How Bad is Doc Review REALLY? Forum
Forum rules
Anonymous Posting
Anonymous posting is only appropriate when you are revealing sensitive employment related information about a firm, job, etc. You may anonymously respond on topic to these threads. Unacceptable uses include: harassing another user, joking around, testing the feature, or other things that are more appropriate in the lounge.
Failure to follow these rules will get you outed, warned, or banned.
Anonymous Posting
Anonymous posting is only appropriate when you are revealing sensitive employment related information about a firm, job, etc. You may anonymously respond on topic to these threads. Unacceptable uses include: harassing another user, joking around, testing the feature, or other things that are more appropriate in the lounge.
Failure to follow these rules will get you outed, warned, or banned.
-
- Posts: 428443
- Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am
How Bad is Doc Review REALLY?
Hi everyone, hoping for some insight.
Just stared as a first year in September, and while my hours were pretty intense 2L summer and rough up until now, 90% of the work was substantive and fairly interesting.
Don't think I've had any major screw ups- asked for clarification twice, and misunderstood directions once which led to about five hours of wasted time (my time, but partner wasn't exactly pleased), but other than that I think I've fared pretty well.
Just informed that I'll be on a doc review assignment for the next 11 weeks- I was told she HAD to provide someone, so I was the one.
Two questions- how bad is it REALLY? And should I be worried that my performance is poor? Or did I jut draw the short straw?
Just stared as a first year in September, and while my hours were pretty intense 2L summer and rough up until now, 90% of the work was substantive and fairly interesting.
Don't think I've had any major screw ups- asked for clarification twice, and misunderstood directions once which led to about five hours of wasted time (my time, but partner wasn't exactly pleased), but other than that I think I've fared pretty well.
Just informed that I'll be on a doc review assignment for the next 11 weeks- I was told she HAD to provide someone, so I was the one.
Two questions- how bad is it REALLY? And should I be worried that my performance is poor? Or did I jut draw the short straw?
-
- Posts: 439
- Joined: Fri Feb 07, 2014 5:33 pm
Re: How Bad is Doc Review REALLY?
Honestly. I love it. Easy hours and mindless so I could just marathon episodes of the Office. I haven't gotten to do doc review since my first year and I miss it a lot.
I'd honestly love a job with just doc review if I werent worreid about career progression.
I'd honestly love a job with just doc review if I werent worreid about career progression.
- MKC
- Posts: 16246
- Joined: Thu Jun 14, 2012 10:18 am
Re: How Bad is Doc Review REALLY?
Probably a combination of short straw, early screw-up, and new person AKA low man on the totem pole.
A day of doc review is a break.
A week of doc review is easy billables.
Three weeks of doc review made me want to shoot myself in the face.
Take that for whatever it's worth. Mindless work is fine for a little while, but it turns terrible in relatively short order.
A day of doc review is a break.
A week of doc review is easy billables.
Three weeks of doc review made me want to shoot myself in the face.
Take that for whatever it's worth. Mindless work is fine for a little while, but it turns terrible in relatively short order.
Last edited by MKC on Sat Jan 27, 2018 1:10 pm, edited 4 times in total.
-
- Posts: 1216
- Joined: Tue Nov 16, 2010 2:30 pm
Re: How Bad is Doc Review REALLY?
This is pretty spot on, except I don't even like a week of doc review. A day or two is all I can handle before I start going insane.MarkinKansasCity wrote:Probably a combination of short straw, early screw-up, and new person AKA low man on the totem pole.
A day of doc review is a break.
A week of doc review is easy billables.
Three weeks of doc review made me want to shoot myself in the face.
Take that for whatever it's worth. Mindless work is fine for a little while, but it turns terrible in relatively short order.
- deepseapartners
- Posts: 280
- Joined: Mon Oct 27, 2014 11:49 pm
Re: How Bad is Doc Review REALLY?
Is this "do 4 hours a day for three months" doc review or "lock you in a windowless conference room for 3 months" doc review? The former is manageable and can even be interesting, depending on the assigned matter. The latter is a special kind of hell, but one that most junior associates will suffer through at one point or another.Anonymous User wrote:Hi everyone, hoping for some insight.
Just stared as a first year in September, and while my hours were pretty intense 2L summer and rough up until now, 90% of the work was substantive and fairly interesting.
Don't think I've had any major screw ups- asked for clarification twice, and misunderstood directions once which led to about five hours of wasted time (my time, but partner wasn't exactly pleased), but other than that I think I've fared pretty well.
Just informed that I'll be on a doc review assignment for the next 11 weeks- I was told she HAD to provide someone, so I was the one.
Two questions- how bad is it REALLY? And should I be worried that my performance is poor? Or did I jut draw the short straw?
Want to continue reading?
Register now to search topics and post comments!
Absolutely FREE!
Already a member? Login
-
- Posts: 428443
- Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am
Re: How Bad is Doc Review REALLY?
OP here, I think this will be my only project I'm staffed on. Thanks for all the feedback so far!deepseapartners wrote:Is this "do 4 hours a day for three months" doc review or "lock you in a windowless conference room for 3 months" doc review? The former is manageable and can even be interesting, depending on the assigned matter. The latter is a special kind of hell, but one that most junior associates will suffer through at one point or another.Anonymous User wrote:Hi everyone, hoping for some insight.
Just stared as a first year in September, and while my hours were pretty intense 2L summer and rough up until now, 90% of the work was substantive and fairly interesting.
Don't think I've had any major screw ups- asked for clarification twice, and misunderstood directions once which led to about five hours of wasted time (my time, but partner wasn't exactly pleased), but other than that I think I've fared pretty well.
Just informed that I'll be on a doc review assignment for the next 11 weeks- I was told she HAD to provide someone, so I was the one.
Two questions- how bad is it REALLY? And should I be worried that my performance is poor? Or did I jut draw the short straw?
-
- Posts: 428443
- Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am
Re: How Bad is Doc Review REALLY?
Like diligence, I found it very easy and stress free. It might be the easiest hours you will ever bill at a biglaw firm.
-
- Posts: 1381
- Joined: Sat Oct 09, 2010 4:41 pm
Re: How Bad is Doc Review REALLY?
11weeks is a lot. Would've been nicer after you'd had like 6 or 7 hard months.
-
- Posts: 24
- Joined: Fri Mar 18, 2016 11:55 am
Re: How Bad is Doc Review REALLY?
If I could get paid 180k to do doc review for 10 hours each day, I would take that job in a heartbeat over my current 3rd year Big Law job.
-
- Posts: 1381
- Joined: Sat Oct 09, 2010 4:41 pm
Re: How Bad is Doc Review REALLY?
No kiddingBayCat24 wrote:If I could get paid 180k to do doc review for 10 hours each day, I would take that job in a heartbeat over my current 3rd year Big Law job.
-
- Posts: 428443
- Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am
Re: How Bad is Doc Review REALLY?
But why are you assuming it's only 10 hours a day?jd20132013 wrote:No kiddingBayCat24 wrote:If I could get paid 180k to do doc review for 10 hours each day, I would take that job in a heartbeat over my current 3rd year Big Law job.
-
- Posts: 1650
- Joined: Mon Apr 30, 2012 10:42 am
Re: How Bad is Doc Review REALLY?
A little bit of doc review is good because it's not stressful. A full day of doc review is boring. I would not choose 10 hours of doc review over 10 hours of normal 3rd year associate work except maybe for one day to relax at work.
-
- Posts: 3436
- Joined: Sun Oct 26, 2008 2:39 pm
Re: How Bad is Doc Review REALLY?
I would try to find something else to do as well. You do not want to spend 11 weeks on nothing but doc review and although you won't be good at anything as a first year, at a certain point you will start to fall behind expectations if you don't get some other experience. It's too early to be too concerned, but being the brand new associate stuck on full time doc review for 3 months is not getting off on the best foot.
Register now!
Resources to assist law school applicants, students & graduates.
It's still FREE!
Already a member? Login
-
- Posts: 82
- Joined: Mon Oct 20, 2014 9:29 pm
Re: How Bad is Doc Review REALLY?
This must be associate-dependent, because I can't relate at all to some of these posts. I felt myself legitimately going insane after a few days of doc review; I could not fathom doing it all the time. Time went by soooo slow, and you're not developing at all professionally. But to each their own
-
- Posts: 1024
- Joined: Fri Feb 13, 2015 12:05 am
Re: How Bad is Doc Review REALLY?
See if you can’t pick up work from someone else and then supplement that work with the doc review.
For your sanity.
For your sanity.
- Pokemon
- Posts: 3528
- Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2012 11:58 pm
Re: How Bad is Doc Review REALLY?
I hate it and I have probably done less than 20 since starting. I know people who call it bill and chill or whatever but time passes so slow and you gain no skills.
-
- Posts: 428443
- Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am
Re: How Bad is Doc Review REALLY?
Same here. Doing doc review is infinitely better than being a midlevel/senior associate in biglaw.jd20132013 wrote:No kiddingBayCat24 wrote:If I could get paid 180k to do doc review for 10 hours each day, I would take that job in a heartbeat over my current 3rd year Big Law job.
Get unlimited access to all forums and topics
Register now!
I'm pretty sure I told you it's FREE...
Already a member? Login
-
- Posts: 1381
- Joined: Sat Oct 09, 2010 4:41 pm
Re: How Bad is Doc Review REALLY?
I was being sarcastic
- Mr. Blackacre
- Posts: 314
- Joined: Sat Oct 31, 2015 11:48 pm
Re: How Bad is Doc Review REALLY?
Yeah doc review really isn't that bad if you're also doing other things at the same time. Granted I've only been working for a couple of months, but about 30% of my time rn is spent on doc review and I don't mind it. Easy billable, somewhat interesting - it's a good gap filler when I have nothing urgent to do.
Would probably go crazy if that's all I did for 3 months though.
Would probably go crazy if that's all I did for 3 months though.
- beepboopbeep
- Posts: 1607
- Joined: Thu Oct 18, 2012 7:36 pm
Re: How Bad is Doc Review REALLY?
i would probably distinguish a bit between like
a: doc review where you are a hired gun and some existing team just needs bodies to churn through a zillion documents
b: doc review where you are lowest on the totem pole but you're getting on the team on the ground floor, the database is a manageable quantity, and you can stay on and leverage knowing the facts to become the point person for other, more substantive stuff
thinking all doc review is type a means potentially missing opportunities
...but this one definitely sounds like it, so, sorry op. good luck.
a: doc review where you are a hired gun and some existing team just needs bodies to churn through a zillion documents
b: doc review where you are lowest on the totem pole but you're getting on the team on the ground floor, the database is a manageable quantity, and you can stay on and leverage knowing the facts to become the point person for other, more substantive stuff
thinking all doc review is type a means potentially missing opportunities
...but this one definitely sounds like it, so, sorry op. good luck.
-
- Posts: 1216
- Joined: Tue Nov 16, 2010 2:30 pm
Re: How Bad is Doc Review REALLY?
I'm like you, but I think some people would rather just have "easy hours" and don't care about developing professionally as long as they can keep collecting that paycheck.AspiringAspirant wrote:This must be associate-dependent, because I can't relate at all to some of these posts. I felt myself legitimately going insane after a few days of doc review; I could not fathom doing it all the time. Time went by soooo slow, and you're not developing at all professionally. But to each their own
Communicate now with those who not only know what a legal education is, but can offer you worthy advice and commentary as you complete the three most educational, yet challenging years of your law related post graduate life.
Register now, it's still FREE!
Already a member? Login
-
- Posts: 1867
- Joined: Mon Jun 22, 2015 2:51 pm
Re: How Bad is Doc Review REALLY?
I’m in this category - albeit a bit less than 30% - and it’s great. Absolutely don’t want to be doing this in a year, but it’s been a good way to keep hours up and limit first year stress. Also, in my limited experience, a lot of the more “important” assignments don’t offer much in the way of professional development (esp. as a first year) but are infinitely more stressful.Mr. Blackacre wrote:Yeah doc review really isn't that bad if you're also doing other things at the same time. Granted I've only been working for a couple of months, but about 30% of my time rn is spent on doc review and I don't mind it. Easy billable, somewhat interesting - it's a good gap filler when I have nothing urgent to do.
Would probably go crazy if that's all I did for 3 months though.
- hdivschool
- Posts: 166
- Joined: Mon Nov 01, 2010 2:41 pm
Re: How Bad is Doc Review REALLY?
OP, I think you're fine. It's not unusual to do doc review in a stub year and it is good experience to get (at least for a little while). Someday you might be managing other people doing doc review (either associates or temp reviewers) and it can't hurt to have some experience of what doc review is like.
-
- Posts: 428443
- Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am
Re: How Bad is Doc Review REALLY?
The truly terrible doc-review-all-the-time jobs are all done by staff attorneys and/or computers these days. Doc review is much less awful for junior associates now than it was twenty, ten or even five years ago.
- AVBucks4239
- Posts: 1095
- Joined: Wed Feb 10, 2010 11:37 pm
Re: How Bad is Doc Review REALLY?
I'm currently on my first big doc review assignment. I have two weeks to go through 718 documents (about 5,000 pages) and it's been the easiest thing ever to pad my hours. I basically just do other stuff all day and then go over docs from 4:30 until I feel like leaving. I also do it from home while I'm watching soccer/college football.
Seriously? What are you waiting for?
Now there's a charge.
Just kidding ... it's still FREE!
Already a member? Login