I Failed the Bar Exam: Am I Fired?

Q:  I think I’m screwed, but please confirm or deny: I’m a second-year associate at a V10 firm and last Fall, I transferred to the firm’s San Francisco office from Chicago.  By some miracle, I wasn’t laid off when the firm sacked a ton of associates in January and then I left right after to take the February CA bar exam.  And I just found out that I failed it.  I didn’t feel like I aced it for sure when I took it, but I didn’t see this coming and literally almost threw up when I found out. Work has definitely been slow at the firm, especially for me since I didn’t really know anyone as a lateral and then disappeared to take the bar exam.  Now that I’ve failed it, I’m paranoid that I’m going to get fired. Apparently my firm’s policy is to give a second chance for bar failures, but in this economy, that seems unlikely (and I’m a litigator).  Be brutal if you have to: Am I fired? [Read more]

Am I Shut Out of BigLaw Forever?

Q:  I graduated from a top 15 Ivy League Law School.  I wasn’t your top 10% student and I didn’t do law review. My sole philosophy, basically, was to graduate with my mental health intact.  I did, however, clerk for a federal judge during 1L summer, summered at BigLaw 2L year, and clerked full-time my last semester as a 3L through a judicial externship program.  My 2L summer experience resulted in a job offer, which, of course, was rescinded soon after I took the bar.  After finding myself jobless and in debt, I did the unimaginable: I took a job in my home state (definitely not BigLaw market) at a very small, but prestigious, litigation firm, doing BigLaw work for p-e-a-n-u-t-s. The firm mostly represents the government in high-profile political cases.  I’ve been working for less than six months.  I’m putting my all into this job, and thankfully, I’ve been getting great hands-on experience—as can be expected from a small firm—and have been polishing my lawyering skills, which needed work.

Here’s my question: how do I move on to a bigger firm/market later on?  Am I stuck in small firms (re: salary) forever?  I never even contemplated doing litigation in law school (my specialty was business regulation), but I fear that if I stay in this firm too long I’ll never see a business related assignment ever again.  My one idea is to apply for clerkships in larger market cities, and try to jump from there.  I’m grateful that I have a job, and at least I’m not ambulance-chasing.  But am I stuck? [Read more]

Novels at Work: Bad Call?

Q:  Hello.  My firm has already done one round of layoffs and it’s still totally dead around here.  I’m a second-year with literally nothing to do most days.  I’ve tried to get on pro bono matters and have done some office projects, but there’s really not much going on.  I come in every day from at least 9 to 5 but mostly surf the Internet.  My question: Is it completely off-limits to just bring a personal book to work to read in my office when things are slow?  I don’t see how that’s any more potentially offensive than surfing the Internet every day (which every associate I know does), but I don’t want to cross some unknown, arbitrary line of inappropriateness. [Read more]

What Do I Do with a Rescinded Offer?

Q:  I’m a second-year law student at a Tier 1 school. I finished my 1L year in the Top 10% and I’m on secondary journal and moot court. During OCI, I thought all was going well. I had about 25 interviews and received 15 callbacks. Then the economy came crashing down. I struck out on callback after callback until I finally received an offer from a mid-sized firm paying market. Hooray for me, right? Wrong! Recently I was told (surprisingly this has not made ATL) that they were rescinding my offer. To make things worse, my grades suffered from all the callbacks and I dropped from 10% to 25% (I got a dreaded C). So right now I’m applying to each and every single job that I can get my grubby little hands on.

So…all that being said, am I completely shut out of BigLaw? I mean, now my resume for 2L summer won’t say something as glamorous as Summer Associate, and who knows what I’ll be able to get my hands on with such short notice. Thanks! [Read more]

What’s Good Headhunter Protocol?

Q:  I’m an associate at a NY-based firm that just finished massive stealth layoffs, firings,  fake “performance terminations,” whatever you want to call them.  I didn’t get shown the door this time around but I have to try to get out of here if I can—everyone around here is sure there’s going to be more layoffs soon and I want to take advantage of whatever little is available out there in the market.   I’ve been getting calls from headhunters but am not sure for the protocol on how to deal with them at work, and I don’t want to ask any of my colleagues in case they think I’ve secretly been laid off.  (I know this is paranoid, but that is the state of things at my firm.)  Is it a bad idea to conduct headhunter calls from work, use work emails, etc.?  I’m not going to majorly obvious about it, of course, but I’m just not sure what the proper protocol is here.  Thanks. [Read more]

How Do I Reject My Colleagues on Facebook?

Q:  My coworkers (mostly associates in my class, but a few senior associates I’ve worked with and a paralegal, too) keep asking me to be their “friend” on Facebook.  I’m social enough at work, but try to keep my work life and personal life as separate as possible when I’m not actually at the office and I’d like to keep it that way.  I don’t want to come off like a dick, though, for refusing the friend request. Do I just ignore the requests, or tell them in person that I have a personal policy of not accepting coworkers as Facebook “friends”? [Read more]

Do I Really Need to Go to Work This Week?

Q:  As of January 1, I’ll be a first-year at a “big firm” on the east coast. I started in November and it has been completely dead since I started.  Technically, the firm is open every day this week except for New Year Day itself.  But no one’s around—all the partners seem to be gone for the holidays and my floor is pretty much empty. My question: Do I really need to show up this week?  I don’t have any special plans, per se, but it seems stupid just to come in, do nothing, bill zero hours and then leave.  The only thing is, I have no hours and nothing lined up for the new year, and the firm keeps telling us to check in with people and be generally available in case anything comes up. I don’t want to miss out on anything that may come up this week or seem like a slacker, but it seems like no one’s around to see me either way.  Is it normal to just bail the week between Christmas and New Year’s if everything’s this dead? [Read more]

How Do I Handle Holiday Gifts for the Secretary Pool?

Q:  I am a stub-year associate at a mid/big law firm in New York.  I have a cluster of secretaries that I share with the rest of my class, and I want to give them gifts.  How much of a gift would you say is appropriate per secretary?  And is money generally preferred?  I was thinking of getting them actual gifts. [Read more]

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