About 9 months ago, I was a 2nd year associate walking into a meeting with firm leadership expecting a good discussion of how I was doing, areas for improvement, and ways I could get involved with other work streams. I walked out a few minutes later in a bit of shock after being told I was being let go. Because that’s obviously a jarring experience and not one unique to me, I thought I’d discuss some of my biggest takeaways a good bit removed from the situation now in case it helps others going through it, or helps those in a firm stay in that position.
1 - Do your best to not agonize over the why. Chances are you’ll never know the full story.
When I was let go, I had never received anything but positive feedback, not that I was perfect on every assignment of course, but nothing that remotely would make me feel I wasn’t meetings expectations. I had a mid year review with one of the partners that fired me not 3 months prior and got absolutely no indication I needed to improve. When I asked for a bit of an explanation where this came from, I was denied.
I agonized over every detail and reason why this could be happening, and on some level, I still do. The reality is, there are probably several things that went into it - both my fault and not. Spending every day trying to get to the bottom of something you’ll never get closure on just drives you insane.
2 - Never get complacent and do not automatically believe what those more senior than you tell you.
If I had to put one reason that was my fault on why I was let go - it would be this. While I never got feedback telling me this was an issue, I would often get stressed as a junior attorney feeling I didn’t have enough to do, even though I had been trying to get work from other places and steadily improving my hours. It was a lot of up and down - 180 to 200 hour months then suddenly 100-110 hour months. While I never liked feeling slow, I wouldn’t let it get me too anxious because I had people at my firm, both partner and associate, tell me it was okay to not be slammed here, and as a 1st and 2nd year, my hours were not that important.
On some level, I feel it wasn’t entirely my responsibility to consistently beg to be included on matters and be developed as a junior, but on the other hand, I certainly could’ve made a bigger effort to express my availability than I did.
Ask a question in big law you get 1000 different answers. If something feels a bit off to you, it probably is, so don’t assume the advice you’re getting is good advice.
3 - Do not expect people to help you. They won’t.
This one will sound pessimistic but my caution here is that in the position I was in you find yourself needing to depend on people for a lot, or at least wanting someone to help you out - your firm to give you time to get a new job, recruiters to advocate for you, those colleagues close to you to actually help you out with passing your resume somewhere, etc.
I was told I had a month to find a new job during the holiday season by my firm. No one was hiring in the practice I worked in either - especially not juniors. When I had subsequent conversations expressing how impossible that seemed given my junior status and the fact a week of that was a major holiday, I was assured the time could be extended and they understood the job market would pick up post holidays, so on so forth. Another person with influence told me - oh don’t worry they’re not going to throw you out without a job.
That’s exactly what they did. They extended my separation window about 25 days (of which about a week was a holiday) then told me no more at the end of that. I got a total of about 55 days in November and December and no website time beyond that despite asking. I even expressed needing just a bit of extra time on the website or otherwise just to wait for a possible offer from somewhere I was interviewing at. Didn’t make a difference to them.
I had multiple people I was close with express a willingness to help me out and offer to assist me in various ways, none materialized. I don’t blame them for that, but it’s what happened.
Recruiters… oh recruiters. There is about 1 good one for every 40 terrible ones. Do not do what I did and start responding to every email from a recruiter you previously ignored. Try to find one or two good ones, be up front about what you’re looking for, and go from there. Even then - don’t expect them to work overtime for you. They’re aware of your likelihood of being hired, they don’t overextend themselves based on that. Don’t assume they have some level of influence among firms either. Frequently, most of the time they just see the same public postings as everyone else. Not always, but a lot.
I checked LinkedIn, job websites, firm websites, career websites from my law school at least twice weekly and tried to apply to at least a handful of things every week. If you count on a recruiter, you’ll regret it. That’s all I’m saying.
In total, I won’t say I’m better off for having gone through that, but I certainly gained a lot of insight and perspective in a short period of time - both about myself and the industry as a whole. Maybe I’ll end up a t a firm again down the road, but with the knowledge that no matter how good of a “culture” you think the firm has, your situation can change in a hurry.