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Magical thinking
So many cases like this appear at my office that I’ll construct him/her as a composite. That way perhaps I can spare myself the chore of receiving those “how dare you write about one of your clients”...
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No longer in Kansas
There’s one thing every lawyer, no matter how miserable, seems to agree on: law school wasn’t that bad. In fact, it was kind of fun. Things take a nosedive when you get to a firm. That’s when you start...
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Don’t Forget
My client was sitting at her desk, drafting a complicated, rushed memo. The topic was an obscure derivative. She’d worked all weekend, then come in again early. Her head hurt. It was due at 5 pm. She...
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Not Horrible
I asked a client how things were going at work – or not-going. She’s a junior at a big firm where it’s been dead slow for the whole year she’s been there and partners are starting to flee. “Not...
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Someone likes a quitter
I spent the second year of my social work internship working at a community center, which offered one of the top smoking cessation programs in the country. One fine spring day I was sprawled, sunning...
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The Haves and The Have-nots
It’s mid-September. I’m talking with a client , a 3L at a top-tier school. “Here’s how it works,” she explains. “There’s the have’s and the have-nots. Either you have a job offer, or you don’t. If you...
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A Radio Reunion
Last February I appeared on Steven Spierer’s radio show, and he brought on a caller, Matt, who had just started work at a big New York City law firm. You can listen to that interview here. Now – 9...
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Frying pan
At some point you have to get out of here. The question is when – and whither. A vacation might help, if you could achieve the impossible and take one. My client pulled off a week – seven whole days! –...
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Oversold
My client is finishing her 1L year. She’s bored. “I study. Then I study some more. Then I go to sleep. Then I get up and study again. It’s the same for everyone.” At least, I proposed, the subject...
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What You Never Hear
Here’s what you never hear anyone say at a Biglaw firm – followed by a discussion of why you never hear anyone say it. Here we go… Let’s work on this together. It’ll be more fun. People write me all...
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The Downward Drift
“I never thought I’d end up working as a contract attorney doing doc review in a windowless basement,” my client bemoaned. “But then I read that piece about the lawyer who’s working as a clerk at...
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The Little People
Readers of my blog express surprise when they discover that all my clients aren’t lawyers – indeed, a small but sizable percentage of my clientele consists of ordinary civilians, non-combatants, plain...
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Tell me something good
I recently attended a conference at a law school – a pretty good law school – and they invited me to appear on a panel and paid for my transportation and even offered a hotel (if I needed one, which it...
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Trump Law School
Congratulations, you’ve “gained admission” to a lower-tier law school! You might be wondering what the actual experience is going to be like. Well, if you’re one of those lucky souls who’s had the...
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