I am curious as an incoming A0 in a T1 firm, how y’all Saturday and Sunday are spent? Is it spent in perpetual fear of work or a call from a senior or are you able to enjoy your weekends on a general basis? I know there are a lot of factors taken into consideration but I would like to know your general perspective on this thing. Thank you.

Stop blaming yourself for having no friends man. it' actually very difficult to have friends in the legal circuit, since this field has the max no of egoistic, selfish, unfriendly, toxic people. Except for a few good ones like me who are keeping the sanity of the professionz most are toxic. In other fields the scenario is cmplt opposite

It would depend on how quickly you are able to learn the tricks (I am addressing to incoming A0s). The work is never so much so as to consume you 24x7. And I say this after having worked in high pressure teams across firms and teams which are labelled as 'teams which never sleep'. If you do your work diligently in the 10-11 hours daily, for 5 days a week, you will not be bothered on weekends (unless the client has informed on a Saturday that it wants something by Monday - which will happen atleast on one weekend every month). And by 'diligently', I mean with complete focus, no unnecessary breaks, and minimal errors. To come up to this point, you will be expected to train yourself thoroughly in the first 3-4 months. This will also be the time when the team will try to gauge your ethics and sincerity. Of course, a fool-proof product will not be expected but expectation will be of improvement week by week.
Also, as a word of advise - as junior most in the team, it would be a wrong expectation on your part that the seniors will work around your schedule. Many 'woke' A0s who joined last year had this weird notion. One of them had his gym from 7 pm. He would send the work to the senior by 9 pm. The entire team was generally irritated with this A0.
Try to be a team player and develop yourself quickly. Treat your work (source of livelihood) with respect and don't take it for granted.

A lot of firms have an out-time (at least on paper) of 7:30 PM. Even if the out-time at the firm in question is 7 PM, do you not think it is irresponsible on part of the A0 to go to gym the moment the clock strikes 7, rather than finish the tasks pending at their end and then go?

So by this you mean the A0 should go to the gym at your time even if the exit time is at 7? Its not like its just the legal sector here, there are better high paying sectors with fixed timings. Aisa kya hospital chala rahe ho jo 24/7 available ho? Document hi to banane hai. Ban jayenge 2 ghante baad.

How is it so difficult to understand the original comment here. No one is saying that the junior shouldn't go to the gym, but the point is that if he/she takes a break from 7 PM to 9 PM, then the SA has to skip or delay his/her dinner to ensure that the deliverable is sent to the client at reasonable hour. Also, if the SA has to check something with the partner before sending it out, then that opportunity is gone.

Corporate lawyers don't do super urgent work, we don't run hospitals or military bases. But that doesn't mean we don't have to earn our living. If client expects a draft in the morning before the management meeting then the lawyer has to send it a night before. What juniors don't understand is that they might have to work on the weekends but then they know what is their schedule is going to be during the weekdays. If you are at a mid level position then you wake up thinking there is no major deliverable and suddenly 3 clients will want you to send something by evening and you don't have time to even explain the work to your juniors so you end up doing all the 3 yourself. my point being - every position has its own fair share of issues and benefits - I am sure partners even have their own challenges ( imagine clearing 30-40 conflict checks within 24 hours irrespective of whether you are on a holiday or on a hospital bed).

I think the cause of all this friction is very diverging viewpoints. You are willing to skip dinner to deliver work. Your A0 is willing to skip work to eat dinner.

Neither viewpoint is objectively better than the other IMHO, it is what it is. Make peace with whatever priority you choose. But also make peace with the fact that younger lot will increasingly skip work to eat dinner and you're going to have a tough time finding someone who doesn't.

Then law firms wonder “why are people leaving”. Maybe the A0 can’t wake up at 7 am to go to the gym, or it doesn’t fit with his schedule. Maybe he goes running in the morning and gym in the evening. Fact is, no matter what position someone is, they HAVE a life. There’s always an option to assign that A0 work at 12 in the afternoon so they can wrap everything up by 7, and take on new projects after gym. This reeks of BAD MANAGEMENT rather than anything else. Also, if there is something “urgent” I’m sure that’s why you guys are a “team” and can figure out how to deal with it. I can’t believe someone is coming back after gym at night to work for SAs like you and you still cry lol.