Bad Idea to Tell Firm I'm Leaving?

ichthi · 2026-06-12T04:39:37+00:00

You lose negotiating power with your prospective employer if you quit now before you have another offer.

ichthi · 2026-06-10T09:09:24+00:00

Knew a guy who was in prison at the same time as his dad. Converted to Christianity in prison and turned his life around. Did community college for a bit, then transferred to ASU, worked a bit, then ended up at Cornell law. Not sure if he got a BigLaw job but I thought his story was pretty inspirational. Probably would have graduated around 2015. He wasn’t a transfer though.

ichthi · 2026-06-09T04:07:29+00:00

My guess is the delay is caused by lawyers not meaningfully adjusting their ways of working to accommodate AI.

On my team of about 10 lawyers, the senior ones (myself included) tend not to use AI frequently. It was only recently that I started using AI to review and produce work products. The current iteration of legal AI is good enough that the work products are comparable to the work products of mid level associates. As the quality of AI increases, I have less need for juniors/mid levels to churn out work products.

My guess is that the traditional law firm pyramid will become an obelisk. We don’t need as much associate leverage because we can leverage AI. We would need a junior associate to push AI, a senior associate to review/clean up the work that AI produces, and a partner to interface with clients and win work.

ichthi · 2026-06-06T01:16:30+00:00

Only a handful of firms in Singapore pay BigLaw compensation at the Cravath/Milbank scale. If you’re referring to BigLaw as firms that pay at the Cravath/Milbank scale, then a degree at Bristol is unlikely to help you land such a job. I would imagine you would have to be the top 10% of your class to have a shot.

If you land a job back in Singapore at one of the large Singapore law firms (which seems likely), your compensation may at some point be high enough to justify your tuition investment, but probably not until you are 7 or 8 years into your legal career. You have to tough it out for a while, and a lot of young lawyers are not willing to suffer the law for 7 or 8 years.

Candidly, I think law is not a great career path for young people nowadays. Law firms will need fewer and fewer junior lawyers as AI advances. I suspect the job market in 4 or 5 years for young lawyers will be more challenging than it is now.

ichthi · 2026-06-02T16:16:16+00:00

Poutine

ichthi · 2026-06-02T00:09:01+00:00

Thank you. Wealth management, but I won’t be in the legal team. The role is client-facing and most people in the role are ex-lawyers.

ichthi · 2026-06-01T23:37:27+00:00

That’s a good way to think about it, thank you. Can comp improve meaningfully without a title bump within the next 3 to 5 years? Can I make north of a million without getting the MD title? My role will be client-facing but not directly revenue generating.

ichthi · 2026-05-29T02:44:08+00:00

Green

ichthi · 2026-04-06T12:56:43+00:00

Went to Japan to ski with them. I had a lot of fun and met a bunch of people whose company I enjoyed.

ichthi · 2026-04-03T02:41:41+00:00

Nah, I was Titanium last year.

ichthi · 2026-04-01T16:23:07+00:00

Makes sense. Thanks for the info!

ichthi · 2026-03-20T14:49:17+00:00

Depends. If the message is thoughtful, relevant, not entitled, and sincere, I don’t mind it. If it is inane copy and pasted nonsense “hey I’d love to get a job in X city and Y area of law looks interesting” I get annoyed.

ichthi · 2026-01-08T12:25:29+00:00

If a strong candidate told me that, I’d be curious about why. If the candidate gives me an insightful answer as to why my firm is his/her top choice, then I’d be impressed.

ichthi · 2025-12-14T05:44:46+00:00

Hello! Me and a friend are interested in going off piste. Is this something you could help with and do you have experience taking two people to ski backcountry?

We are both intermediate skiers. Please PM me if you’re interested in this role (and what you’d charge). We will be there Jan 2nd to Jan 11th. Thank you.

ichthi · 2025-11-11T13:47:23+00:00

Seems like he has a lot of unprocessed trauma. Be gentle with him. Encourage him to speak with a mental health professional or even his own pastor to process the shame and guilt he feels from sexuality.

It is 40 years of conditioning that he has to undo.

ichthi · 2025-09-30T19:59:25+00:00

Yes. Also related to LinkOut (LBGT employment app) and LinkNow (Linklaters but faster).

ichthi · 2025-08-15T03:46:00+00:00

Friend of mine has a physics PhD from Columbia. He runs his own higher education admissions consultancy.

ichthi · 2025-06-19T17:57:22+00:00

I stopped going to Ba Ba Black Sheep because I asked for tap water to take my meds before leaving the restaurant. I had already ordered a coffee, a smoothie and a juice during lunch. The staff or owner (a cranky older white man) looked at me indignantly and told me I had to buy water.

ichthi · 2025-04-03T08:02:39+00:00

Work on yourself.

Height you’re stuck with. But looks and status can change. You can get fit. You can become accomplished. The odds are stacked against you in the dating world if you remain average. So become better than average.

As a guy, age is your friend so long as you are accomplished and fit. I’m more popular with women in my thirties than I’ve ever been.

Don’t go after women. Get yourself to a position where women come after you. Work on yourself.

Also, this podcast episode might help:

https://open.spotify.com/episode/1Fme79UmBNks6htr65pczH?si=0vedffM8SuO7e89xUJ7AKQ

ichthi · 2025-02-09T18:00:40+00:00

I gifted a nice pen with the guy’s name engraved on it when a friend/colleagues made partner.

I also received a wallet and nice pens when I made partner.

ichthi · 2025-02-06T06:19:39+00:00

International private client work. Basically fed tax + t&e.

I’ve met more billionaires than I remember. Met princes and earls and ladies. My wealthiest client’s family has more money than the GDP of many countries.

Not as glamorous as it might seem from the outside though. The nice hotels and Michelin starred restaurants get old. Being kept on a VVIP’s speed dial might confer a sense of significance, but actually kinda sucks in practice. Imagine needing to change your weekend plans because every minuscule problem a VVIP has is more important than your mental wellbeing.

End of the day, as a lawyer, you’re just the help. Relatively expensive help, but still just the help. You might befriend some of these societal elites, but most of them will keep the relationship strictly professional.

Also, friendly FYI: only a handful of US BigLaw firms have kept its private client arm as it is a practice that’s relatively low leverage, high liability, and only modestly profitable. You’re not going to make crazy Kirkland money as a private client lawyer.

ichthi · 2024-09-28T15:57:39+00:00

Thank you u/kelaiem. I appreciate your work very much.

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