I’m an uber driver in NYC, so I get plenty of diverse customers in my car (including tons of lawyers). But last night I had a really weird interaction with an attorney, and I don’t know if this is typical?
There were four of them, and things got weird right away when all four tried to get into the back of my car. The youngest one jumped into one of the side seats, but he was pushed to the side by one of the older lawyers. He basically ping-ponged between seats as they all pushed him out, until he eventually crawled over their laps and stumbled out of the car.
He then came and sat in the passenger seat. I assumed we wouldn’t talk much, but wow this kid could talk. He immediately started telling me how he’s at a “V10 biglaw firm” and that he graduated top 25% of his class at a “T14” and that he plans to clerk for a feeder judge. It was like he was speaking a foreign language.
I tried to ask him questions about his personal life, but he seemed confused about what I meant by “hobby” or “girlfriend.” He responded “do you mean my non-billable admin tasks? I try to make my assistant do as much of that as I can. Gotta max those billables for that bonus.”
He occasionally tried to talk to the lawyers in the back, but they didn’t respond. I think they were pretending they couldn’t hear him. At one point he told me that he’s a “sixth year in the body of a first year.” Again, I don’t know what that means, but I saw one of the older lawyers in the back roll his eyes.