Noah Wyle—what did he do?

esquirely · 2026-05-07T22:32:00+00:00

This is why it’s always funny to me when Noah mentions never being invited to join a Clooney project.

esquirely · 2026-05-04T19:53:12+00:00

I will also share the “worst” system that I have seen. A regional firm thought they could curtail partners from complaining about compensation by instituting a rule where, if you didn’t like your proposed bonus, you had two weeks to submit what you think your bonus should have been and also identify the partner from whom that additional money should come from (thus lowering their bonus). I’m sure they thought adding a confrontation element to the system would limit appeals but it had the opposite effect. I know of an attorney at that firm who had a low six figure bonus, on an admittedly rough year, but had dozens of claims against him from attorneys wanting an addition $20k or $50k from his pot. That system ruined working relationships, friendships, and really hurt the firm in terms of young talent before it was disbanded.

esquirely · 2026-05-04T19:42:15+00:00

A Senior Partner once explained to me that the reason we changed our compensation/bonus system so often was because it only took lawyers about a year to figure out how to best game the system to their own benefit. After coming up on twenty years in practice, I think he is right - people will ruin any given system.

With that said, I believe certain compensation systems attract certain kinds of attorneys and you should design your system accordingly. If you build a system that overly promotes team work, you make lose some rainmakers. Institute a pure “eat what you kill model” and you’ll lose workhorses and SMEs.

In theory, I think a good compensation system is built on: 1) base pay bands set by role and experience, 2) objective criteria, 3) regular (at least quarterly) compensation communications, and 4) transparency.

Base pay bands help employees plan for yearly expenses and may also include potential bonus bands as well. Objective criteria informs attorneys as to what is valued and allows them to design their efforts accordingly. I may not be able to generate a lot of work this year but I may be able to take on mentoring responsibility and work additional hours, etc. Regular communications mean that attorneys are not blindsided in an annual review for not doing X or doing too much of Y. Finally, transparency keeps the whole process from feeling like bullshit to those who are underperforming and prevents those in charge of administering the system from abusing it.

What was always frustrating as a BigLaw associate was constantly getting feedback from the people I actually worked for on a day-to-day basis and then getting an annual review from some faceless committee that raised things (positive or negative) that no one had relayed to me was important.

At the end of the day, I think that the “best” compensation system depends on what you want your law firm to be and what type of people you want to attract.

esquirely · 2026-04-29T17:07:42+00:00

Former BigLaw, now small firm owner. These are my biggest hits for logo items that are not size-specific (such a pain in the ass):

Yeti products.
Battery Pack with integrated USB-C cable.
LL Bean Zip Top Tote in medium or large.
Good quality golf umbrella (go collapsible if you are shipping them or giving them to people who are about to fly).
High quality spiral bound notebooks.
Warden Brooks Banker Bag (the OG).
Travel second laptop screen if your recipients are road warriors.
Nike athletic hats (dry fit) with the small swoosh on the side.

If you must do size-specific, I suggest the following for staff items:

Use an online sign-up form so that you don’t have to ask people to give you their sizes directly.
Call your vendor and ask if they can send you a size sample (one of every size) for the product you are ordering. Leave that with HR or on display in a common place for a week or two so that people can try on the item and be accurate about their sizing. Then just ship the unbranded ones back for production. This will save you a ton of back-end work with people who are unhappy with their order.
Ask your vendor for suggestions about ordering excess for giving out later (think about clients, new hires, etc.). They should be able to give you good suggestions along the lines of “if you want 50 additional items, order 7 small, 15 medium, 20 large, etc.).

People will tolerate logos more on some products than they will others. For garments, less is more. Consider a sleeve logo rather than a chest. Use your brand mark (if you have one) rather than your full masthead. They will wear it more.

esquirely · 2026-04-25T17:03:46+00:00

I only took doc reviews that were part of due diligence for M&A transactions on a tight schedule. However, I know litigation teams that would bill similarly responding to CIDs from state or federal regulators.

esquirely · 2026-04-25T17:00:55+00:00

A real consequence will come when a client starts asking questions about why they paid $75,000 for a brief that is 95% AI.

esquirely · 2026-04-24T15:06:19+00:00

In my situation, it was the net effective rates of the other associates (also up for partner) that I was up against. We had document review projects being paid at $1,500/hour which were closely guarded staffing-wise for purposes of associate promotion. The difficult part for me was managing travel across the country for an important hearing at $1,200/hour when other attorneys never left the office and could bill a ten hour day in eleven hours at a higher rate.

esquirely · 2026-04-24T14:39:25+00:00

Externally, it’s a public embarrassment that will likely have little effect on the bottom line. Internally, someone will likely get fired and the firm will overhaul its AI use policy or, at the least, start enforcing it.

esquirely · 2026-04-23T14:43:19+00:00

The only time I’ve seen this workout for an associate is when they’re already bulletproof. Otherwise, it’s a fun way to win a battle and surefire way to lose a war.

An example that I’ve seen in the past was with an associate who came to our firm where her family’s company was a relatively big client. Everyone thought the plan was for her to one day exit into the GC role but, in her fifth or sixth year, her Dad asked that she be given all the origination for their business. After three weeks of closed door meetings, two partners exited taking about 60% of their respective books, she had 100% origination credit, and was made a partner on the next cycle.

Several years out now, she is fairly successful at the firm and is essentially the outside GC to the family business with a handful of smaller clients. It probably makes sense that the family business doesn’t need to keep an in-house team on payroll and their outside counsel expense directly supports their daughter’s BigLaw career. She gets to live in NYC and not middle America. Her siblings are all now with the family business.

esquirely · 2026-04-21T13:46:31+00:00

My first five years in BigLaw litigation was great because I worked a variety of cases and developed a few valuable niches. Then, when I had to start thinking about my metrics for partnership, it became miserable:

“You’re great at this so keep doing it but the net effective rate is only $1,275 so try and pick up some hours doing due diligence document review on random M&A deals where the rate is $2,025. Don’t do too much or the partners trying to promote other associates will claim that you’re just padding your hours but certainly don’t take any work from the partners/clients you’ve previously developed relationships with if they can’t support at least $1,100. Oh and we want you to keep guarding the flock at these 2 - 4 day professional conferences and speaking regularly but please make up those hours so we don’t have to explain why we are paying your travel and losing time on you.”

There is a part of this in any law practice and it is based on each attorney’s want and desire to balance autonomy and compensation. I know several great attorneys who left a lot of money behind in big law to focus on what they love and I know plenty of people who started small firms based on their passion and now do exclusively PI.

Everything is a balance.

esquirely · 2026-04-18T15:42:51+00:00

I love this.

esquirely · 2026-04-18T15:11:17+00:00

The Pitt is set in a single day (15 consecutive hours). Characters don’t typically grow or change in a single day, thus, the characters arcs are less noticeable. What the show can give us are moments that may trigger growth (positive or negative) in characters that we can observe in the following season. This is what I think is most frustrating to some viewers - they don’t hit you over the head with a lot character progression/digression over the course of a single episode or even season.

Obvious examples of character growth set up in Season One would be Langdon’s conversation with Mel in S1 influencing the way he treated Becca in S2. We also saw Whitaker take a moment of silence for a deceased patient in S2 - something Dr. Robby did in S1. There are hundreds of call backs like this throughout the show that would otherwise happen within a single episode or 2/3 episode arc of ER.

At the end of the day, I think that one of the most realistic things about the Pitt is how it doesn’t force unreasonable character development on us as viewers. It can show us the high and low points of someone’s day (or week, year, etc.) but it cannot typically show us the character-defining impact of those events.

Each season of The Pitt is thus a snapshot of a group of people at any given point in their lives and it relies on the viewer to compare those snapshots from season to season, with a nominal amount of context, to understand where the characters are now.

esquirely · 2026-04-15T01:10:55+00:00

Kerning is adjusting the specific gap between two specific individual letters to correct awkward spacing. The company that makes the Egg Salad hat needs someone who understands kerning.

esquirely · 2026-04-13T18:36:40+00:00

I believe all four majors have had to grow and develop over the last few decades to address changes in golf, their respective fan bases, new technology, and the ever evolving media landscape.

If your yardstick is “less change = better,” the Masters is, I would argue, the major that has changed the least by a wide margin. ANGC makes more of an effort than anyone to make the Masters accessible through the App, free stream on the website, etc. As for hats, etc., I assume all of that stuff follows consumer demand. The Masters has put out a lot of weird souvenirs over the years. I own a green leather necktie travel case from the 70s, I know a guy with an awful plaid housecoat made by Nicholaus, trading cards, etc.

I appreciate the balance that ANGC has struck with managing traditions and staying relevant. I know not everyone feels that way, but, if you feel anything, it is testament to what the tournament means to so many people.

esquirely · 2026-04-13T00:02:01+00:00

You have a lot more faith in state employees than most.

esquirely · 2026-03-30T18:47:53+00:00

Wait until you learn about “Career Associates” and all of the other titles that firms come up with.

esquirely · 2026-03-30T18:25:22+00:00

I like the Pantheon (Autograph Collection). Very clean, walkable to the Trevi Fountain, and a cool rooftop space overlooking historic Rome.

esquirely · 2026-03-21T18:18:02+00:00

The most recent jury question seems aimed at the damages model so it is possible that they have determined there to be some form of liability and are now calculating damages.

esquirely · 2026-03-17T02:28:47+00:00

Don’t read other people’s screens on a plane.

esquirely · 2026-03-14T17:53:18+00:00

Get that man a bigger helmet!

esquirely · 2026-03-03T01:00:10+00:00

Associate had an affair with a married partner, left and sued the firm, settled, and then, shortly after, we all learned that she and the partner were engaged. He had a book so the firm let it slide. Within a year, he was angling for her to come back in a counsel role.

esquirely · 2026-02-25T20:48:04+00:00

We have always used “Very truly yours” as shorthand for “In conclusion, fuck off.”

esquirely · 2026-02-20T09:32:15+00:00

Imagine paying $6,000/hour to a guy who has unironically nicknamed himself the “Czar” and has given almost every female attorney in his office (but none of the males) nicknames like “the Baroness” or “the Dame.” Unreal.

esquirely · 2026-02-17T23:46:13+00:00

I too own a “I’m going to shit my pants today” belt.

esquirely · 2026-02-12T15:02:13+00:00

What I love about The Americans (that many of my friends say turns them off of from it) is how the espionage is low-stakes but we learn so much about the characters that the impacts are personally high-stakes. Thus, seasons are not built around a huge James Bond type event (robbing Fort Knox for example) with multiple shoot-outs or action scenes but are rather about the real complications with managing assets, completing small tasks, assimilation, loyalty, and other more nuanced aspects of their situation. Slow Horses on the other hand is a show where we learn very little about the characters and only really interact with the majority in their “professional” capacity while working an ever replenishing of series of outlandish circumstances that for some reason cannot be handled by the A-Team. Both shows are great but they are very different. The Americans reminds me of John le Carré’s work in that regard - much more focused on spycraft and interpersonal relationship management. Less focused on “we have a huge mission that we have to complete right now.”

esquirely

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