I’m a second-year associate based in NYC. I was let go completely out of nowhere. No PIP. No warning. No bad reviews. No “we need to talk about your performance.” Nothing.
My billables were low, but that is what’s difficult to comprehend. There was not enough work from the VERY first month I started. I was constantly asking partners for more work, almost obsessively. I kept checking in, asking to be staffed, asking what else I could do, and I was repeatedly reassured that my billables would not be an issue.
Then, I scheduled a meeting to talk about how to ramp up my hours going into my second year. That was the purpose of the meeting, again, that I set up and scheduled. I thought we were going to talk through staffing, workflow, maybe how to be more proactive. Instead, I walked in and got handed a termination letter.
I am trying to figure out if this is happening to other juniors. On top of this, the lateral market has been brutal. Most postings want someone more senior. I’ve been denied from over 30 firms. I’m not entry-level anymore, but I’m also not the 3rd/4th year firms seem to want. So I’m stuck trying to explain a gap caused by low workflow at a firm that told me not to worry about my hours until the day they fired me.
Has anyone else dealt with this recently? Especially corporate/transactional juniors in BigLaw.