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What is the most absurd thing your partner/senior has said to you which has made you rethink why you were putting up with them in the first place?
my partner said i showed great teamwork by coming into work a few days after a family member died
That's not. It also shows that OP is a workaholic who doesn't care about family. They deserved such a compliment.
Hey, i agree. I quit a bit after that and re assessed my priorities. I was really upset about the fact that i went back into work and it's confusing when you're complimented for it. We're all trying to do our best and i was only 27 so please cut me some slack.
"Your generation is too soft"

.....right after I told her I've enough on my plate to do the make-work she was about to assign. I suppose her spine her has become to 'hard' and useless after years of indoctrination.
A 'world leading' competition partner asked me to record the conversation of a high stake meeting on my mobile phone. S/he instructed me that the entire conversation must get recorded. The client found it out since the mobile phone was always kept on table and the meeting went on for hours. Rather than backing me up, the partner shouted at me and cut me off from the matter.
I’m shook. Sorry that you’ve encountered such bosses. Can’t even call them “professionals”. Did you do anything to change the situation you’re in ?
LOL
That would have brought an end to 20 crore billing every year
If you come to me with a problem you better come to me with a solution as well.
I was also told something similar: "If you come to me with only the problem and not with the solution, then you are also a part of the problem"

In my first year I was told to think out of the box, but when I attempted to share some idea, I was shushed and told "you youngsters! always trying to reinvent the wheel"
"why are you pretending to be a lawyer, you should be a journalist"

Bald fuck.
Oh I got this one too. Probably not the same partner though. This one has hair.
"He's a communist" - when I was advocating for listening to the other side and being patient with their grievances.

I am not a communist, nor was my position that of a communist.
worked for four weekends with no days off on a matter. When the matter got finished, I asked for a holiday for Thursday. Told him that there's no pending work and I will sit idle. He told me it's okay come to office and sit idle. Wont give me a holiday because it will send a bad precedent to others. WOW.
Should have bunked. In any case normal for you to get sick after 4 working weekends.
You’ll look better in skirts.

Unfortunately, I am a male associate :(
"this is not as per CAM quality" - still don't know what CAM quality is
There's no CAM quality.Bulllshitting partner.Most of CAM legal opinions are just run of the mill churn
Oh that's easy. Take an NDA research note, slap your name on it, undercut SAM's billing rate by 30% and push it out at 3am to your hapless client.
I guess "100 years" of "values" doesn't give you thinking and research cells on legal matters when your obsessed with money making.
This is expected and known.Imo,they promote only the chamcha rookies so the merit, the talent leaves and then the chamchas who grow, know no shit of the law and further keep driving away new talent.The MP doesn't care for talent anyways.Most concerned with kitna kamaya.Big rich bania shop.Wanna learn law,join small platforms
Funnily enough an associate at a non-CAM law firm told me they use the phrase 'reads like something CAM made' if the draft was shabby
Review XYZ Document (beyond our scope) as I like to go over and above.
Whenever I send a matter to the team, you hide behind other people's back.

True story, folks.
When I sneezed on the call with the partner, s/he said "Don't make noise!".

Savage! In love with her/his routine sarcasm since.

Cheers!
Partner tore my draft and threw it into the bin next to him cause it wasn't in the font he preferred!
Why are they so rude and unprofessional? Do we need such a stinky attitude to succeed?
SA Mumbai

A then PA was infamous for calling A0s on Sundays just so that they could collect her prints from the printer and give it to her!

Mind boggling.

SAHAs mujhme zyada hota to t-Ab-Rup-A-lag hota mera aunty! B is P!
Unfortunately my grandmother passed away in the first month after I joined CAM (on a Friday).

Partner: I wouldn't say you should go neither I'm saying you shouldn't go. It is your decision. Keep in mind you are new in this firm.

Nevertheless I had to go. Got a message 2 days later (on Monday) - Hope you are back.
Ahhhhhh I know youuu!!! This one particular partner is a monster! Great you’re getting a break from ▮▮▮ for a bit currently
Its not Privileged and Confidential, its Confidential and Privileged
You have so much time because you're not married (when asking me to work on the next dd at 2 am)
You should have replied, "Well unmarried people have sex life too".
“Please come to office regularly, as I will be coming daily. It doesn’t matter if I am not vaccinated - I don’t trust vaccines and they’re anyway ineffective - my lack of vaccination has zero bearing on the health and safety of the team. I won’t get COVID or spread it.”

This is an equity partner of a top tier law firm which prides itself sensitivity during COVID and its hybrid work from home system. No fault of the firm though, they’re doing a good job.
Ah, the beauty of getting medical opinions from lawyers instead of doctors! Ask him if he can help me with a particularly difficult medical problem: I get allergies whenever I listen to bullshit.
As one level below Partner in a large tier 1 firm, i am trying to explain a point during a negotiation to the other side and they seem to buy my concern (along with my client who is sitting there). The Partner who was making some random delusional comments up to this point turns to me and shouts “Stop trying to hijack my clients!”. Started my own firm a few years later and the client sitting in there became my first client and point of reference for many many matters thereafter! Not every story of Partner level BS needs to have a sad ending eh? :)
Loved this story - But was the partner really delusional considering you did steal their client xD
"Come to office, COVID can only spread if both parties are not masked and even then you need to be 10 cm away from the other person, otherwise there's no risk"
My Uncle passed away two days before I was going to go for a very expensive pre-booked vacation. Tried cancelling but could not cancel
And would have lost a lot of money so we took a call to go ahead as loss was in lakhs.. when came back from a 5 days holiday (out of which 2 days were Saturday & Sunday) I told my partner that I want to go for his 13th day condolence meet and need two days leave.. I was told since you were not sad enough to lose money and went for vacation.. obviously you are not sad enough to go for condolence meeting specially when i just took 3 days leave. No surprises I was not granted leave and could not go.
got forced to recall an email and got this feedback: Don't say best regards, say best wishes.
"Only I will use 'Best' in my sign-offs in emails, everyone else should use 'Regards'."
Is this a Bangalore based [...] partner? I think I know who it is
Comment ko thoda aur gehraayi se padhi, all details are there.
Made me cancel on a holiday I had planned with my group of friends and informed her about a year in advance, only to make me cancel it at the last moment for a fake urgency created by the client and my boss.

Ultimately nothing happened of the urgency and I missed a great trip with my friends, quit that bitch within a month.
"_you dont justify your salary"
"It seems to me that you are a bad hire"
"For me its a 5 minute job i dont know why you are taking so long"
Shares screen(reprimands) that this is how an email should be written.
When offered to shoulder extra responsibility to help a colleague, i was rebuked in front of a junior associate that you are not even able to take care of your primary responsibilities.

P.S '- A bit off topic but would like to understand is the above '-below the belt' and 'is it time that i look elsewhere'. Can this behavior be considered borderline toxic? Appreciate any analysis which will help me to have a closure.
he or she wants you out so either fight or stay but be aware

yes not below belt but slapping belt on your face
I don't think you should stay here honestly. If they meant it, what more do you want to hear? If they didn't mean it and still said it, that's messed up and you'd be better off without them.
OP here.

Thanks 27.1 and 27.2 much appreciated and as we speak i have put down my papers. Couldn't agree more with 27.2. Life is too short to deal with such toxicity and make do with people and try to get even with them. I was on the verge of losing my sanity. For what it is worth the person is on an awards buying spree( which was discussed in a separate thread on LI) in his/her quest to seek validation. Perhaps, making me feel miserable every single day helped him/her to get that much needed 'feeling of superiority'-. I can take some solace in the fact that at least I was able to be of some service albeit as a punching bag.

Just a request to Kian and the Mods:

Can we have a SOS button where a comment can be marked as 'urgent' so that lesser mortals like me can have some expert guidance on such issues from peers on priority? We can also include an undertaking to make sure that such SOS marked comments cannot be a regular affair and should not be misused. However, i reckon there is no way to authenticate that.
Look elsewhere immediately. This is not below the belt or borderline toxic. This is humiliation, in a worst possible manner. Don't be naive. Just start looking.
Two partners at a law firm whose name begins with A and ends with a B once made me and another associate work through an entire Saturday night (after having done nothing about an assignment for weeks and starting its review on a saturday evening) and kept mocking and insulting us both throughout the night .. made me feel worthless and almost suicidal .. called us back to work on Sunday and this whole exercise continued.. I was broken .. when i was given a few minutes off for lunch i went to a nearby restaurant and just broke down.. a couple of strangers comforted me.. the lowest I have felt in my life. This was about ten year back.
Guys, please stop this slave mentality. Your first loyalty is towards yourself and den comes work, firm, clients etc etc. This is cruelty and stop taking this. Put your papers, no money is worth this.
what did you do after that? Any guidance for how to tackle such feelings
I just carried on. Probably should have done something. Even today ten years later, i feel like crying when i think about those two days.
Partner leaving at 7:30pm asks me to leave while I'm working on a client deliverable.

Partner: You should go home.
Me: Have one document to finish. Will send out to the client and then will leave.
Partner: Don't worry. We can tackle this tomorrow.

Next morning - Partner: Why did the document not go out last night?
Me: We spoke last evening and you said this can go out today.
Partner: You don't have to listen to everything I say.
Do you want to be my colleague or do you want to be a great lawyer? When i explained a point of law.
"All transactions in the airport sector should be notified by way of Form II". This was the statement from a self proclaimed "world class"
Competition Lawyer. This is when I realised that I m working with an 'all noise, no substance' third-class lawyer.
Eventually, we notified the transaction by way of a Green Channel.
A 40 year+ unmarried female partner who is "highly renowned" in her field and keeps on advocating for women's rights at workplaces often makes fun of other female advocates in the profession for gaining weight after childbirth and claims that they have become inefficient. She does this in front of her young female associates to deter them from marriage. She is beyond pathetic.
Ah well it balances out all the married partners male and female who are constantly talking about motherhood and how it proves you are unselfish in front of young female associates so that they feel insecure until they are married. Half of course are miserable in their marriages but want to be given a prize for it. Misery loves company.
I think it's important to have men talk about married life and kids to an extent. Organisations used to be male dominated and the men would look down on women who would talk about their husband or kids, instead of discussing golf and whisky. It makes the work environment a little more inclusive. Women no longer have to "like men" to sit at the same table.
"All you have to do is sleep with me". There you go, I completed his next sentence. POSH the crap out of him?!?!
Dude wtf is wrong with you? It's not funny, this is some serious s. Its literally the whole object of POSH.
“If your draft is correct then how will I add value to it?”
My pet was on his last legs, had to put him down. I wanted to visit my dog to see him for one last time and put him down. Asked my partner for 2 days leave, my partner looked me in the eye, heard my request and said “no, my transaction is more important.”

My dog passed away 2 days later while I was working. Never got a chance to say bye for one last time. Won’t forget and won’t forgive.
I'm really sorry for your loss... I hope you've put in your resignation papers because if your partner doesn't value a life, he isn't gonna value any of his team members as well
So sorry for you. You should have made up an emergency and not told him the genuine reason for the leave...
For a dog?! What's wrong with this generation. If you are so caring for pashu pakshi jeev jantu why don't you work in a zoo? You have chosen to work at a corporate law firm and except leaves for this? Seriously?! its not as if your mother passed away.
The greater problem law firms have is, they would have with lawyers taking leaves no matter what. One thing they need to get into their heads is this: the employees should be entitled to take X number of leaves in a year, without ANY explanation whatsoever. Not even dog dying - just because I want to play XBox.

Employers who oppose this need to have their head on a spike.
If you want leaves for XBOX, then you really don't deserve it.
Just realised the sarcasm in your comment after reading your username. Lol, good one.
The problem is the dogs,pashu,pakshi should roam free in offices while you need to be placed into a zoo.
For some people our pets are our family, this is the most horrendously insensitive comment I have ever read. You don't need to work in a zoo to love animals, that is like saying only hospital staff are capable of liking humans. To grieve for a dear member of our family is a perfectly valid reason to take a leave, whether it is one's mother or one's dog!
What the fuck is this slavery!? Holy shit bro fuck it, I'm in my second year at a t1 and i make a vow to myself to NEVER try and enter/intern in a law firm. Jesus Christ this thread is horrendous. I'd rather earn 10k/month as a Zomato delievery guy and live with my self respect than endure whatever the fuck is happening in these firms.
huh? what is blud saying?????

all I said is that I am getting my legal education in a tier 1 college. are you also a toxic partner at a t1 firm bro?
Then we'd have to start a thread for you saying 'worst shit that's been said to you as a tomato delivery boy'. Cheer up cheerio.
Here are the keys to your new Tesla roadster for winning that case on a high profile client, then i woke up
Partner made me cancel a trip which was notified weeks in advance because it was late, a client walked in friday eve, and other local associates were busy / not in sight. Said 'work is most important, trips can wait'. Ofc, nothing happened over the weekend.
Partner at La-la-firm (read LuLu) who got a splendid increment, told his As 'what makes you think you deserve an increment? Do you know what associates in litigation get?'.

Lol.
Partner told me to put in late hours because I could afford it daily as a bachelor who wasnt dating. Cheers.
I feel this is kinda fair? if your goal is to start your own firm at some point that should be the goal right? learning the market, the game and making connections?
Considering that you like your Fanta with diamond pistols, are you sure you should be talking about money?
True story - A partner, old guy, walks into a conference room to rip a massive stinker in peace - only to find two of us sitting there - starts to make small-talk as if nothing happened - gets serious about the billable he just mentioned - forgets its small talk - and goes on chatting for a full 20 mins while the flavour seals in. I couldn't eat for days.
Kian you should really introduce a feature to mirage such posts and put a read at your own discretion thing. I was eating chicken salad, now have to throw it.
It's just a lala firms partner, not c suite guy at fortune. Executive washroom is for king lala and queen b
dayum either he doesn't see you guys as human or he has no shame
i know your tattoo is nice but you don't need to flaunt it here in the corporate world
Get the unpublished manuscript of the new Harry Potter book.

That was a tough one. :)
SHE (partner) -What is the need to get upset over a small part of the fixed salary being delayed by few months?This is a crisis(Context- Covid),sir(MP) said its due to business uncertainities........MP has used personal money for worli house.Firm has to save up for crisis.Now don't crib to me about needing your fixed salaries I got real work to do.
We need money (from client).To hell with Bar Council and ethics.
Reviving this thread. During my stint at the law firm, one of the partner who did his law from CCS used to feel jealous whenever the associates or intern talk about Delhi law faculty. In fact, used to brag that he cleared the entrance but did not do for some personal reason which was utter lie. We later came to know that he even failed in CCS law exams, must be very hard working guy if he is failing there.

And while I was working with one of the partner on an opinion, she inquired from me something regarding the client which of course I did not know. She out of nowhere told me "*jao bhagwan se jakr pucho or else I will fix your meeting with queen of hell (*she was referring to herself). Mai bhi chalu, bhagwan jsey hi bola, mai upar dekhne lga as if to actually pray god for answer. She was fuming over this and shut me out. All the associates and interns were laughing their ass off. Few months down the line, switched to corporate. Life is good, I am in control of my hours, log toh ache bure milte rahte hai.
1. Female senior partner at a very large firm, after interviewing a female candidate for the team: "Hell, no. Have you seen her face? I can't put her in front of a client!"

2. Another senior partner (has kids): "He wants paternity leave? Why the f** do these people need to have so m*any kids?"

3. (Ok this one was a client but is possibly the cringiest thing I've heard in years) In car with very senior executive of client. Sr. Exec has just noticed young woman on the side of the road brushing her hair and mutters to himself: "Aaja meri jaan, tere baal main sanwaar leta hoon".

4. HR/Admin at my first firm decades ago: "I know you're sleeping with [Ms.] X kyunki tumhaari bahar koi girlfriend nahin hai - hame sab pata hai".
the first is just disgusting, the second one makes sense if u have 4 kids and above, mutters to himself mein kya issue hai, aur if the 4rth is true, it makes sense.
My response to No. 4 was "Madam. Your firm is making me work 15-16 hour days four days a week. At this point I'm not interested in sleeping with anybody. I only want sleep."
You don't look maharashtrian, you're so smart are you a Gujarati or marwadai?
In one of the hearing before court, the partner kept on saying that my client is kidnapped Milord and stuff. After some time, judge intervene to said "Vakeel Sahab Kidnapping child ki hoti hai, apka client 40 k bacha hai kya, abduction bolo". He was super embarrassed and took adjournment on flimsy excuse. And as the story goes, associates pr nikla gussa.
I went through a divorce. When asking for Diwali leave (the compulsory / fixed one that all firms provide) to go visit my family in home town, he said - "tu kaha jaega chutti leke, teri konsi family bachi hai".
Since you remember this, I am presuming you have very good culture and environment in your team. Jisne khud saha ho vahi dusre k dhuk samjh skta hai.
I was asking for raise since got an offer 13-14 Lkhs more from competitor, I btw mentioned variable components of my CTC affect month to month cash flow. He says “beta propose smthng that reduces the bonus and increases the monthly, but I don’t have to pay you more. Mai tere liye itna sab kuch kar doonga”. I quit next day.
One of the partner who so obsessed with Sanjay Dutt, he used to dress like him and walk like him. One of the client noticed it and said to him "I hope you don't commit terrorist act in your capacity as Sanjay Dutt". The Partner was so embarrassed by that but client ko ky bolega. It was so funny, the partner later on said to one of the associate who happened to be a relative "Terror act k pata nahi per teri biwi jrur chura lunga"..
You don't need a raise. You are not married and you have no kids.

Gave my notice in a few weeks and moved to saner pastures.
This boutique law firm partner paid some agency for fake Instagram followers and went around telling people he is one of the most influential lawyer. Was even one of the first person to pay Instagram for blue tick.
Partner told me that he was aware that his wife is sleeping with neighbor boy as he has placed hidden cam in the bedroom and that he was happy about it since he has authentic proof to go against her in their divorce. Also, that he sees their intimate moments regularly as stress buster. Didn't know what to say at that time.
‘Unless you are dying, do not even consider asking for a work from home.’

‘I am sorry that your aunt died, please speak to your mother on a phone call on personal time. Personal life can wait’
You have to take my call each time. Even if you are on the phone with PM, cut his call and take mine.
"Do you sometimes feel the need to maybe see a psychiatrist? Something is up with that brain buddy"
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