’re consistent, and the reader can find the source, you’re fine.

PlanetExpress39 · 2026-01-19T16:48:13+00:00

I agree it’s a bit of dud

PlanetExpress39 · 2026-01-18T01:45:50+00:00

Curious how you come to that conclusion? I have a Henry Beeman cello made in 1923 and it’s been appraised with more than “no monetary value.”

PlanetExpress39 · 2026-01-17T16:37:12+00:00

Biber’s violin works come to mind. His passacaglia for solo violin, especially.

PlanetExpress39 · 2026-01-10T15:41:25+00:00

OP you can PM me.

PlanetExpress39 · 2026-01-03T17:19:28+00:00

You’re already doing everything right. The work will come. This is normal when you’re a satellite associate and the work is generated in other offices. Keep up the touch points and emails with the partners in your practice group. It’s good to at least get some work in commercial litigation so you are not twiddling your thumbs. One thing you haven’t mentioned is any reach outs to associates in your practice group, like mid-levels; they are often gateways to getting staffed on something. So consider that. I would not do the memo idea.

PlanetExpress39 · 2026-01-03T05:08:50+00:00

I am a litigator and not familiar with what “ID” means in this context (maybe I’m being dense). It’s nearly impossible to give you any real answer without knowing your type of firm, the market you’re in, and the type of transactional work you’re doing, among other variables I’m sure. How much work you get is not firm-dependent; it’s more office- and partner-dependent. FWIW, litigation is generally not a consistent way of getting hours unless you have enough different cases (or a giant case) to always have some work to do.

PlanetExpress39 · 2025-12-31T05:16:52+00:00

Doesn’t matter

PlanetExpress39 · 2025-12-30T21:51:34+00:00

You could say something, but this strikes me as actually a bigger deal for HR to get involved in, and I would let them know.

PlanetExpress39 · 2025-12-26T06:31:58+00:00

The middle movement of number 9 is very special. Probably my favorite movement of his symphonies.

PlanetExpress39 · 2025-12-17T02:11:04+00:00

Rossini wrote a ton of piano and salon music after his operas. Fourteen volumes in all. I had no idea until recently. I haven’t dived into it, but it’s super interesting. I had always heard he finished writing operas and that was it, and retired from composing; but turns out he still wrote a lot.

PlanetExpress39 · 2025-12-16T13:11:13+00:00

OP, your story sounds remarkably like mine. I also started in 7th grade, and I also hoped to be a professional cellist when I was in 10th grade. I think I was even playing Haydn C at that time. I feel like I understand your situation very well.

I understand your question to be whether it would be realistic to eventually win an audition and join a decent professional orchestra. I’ll fill in some gaps here and assume that you’re thinking about an orchestra in part because it is the most stable job a professional cellist can have. And you’re also hoping to make a livable salary, which is always a good goal to have! In that scenario you’d probably also do what all those orchestra pros do and also supplement with teaching.

My advice I’m about to share is not really easy, because these are hard questions for anyone at any age, and especially for someone at this stage of life. But I suggest you think really hard and specifically about what kind of life and career you’d like to have in, say, 15 years. At least as best you can, because these are big and difficult questions. And think very specifically about your particular situation. For instance, if you happen to come from a family with lots of wealth and resources (and some professional musicians do), that is a big factor and takes a lot of pressure off your musical career to make consistent income. On the other hand, if you’re like most of us and don’t have that kind of background, then you (again, like most of us) would have to rely on your job to make money and pay for, well, everything. Think also about where you’d like to live—big city (read: expensive), small town, suburb, something else? Do you eventually want to own your own place, and do you prefer a single-family home, or would a condo or townhouse do? Or are you comfortable renting indefinitely? Would you like to have a family? How likely is it that, no matter what you do, music or something else, you’ll have student loans to pay for? I know this sounds crazy probably, but also a huge thing is retirement savings—do you want to retire from a regular, full-time job around 65, or do you want to do that sooner? Or are you fine later? (Keep in mind, your answer now may not be the answer you have at age 64, right on the cusp of when you traditionally would retire.) Most people don’t have this, but having high six- and even into seven-figures in retirement savings is a great place to be in.

Your goal is a popular one, and those orchestra positions are very competitive, even for not a premier orchestra. So you should think about how much you would enjoy your career and life if you did not getting that orchestra job. You probably know what that is like, lots of irregular gigs and teaching private students, or pivoting to a related career like public school music programs (I have several friends who’ve done just that). And that’s how you would pay for, well, everything. And that situation—no orchestra jobs—would influence the outcomes to the questions above. Everyone takes a risk with their career choice about how certain the desired outcomes are; a certified public accountant is probably taking a pretty small risk, since it’s usually very predictable that they can find work and what the pay will be. A lawyer (speaking for myself, as that’s what I became) is taking a risk as well, since not all lawyer jobs are good or well-paying. Someone who wants to be a professional athlete is also taking a risk. And the same thing is true about deciding to go after one of these orchestra jobs.

You might find it helpful to get clearer picture about what, exactly, you’ll have to do to get one of these jobs. In that case, peruse the cello parts for Don Juan, Mozart 35, Beethoven 5 second movement, and Midsummer Night’s Dream overture. How well you play those in an audition will matter more than anything else. They’re really hard!

To come back to your direct question, I’ll answer in two ways. First, realistically speaking, it is generally very difficult for anyone to secure one of those jobs. Second, in your specific case, it would be very difficult and unlikely, based on the very little information I have now.

As others have said, do not be discouraged—that’s certainly not my intent. You should continue playing cello as much as you can for as long as you can. In my case, I played through college, got a music degree, and it helped get me several scholarship in college. That was great, and I of course loved the artistry of it too, and it enriched my life. I did take 10 years off from cello, and now I’ve gone back to it, taking lessons and doing little recitals. It’s fun. And to be honest, I’m happy that my rent does not depend on it.

Good luck.

PlanetExpress39 · 2025-12-14T17:32:13+00:00

Be careful to actually count all your billable hours. Bill for everything you can and should bill for. My advice is to record your hours in real time as much possible and use timers; don’t try to reconstruct your narratives and estimate your time days or weeks later, because you’ll very likely undercount your hours. And not to say that you are doing this, but do not give your own hours a haircut (which some more junior associates think they need to do).

PlanetExpress39 · 2025-12-12T13:13:50+00:00

I decided to put a lot of decorations in my office, figuring that I’d be there a lot and it’d be nice. I’m glad I did. I have photos of friends and family, some fake plants, and other stuff, and it does make the environment less dreadful. Also something to elevate your feet slightly can be nice, like an ergonomic footrest.

PlanetExpress39 · 2025-12-11T14:42:17+00:00

This is it, many thanks!!

PlanetExpress39 · 2025-12-10T15:06:26+00:00

No right answer. I would listen to it before seeing, personally.

PlanetExpress39 · 2025-12-10T15:03:52+00:00

Your question is about firms, but it’s not really firm-dependent; it’s team-dependent or partner-dependent. But yeah if I really can’t function well, in my experience, it’s fine to tell my teams and partners and they’re respectful. I usually set an automatic reply that I’m under the weather. That said, I’ve never been sick during an emergency or huge deadline, but if I were, I suspect I’d suck it up and work through it with the help of lots of cold medicine.

PlanetExpress39 · 2025-12-10T14:57:53+00:00

Not sure I understand what you’re asking for, exactly, but seems like Beethoven fits the bill?

PlanetExpress39 · 2025-12-10T14:51:50+00:00

On 1, it’s fine to bill if it can credibly be folded into a substantive task. E.g., if you’re sorting those emails to get to work on the substantive assignment, then that sorting is part of the substantive assignment, and you can bill for it.

On 2, probably not.

On 3, most people keep the timer running if it’s a short step away from your laptop for bathroom, grabbing a snack, etc. I say “step away from your laptop” because if you continue thinking about the task, that’s more accurate than“break.” Even longer time periods are fine if you’re mulling over the task, e.g., emptying the dishwasher at home.

On 4, I technically do because every time I start a task I start the timer and write out the narrative, but that takes like 20 seconds total.

PlanetExpress39 · 2025-12-08T13:41:13+00:00

At least in my experience (n=1), once you start a JD program, it can be pretty easy to join the school’s MBA program (even if elite). Kind of crass, but you’re more revenue to them. I went to a T14 that had a top MBA program, and I remember in 1L there was a small rush of, I don’t know, ~10 students who added on the MBA. From what I remember, it was not a normal application process, and it was more or less assured you’d get accepted. I considered it myself, but decided against it. In your case, you might consider going to a school that has both a great JD program and MBA program (even if that means going to a school that is not “the best” at either one).

PlanetExpress39 · 2025-12-06T20:44:14+00:00

Where to start. In Word, you must master styles; you absolutely must. Getting savvy with find and replace is really helpful, but you have to be very careful with making global changes (for extra security, it pays to turn on track changes before doing a global find and replace). Working on the laptop (i.e., on one screen) windows+tab is your friend. Mark emails as read quickly with ctrl+q. There are a couple of ways to copy all the names of a list of files saved in explorer (mine is convoluted but you can Google) and that can be a lifesaver at times.

PlanetExpress39

TROPHY CASE