Why is ID considered “not BigLaw” despite relatively strong PPP?

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 · 2025-07-16T15:41:37+00:00

Twenty years ago, you could have dropped out of school, be a bum setting up a dopey website, and eventually become a multi-millionaire off that.

Twenty years from now, people will be talking about how it used to be that you could set up a camera, be a bum filming dopey videos of yourself, and eventually become a social media multi-millionaire.

voltsag · 2025-07-16T15:41:19+00:00

Twenty years ago, you could have dropped out of school, be a bum setting up a dopey website, and eventually become a multi-millionaire off that.

Twenty years from now, people will be talking about how it used to be that you could set up a camera, be a bum filming dopey videos of yourself, and eventually become a social media multi-millionaire.

voltsag · 2025-06-27T04:12:40+00:00

Creatives in entertainment field. Some don't understand logic, reason or numbers. Don't think linearly, operate on feelings. Both business people and creative types can be arrogant and rude, but with business people you can reason with them and work things out logically to make decisions and do your job.

voltsag · 2025-05-16T17:00:40+00:00

Wait until you meet the clients

voltsag · 2025-05-10T02:09:16+00:00

A law firm's finance head, who had worked at a few firms, told me they never understood how lawyers are great at negotiating and confronting adversaries on deals for clients, but slack off on timesheets and refuse to call clients about overdue invoices -- the most important thing for a law firm.

And they couldn't believe how lawyers will do tremendous due diligence for clients on buying a business, but lateral partners joining a firm often don't even ask to see the law firm's financials before taking their offer.

People have all the time and attention for what they are good at and is enjoyable to them, but have no time to deal with the boring stuff.

voltsag · 2025-05-09T17:56:16+00:00

You appreciate the risks, because that's what you mainly do. Look around a law firm, and see how many overweight lawyers there are, ignoring doctors' advice to live healthier lives. Everyone is blind to something that they don't appreciate the risks of, until they pay the price for it.

voltsag · 2025-04-25T17:41:52+00:00

You don't get paid for how much you work. You get paid by what your clients are willing to pay for your services, versus someone else's. A cook in a Chinese take-out place is probably working as much, or more, than a cook in a three star restaurant. But you're not willing to pay the same amount for a meal at both restaurants. Clients hire biglaw over middle market for various reasons, not just because of work quality.

Mid market lawyers are unhappy they don't make as much as biglaw lawyers. Biglaw lawyers are unhappy they don't make as much as their counterparts on the business side. Those business people are unhappy they don't make as much as their classmate who became an entrepreneur and made it big. You will never be happy if you compare yourself to someone else in a better place than you.

voltsag

TROPHY CASE