Miserable Partner War Stories Forum

[icansortofmath]

I never said it’s a matter of “git gud” it will get better. I said manage up to make yourself less miserable to the extent possible. It’s true in a lot of cases it really means suck it up tor quit but wouldn’t you want to try other things first?

Put differently, once you stop trying to figure out how to make your bosses/seniors treat you better, you’ve doomed yourself to misery.

I have been working in industries plagued with impossible bosses (trading, investment banking, startups, 2000+ hours billed (pretty sure, close at least) in biglaw as summer and then part time during school year since 1L ended) for decades. Biglaw doesn’t have a monopoly on impossible bosses. In fact, between two firms at 3 offices, I didn’t meet a partner that would crack top 10 worst bosses I’ve had.

That said you guys are right. I bailed on biglaw so carry on.

[abiglawyer]

Think they work in Big 4 and never did biglaw beyond summering [...]

lol

[LaLiLuLeLo]

Think they work in Big 4 and never did biglaw beyond summering [...]

lol

People who were ibankers/bigaccountants before law school are the “as a mother...”s of law. Have some weird complex where they believe everyone else is a K-JD and never worked before.

[patent_guy]

2000+ hours billed (pretty sure, close at least) in biglaw as summer and then part time during school year since 1L ended) for decades

Dude, stop

[Winter is Coming]

I never said it’s a matter of “git gud” it will get better. I said manage up to make yourself less miserable to the extent possible. It’s true in a lot of cases it really means suck it up tor quit but wouldn’t you want to try other things first?

Put differently, once you stop trying to figure out how to make your bosses/seniors treat you better, you’ve doomed yourself to misery.

I have been working in industries plagued with impossible bosses (trading, investment banking, startups, 2000+ hours billed (pretty sure, close at least) in biglaw as summer and then part time during school year since 1L ended) for decades. Biglaw doesn’t have a monopoly on impossible bosses. In fact, between two firms at 3 offices, I didn’t meet a partner that would crack top 10 worst bosses I’ve had.

That said you guys are right. I bailed on biglaw so carry on.

Hahaha

[dabigchina]

Think they work in Big 4 and never did biglaw beyond summering [...]

lol

People who were ibankers/bigaccountants before law school are the “as a mother...”s of law. Have some weird complex where they believe everyone else is a K-JD and never worked before.

ibankers/bigaccountants who don't work in biglaw currently*

[Anonymous User]

.

[Anonymous User]

I recently left big law after 3 years, one of which was an absolute nightmare because of the partner on a big matter that consumed my life.

She is notoriously awful. At least 10 associates while I was there left and cited her as a huge reason. One left after four months without a job lined up because she had so many panic attacks because of this partner. Another got into a screaming match with her in public and the partner slammed and broke her phone on the ground. One associate spent Thanksgiving and the weekend after it cleaning up a screw up the partner made and the partner refused to help on the brief.

My nightmare with her was the combination of everything bad about partners. She heavily edited everything, including meaningless emails, and would lose her mind over inconsequential typos. She lied to the managing partner about her having to “spend hours fixing a brief” I wrote when all she did was edit a few sentences. She would scream at opposing counsel and make insane demands of them that made our lives unnecessarily harder (eg she always told OPC to remove their objects and re-serve their discovery responses without objections. Why? No one knows). She would give me stupidly short deadlines and then not even look at my drafts for weeks, review them the day before they were due, and then go bonkers if it wasn’t exactly what she wanted. When the case we were on settled (at 9pm on a Friday), I was so happy but traumatized from spending all day with her that I just went home and slept for almost the entire weekend. This was years ago and my blood pressure is rising just typing this out.

At least she never threw anything at me.

[LBJ's Hair]

Think they work in Big 4 and never did biglaw beyond summering [...]

lol

People who were ibankers/bigaccountants before law school are the “as a mother...”s of law. Have some weird complex where they believe everyone else is a K-JD and never worked before.

this is def true lol, but it's also true there's nothing "unique" about management at law firms. it's like any other professional services industry---bosses aren't promoted for their management skills and are rewarded for catering to the demands of (frequently unreasonable) clients.

[dmetrievitch]

I definitely support the notion that throwing physical objects (whether with intent to cause physical injury or just for intimidation/to cause psychological injury) is completely wrong and should be punished. I really don't understand how that is accepted in some places. However, I have worked with a partner (small law) who definitely threw files at staff, and even through a large accordion file across/onto my desk. One time, he asked an attorney (who was from a foreign country so he wasn't officially practicing, so sort of doing paralegal work) help him with a project. The foreign attorney said that he didn't have time. The partner then made fun of the foreign attorney's accent for some reason (intimidation? assholery?). The foreign attorney asked the partner not to make fun of his accent. The partner then said "let's go talk about this in my office." A few moments later, we hear slamming/crashing noises. The secretary bursts in and sees the partner pinning the foreign attorney up against the wall, and goes and breaks up the fight. Apparently the partner had been furious the foreign attorney asked him to stop making fun of his accent in front of other people in the office, as the partner found this to be a challenge to his authority. The foreign attorney quit, hush money was paid, and the partner still practices here to this day.

[beepboopbeep]

Think they work in Big 4 and never did biglaw beyond summering [...]

lol

People who were ibankers/bigaccountants before law school are the “as a mother...”s of law. Have some weird complex where they believe everyone else is a K-JD and never worked before.

This is spot on. Consultants too. I had a partner make a comment early on in my biglaw career to the effect of, "well, it's ok, I know you didn't have pre-law school work experience." I did -- several years of it. Her response was, almost verbatim, "well, I meant real work experience like consulting or banking."

Oh, of course. Yes, I agree that my other work was fake. Thank you for your leniency o great former consultant.