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 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"

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.

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

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.

“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.

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? :)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

"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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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".

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 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"..

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.

1) My first birthday in this firm fell on a Monday, he told me that I may take leave after 5 years when my birthday fell on a Sunday. ( I have not celebrated since).
2) (In a jokey mood) You look like my dog!
3) I hope a doctor as as negligent as you are, while he's operating on you. I truly wish that for you - (with respect to a draft)
4) You're not bad, you're shit and you don't deserve to be employed anywhere. (This is my genuine feedback to you).
5) Getting cigarettes, coffee and one time even picking up his chicken bones.
6) Pisses behind me without closing the door
7) Screams at me all the time so that the entire floor can hear.

To be honest - the list goes on. He doesn't even pay me well.
I've applied to places and I'm waiting for someone to get back :) Finally.
Maybe I'm writing this out of spite because I'm truly hurt and really sick of the anxiety this job has caused me. I am also really hurt because I'm unable to find my confidence again.

I pray that hopefully, a few months later - I look at this post and feel good to have walked out from there.
I'm sure there are other toxic places, maybe worse places - I truly hope to get into a fairly better firm to recoup from here.

Partner tried to make me postpone my paternity leave which I had got approved months in advance because of some urgent matter. She told me I should postpone my leave by 2 months although she knew that the reason for the leave was due to childbirth. I told her rge birth cannot be postponed and neither will I postpone my leave. I took my leave and then quit after a couple of months. In a much better job now. Pay is less compared to what I could have been making at a law firm but the pay is still decent enough and the work life balance is great.

My partner always writes emails in all caps not knowing that therefore whatever he writes sounds rude.

He is known to be a racists and has referred to one ex colleague as a “black and white” album. He also called a female colleague “mummy” since she was eldest female member in the team at that point.

One of my senior while assigning me some research work. Please make this note like how a first year associate would make by 8 in the morning. This while assigning me work at 6 last evening which including going through endless amounts of pages and deep-reading them. Both the timeline and the fact this task was assigned me during my internship, where I did not even know what does " draft like a associate means". It was extremely absurd.

A Partner at a South Delhi firm:

1) (for late nights of working for female associate): Why're you worried about your safety while going back at 11 by rickshaw? This is not Gaza, it's a "safe" locality.

2) (to associates pulling continuous 9-12 days): What's your contribution to this firm?

3) Can you book my hair cutting appointment at this fancy barber, he's too busy always. Figure it out.
4) Can you run over to DefCol Market and grab these things? (vegetables and groceries)

Not far from them were their SAs who made associates do whatever personal work they deemed fit (writing LLM applications, LoRs because they apparently had "better drafting") then threw them under the bus in front of the partner when billable were discussed.

So glad I left.

Partner - If something is pending on me, then you need to text me on teams and remind me and if I don't reply back, keep texting and if I still don't reply, try me on my whatsapp and then try calling me. (and then he'll most probably shout at you for irritating me) and even if then I don't confirm your work, IT IS YOUR FAULT THAT SUCH TASK IS STILL PENDING.