Was fired for performance in the Spring. Nothing outrageous really. Billed 170-200 hours per month but just kept blowing deadlines. I gave notice each time, but because I really thought I could finish something up until it was obvious I couldn’t, the notice was rarely timely. I wasn’t the best lawyer on earth, just saying it wasn’t for wild misconduct or something illegal. Dragged myself out of the depression that followed just in time to be off the website as of earlier this month.
Was going hard on student loans so no savings to speak of. I just don’t know what I should do. Now that I have a gap in my resume, should I even bother with V100 firms? Nothing but rejections so far and that was when I was still on the website. If a firm has staff attorney positions available, should I only apply to those and not the associate ones? Mid-sized firms only? Are billboard personal injury firms all that’s left?
Anyway, I’ll take any words of advice or encouragement you can spare. I just feel like such an asshole. The job was demanding but honestly not that difficult substantively and I just couldn’t get it together. Graduated hardly a year ago and since then I’ve gone from a T14 grad with a corporate gig lined up to a complete loser. And with AI looking poised to take up a lot of junior work (I don’t think I’m an alarmist, but they had us working with it a ton and there was very little I could do that AI cannot), I feel like I’m teetering toward membership in a permanent underclass with eye-popping debt and no way out.
Ok, that’s all the venting I’ve got. Happy Friday, everyone.