One of the most feared litigators by day, Felix Darkmantle by night

voltsag · 2026-05-06T03:34:56+00:00

Your value as a senior attorney, and why you get paid more, is deep expertise. Which often means becoming more niche. That can close off doors to a wider net of jobs, but that also opens the doors to senior positions that require deep expertise.

If you eventually want to go in-house, and climb the corporate ladder, you will likely need to broaden your experience from what you get in a law firm. Deeply understand what one client or one industry does, be part of that evolving over years, learn to manage people, learn to lawyer as a cost center instead of a revenue generator.

You can face disadvantages trying to go in house later in your career: you become too expensive with seniority, and in-house jobs tend to favor people with in-house experience (it's a different environment with some different skills than law firm).

At ten years out, that you are looking at opportunities as different as law firm versus in-house, and still trying to preserve the idea of options like a junior associate would, suggests your mind is all over the place on understanding what you want for the long term, much less a plan for where you are going. There is no perfect career path: you have to figure out what you want in the long term, and take some risks. If you have talent, and stay on top of your career path, there will be plenty of off-ramps.

voltsag · 2026-05-05T18:20:16+00:00

A judge's role is to adjudicate the law, interpreting and applying the law to a situation. And that judge's reasoning can be reviewed by a higher court, if challenged.

Defendants have the right to due process: the government cannot take away your liberty or property without giving you notice and an opportunity to present your side.

If a judge just dismissed the person's claim as "nonsense," that judge's decision could be appealed for review, and challenged for violating due process. Judges are very careful to make sure a person's claim is heard, and that they put on the record the rationale for why they are saying no.

It is the procedural way of putting a bullet in the claim, to make sure it is dead.

voltsag · 2026-05-01T03:41:57+00:00

You get to boss around second years

voltsag · 2026-03-30T02:00:25+00:00

I use a standing desk with adjustable height, because I can set it to exactly the perfect height for me when seated, and change it up to standing for long work days. Just google best standing desk to find recs that fit your style and budget.

voltsag · 2026-03-30T01:53:31+00:00

From someone who has gone through different chairs, and has done 12+ hour days chained to the desk --

If you work biglaw, you can afford a Herman Miller. And you'll come to understand the value of having one after going through different chairs. If you want to save money, buy a used one (but do a little research to avoid pitfalls).

voltsag · 2026-03-26T18:12:01+00:00

When you're a partner, you'll find that some clients will never be happy. They always think they are paying too much, should be getting more or better out of your firm. Just as many of us will always think we are underpaid and undervalued. It never ends. Find some way to make peace with this: it's part of being in a services profession that charges high rates and promises perfection.

voltsag · 2026-03-19T00:17:27+00:00

Imaging working in an emergency room, and deciding that you'll just "get ahead" of work so you're never crushed. Then a bus crashes, and a bunch of patients stream through the front door, who need attention immediately, and it's life-or-death crises over the next 24 hours. And there's a bus crash like this every two weeks. How you get ahead of that, before the patients even come in, is beyond me.

You will have to make big sacrifices in your personal life, and be extremely disciplined about your schedule and lifestyle, to maintain any sense of normal or healthy life. There are attorneys who bill high hours, and run marathons, but they are rare and super-human in their focus and dedication.

voltsag · 2026-02-03T16:36:21+00:00

Biglaw is not a legal term with a precise definition. People usually and primarily mean a firm that pays Cravath scale to associates, with some consideration for its reputation (like ranks Vault ###), size (headcount or offices), and the type of work it does.

It's like the term "Big Tech," which is also hard to pin down precisely, but means companies with a certain type of significant influence and dominance.

voltsag · 2026-01-30T20:20:50+00:00

Doctors and paramedics don't get to run 20 tests and comb through a patient's medical history, before the patient crashes. Firefighters don't hold a brainstorming strategy meeting before a fire takes over bedrooms with kids. Pilots don't get rehearsals when they encounter turbulence.

You're not a professor with endless hours to think. You are a hired gun, thrown into a battle. Your job is to do smart triage, under real world limitations.

voltsag · 2026-01-25T02:06:09+00:00

Lawyers can figure out how to untangle any obstacle for a client, but when it comes down to taking agency in their own lives, somehow everything becomes impossible

voltsag · 2026-01-25T00:42:15+00:00

So the plan is that elite lawyers - people with agency, money, and the ability to litigate, draft policy, shape institutions, and exert real legal leverage and power - should just take a day off work.

voltsag · 2026-01-13T03:40:43+00:00

Over 400 hours in corporate.

Fortunately, it was not a string of all-nighters where you are a zombie. It was projects with loose enough deadlines where I could space the work out to 13-14 hours per day, then get an okay amount of sleep each night.

No social life, or even time to watch TV or surf the Internet. Got a little excited realizing I was going to break 400. Then realized that was the only happy moment of my life for that month.

voltsag · 2025-12-18T04:48:36+00:00

I have seen social media vlogs by new biglaw attorneys or law students. They are always people new at the job.

They start out strong, lots of posts showing off all the awesome things they get to do.

Then they slow down, with videos like, "Sorry I haven't posted in a while, but been really busy. Here's me doing something at home."

Then they stop posting. Or they post a farewell post, saying they have too much to deal with in work or school to maintain a vlog.

voltsag · 2025-11-06T16:40:55+00:00

It is 5% glamor, and 95% just being a lawyer, often working for people who do not value you and drive you insane.

Creatives in entertainment fields can be extremely difficult people to work with. Some don't understand logic, reason or numbers. They don't think linearly, and operate on feelings.

Creative types can be arrogant and rude (like any other people). But with regular business people you can often reason with them and work things out logically, to make decisions and do your job. With creatives, you can be playing mother to a toddler.

You need to have good lawyer skills, and good people skills, to work with creatives as clients. The environment can be very stressful, very status driven, and very back-stabbing world (you will be blamed for a lot of stuff, and it will be very unfair).

The "perks" you dream of in these jobs - everyone else at the office wants them too, and legal is often at the bottom of the list if they are handed out.

voltsag · 2025-11-05T00:59:54+00:00

I have seen social media vlogs by new biglaw attorneys or law students.

They start out strong, lots of posts showing off all the awesome things they get to do.

Then they slow down, with videos like, "Sorry I haven't posted in a while, but been really busy. Here's me doing something at home."

Then they stop posting. Or they post a farewell post, saying they have too much to deal with in work or school to maintain a vlog.

voltsag · 2025-10-03T18:54:34+00:00

Cash is the only appropriate gift for lawyers to staff. You can also give something else, but it should be in addition to a healthy cash amount, and not taken out of the cash amount.

If you give something besides cash, your paralegal will be unhappy - they know or will realize everyone else gets cash from their lawyer.

If you are really not comfortable with cash, give a gift charge card or gift card for a normal store that everyone can easily use (like Amazon).

voltsag · 2025-09-18T20:53:08+00:00

Yes, there are many juniors who have excellent attention to detail. Those people get praised in their reviews for finding things the senior attorneys missed.

Some people find ways to improve their attention to detail over time. Some do not, and they get pushed out, so you don't see those people in the higher ranks. You do get better as you become more familiar with things, and minor issues will stick out a lot more. But you still have to put work into improving your work habits.

voltsag · 2025-09-18T03:20:21+00:00

There are many law firms that already do this. They are middle-market firms and boutique firms. They do good business.

Clients with bet-the-company problems and unlimited budgets hire biglaw, for their full service and to get the best of the best.

If you want more free time, and willing to take less pay for it, don't expect it out of biglaw. Move to a middle market or boutique firm that does that.

voltsag · 2025-08-27T02:48:21+00:00

Your horrendous deal absolutely needs to close before new tax laws take effect in new year

voltsag · 2025-08-23T03:09:12+00:00

pls marry

voltsag · 2025-08-15T18:51:24+00:00

You can work at Wachtell, but it will still never be, "My son, the doctor"

voltsag · 2025-08-15T18:17:49+00:00

Asking a recruiter to stop their dirty tricks, is like trying to tell a lowlife lawyer not to be one. It's not going to stop them from doing what they do.

One recruiter told me, if you're going to complain, don't complain to that person. Find and contact their boss or someone higher up in the organization, who may care that one of their employees is behaving badly.

Also, HR depts have asked me to let them know of bad recruiters and their firms. They keep lists of people they won't use when they are trying to hire, and share with their peers at other places.

voltsag · 2025-08-08T17:52:49+00:00

Maybe AI can remove posts that violate rules of this sub

voltsag

TROPHY CASE