It is very surprising to see the way associates and partners behave in law firms. These are the same people who about 5-10 years ago were free thinking individuals in college having fun, smoking pot, drinking till they pass out, chilling 18 hours a day, watching the coolest shows, taking the most adventurous trips - with so much optimistic hopefulness and nihilistic philosophy in them.
I know adulthood is way different from college life with its own set of responsibilities - but who says you cannot be fun because you now have to fund your own life? Why do they act like people who have been working 16 hours a day and think this is the way of life? Why can't they just let people go on leave for a random day without any reason? Why do they suddenly think working on dull documents till 5 am in the morning is what life is about? I know you have to be serious with clients because of the pretentious way this world works - but why do you need to be the same person in front of the people far younger who work for you?
What went wrong in life, really? Where did you lose your mischievous self who could laugh and make fun of even the most stressful of situations? Where did you lose that sense of adventure? When exactly did you decide that you could work 16 hours a day without weekends on a highway project diligence for the rest of your life? When did you decide that a few lakhs extra is worth half of your living days on this planet? When did you forget that you might die any moment and that future planning beyond a point is pointless? When did you decide to trade away the moments with loved ones for a few minutes more with the Managing Partner? Where precisely did you lose yourself?
College was a privileged existence where kids (assuming you attended an NLU about 10-15 years ago) mostly from well off backgrounds had fun without a worry on parents' money. It's slightly different when you have responsibilities and people depending on you.
As far as working for 16 hours a day is concerned- it sucks, but the set was stage and this kind of unsustainable lifestyle was normalized (even glorified) by the MPs and early Partners ever since the time of creation of these firms. People just walked into them and to survive, had to adopt it. An individual can't change a system.
You certainly cannot change the system by yourself, but did you even try it with the 5-10 people in your team? To draw a line between the personal and the professional? There may be people depending on you but are you really making time for them?
And don't portray everything as choices that life did not give you. Earning 5 lakhs a month selling away all your waking hours instead of working for 1-2 lakhs at a simpler job is an active choice you made. Even if there are people depending on you, you can still manage a family of five with 1-2 lakhs - there are people doing it with much lesser.
So instead of blaming life for giving us these responsibilities, I think we need to admit that we made an active choice to trade away our best years for a few lakhs extra.
I quite agree with you. As an intern and an associate, I used to work ungodly hours. And I always felt like it didn't need to be this way. After my first job, my boss is/was easy going and didn't bother managing my time much as long as I got things done. As I grew older, my efficiency increased along with my ability to manage my own time. I worked through the day with minimum breaks, so I could leave the office by 7 and not work weekends if I could help it. But I didn't really have too much fun in the office, so people thought I was a bore. So for me a decent work-life balance cost me some amount of office camaraderie.
When I started managing a team, I kept to a similar schedule. I don't schedule calls post 7 or on weekends, if I can help it. Of course during deal fever or for foreign clients, these rules are flexible - but those are exceptions and not the norm. My team and I still work long hours if required - but honestly, we don't really need to 80-90% of the time. Ours may not be the highest billing team, but we are far from the worst and are decently remunerated.
The culture set for a firm and the team helps quite a great deal. And to some extent, we all need to see how we can manage our time better too.
Hi @Burberry, thank you so much for posting this! For someone who would be joining a law firm in the next couple of years, it is wonderful knowing that people such as you are there in the field.
I'm quite sure that people like you are in the minority- but are there enough teams such as yours to look for similar and shift during one's career? I'm not asking for any particular team or partner's name- just wanted to know if people with a similar mindset, albeit few, are there or not.
Of course there are such teams and people. You should just check around, ask friends.
Also some practices aren't as busy as others but are still rewarding. I think most people don't like real estate as a practice - but it can be incredibly remunerative, complex and interesting and not as cutthroat. I would steer clear of banking and finance and also practices which specialize in small PE/VC deals. Long hours but not that remunerative. I may be a dinosaur so I don't share the enthusiasm for start-ups for this very reason.
I'd also like to say a few first year associates have quit my team because we weren't busy enough. They joined Tier-1s for better pay and more work. So really, your mileage may vary.
Actually, I would say that NLU grads these days have got access to a wider range of opportunities that might bring less payment, but might make the person happier and have a life outside work too. That's why I'm happy for these kids. Law firm is not the only available job option anymore. Twenty years back, if you said that you would like to start legal your career as a legal journalist for example out of law school, you would have been laughed at.
I hope more and more think and re-think about what they really want in life. While this job had seemed so lucrative to me at one point that I thought that becoming a partner is the best thing that could happen to me, I now think it wouldn't make much difference. I would still be doing the same work that I am right now, working the same hours, answering to the same people (except for one person less) and living the same life.
But I also do not know what to do if I quit at this point. Will my alternatives be any different if I make partner 2 years down the lane? Recently, even some partners at my firm have quit after "re-evaluating their life options" but I have not found a clear answer through them.
It is too late. Those who quit , quit in the first 2 or 3 years when you will have plenty of options. Now, you are stuck with it for the rest of your life that is till the age of 60 when a lot of the working force retires in India.
Burning up inside the inferno I'm past the point of no return, I need to let go I'm chasing m's The millions Amen, amen The millions Want a house on a hill Rari' for the thrill Ice on my wrists Just to know how it feel I just wanna wake from a dream And be in one that's real That's real, oh This ain't the life for you You'll never make it through But there's a chance that I could, oh
I know adulthood is way different from college life with its own set of responsibilities - but who says you cannot be fun because you now have to fund your own life? Why do they act like people who have been working 16 hours a day and think this is the way of life? Why can't they just let people go on leave for a random day without any reason? Why do they suddenly think working on dull documents till 5 am in the morning is what life is about? I know you have to be serious with clients because of the pretentious way this world works - but why do you need to be the same person in front of the people far younger who work for you?
What went wrong in life, really? Where did you lose your mischievous self who could laugh and make fun of even the most stressful of situations? Where did you lose that sense of adventure? When exactly did you decide that you could work 16 hours a day without weekends on a highway project diligence for the rest of your life? When did you decide that a few lakhs extra is worth half of your living days on this planet? When did you forget that you might die any moment and that future planning beyond a point is pointless? When did you decide to trade away the moments with loved ones for a few minutes more with the Managing Partner? Where precisely did you lose yourself?
As far as working for 16 hours a day is concerned- it sucks, but the set was stage and this kind of unsustainable lifestyle was normalized (even glorified) by the MPs and early Partners ever since the time of creation of these firms. People just walked into them and to survive, had to adopt it. An individual can't change a system.
And don't portray everything as choices that life did not give you. Earning 5 lakhs a month selling away all your waking hours instead of working for 1-2 lakhs at a simpler job is an active choice you made. Even if there are people depending on you, you can still manage a family of five with 1-2 lakhs - there are people doing it with much lesser.
So instead of blaming life for giving us these responsibilities, I think we need to admit that we made an active choice to trade away our best years for a few lakhs extra.
When I started managing a team, I kept to a similar schedule. I don't schedule calls post 7 or on weekends, if I can help it. Of course during deal fever or for foreign clients, these rules are flexible - but those are exceptions and not the norm. My team and I still work long hours if required - but honestly, we don't really need to 80-90% of the time. Ours may not be the highest billing team, but we are far from the worst and are decently remunerated.
The culture set for a firm and the team helps quite a great deal. And to some extent, we all need to see how we can manage our time better too.
I'm quite sure that people like you are in the minority- but are there enough teams such as yours to look for similar and shift during one's career? I'm not asking for any particular team or partner's name- just wanted to know if people with a similar mindset, albeit few, are there or not.
Also some practices aren't as busy as others but are still rewarding. I think most people don't like real estate as a practice - but it can be incredibly remunerative, complex and interesting and not as cutthroat. I would steer clear of banking and finance and also practices which specialize in small PE/VC deals. Long hours but not that remunerative. I may be a dinosaur so I don't share the enthusiasm for start-ups for this very reason.
I'd also like to say a few first year associates have quit my team because we weren't busy enough. They joined Tier-1s for better pay and more work. So really, your mileage may vary.
fukkk those tier I internship dick contest
But I also do not know what to do if I quit at this point. Will my alternatives be any different if I make partner 2 years down the lane? Recently, even some partners at my firm have quit after "re-evaluating their life options" but I have not found a clear answer through them.
I'm past the point of no return, I need to let go
I'm chasing m's
The millions
Amen, amen
The millions
Want a house on a hill
Rari' for the thrill
Ice on my wrists
Just to know how it feel
I just wanna wake from a dream
And be in one that's real
That's real, oh
This ain't the life for you
You'll never make it through
But there's a chance that I could, oh