12 August 2006
Some progress
Considering how long ago my last post was, not a great deal has changed at the office.
My persistence with the partners and HR did not lead to me leaving my current group early, resulting in me being NOT a happy lawyer. This was particularly irritating as there actually isn't a lot of work in my current group, so its not like I would have been missed.
NOT only that, a month from"settlement" date, getting confirmation of where I was going to settle was like drawing blood from a stone. This was a major issue as there was only ONE group I wanted to go to.
After discussions with a friend, we decided I needed to to a bit of "marketing" for myself ie keep in touch with the partners, be seen on the relevant floor that the group is on, find a partner who would back me etc... So I did. I picked Partner R. And I think he kept and eye out and rattled the cage for me a bit.
On a happier note, I recently made my first call to legal counsel of a US client in NY. It was pretty exciting. Made me want to go to NY. Don't know why, because I've actually never had any desire to go to the Big Apple, for work or play.
As I'm going to be settling down as a corporate lawyer, and FINALLY starting what I hope will be a long (and hopefully happy) career, I am planning on blogging more regularly. Furthermore, a couple of my friends, who used to be "sounding boards" for my many and varied work woes and triumphs, have each had a big life change - one has had a baby, and the other has *ahem* seen the light and gone in house ... so I don't want to be bothering them too much with the trials and tribulations of law firm life. That's where this blog comes in - consider it cathartic.
I'm really hoping that there will be lots of positive stuff to post too!
My persistence with the partners and HR did not lead to me leaving my current group early, resulting in me being NOT a happy lawyer. This was particularly irritating as there actually isn't a lot of work in my current group, so its not like I would have been missed.
NOT only that, a month from"settlement" date, getting confirmation of where I was going to settle was like drawing blood from a stone. This was a major issue as there was only ONE group I wanted to go to.
After discussions with a friend, we decided I needed to to a bit of "marketing" for myself ie keep in touch with the partners, be seen on the relevant floor that the group is on, find a partner who would back me etc... So I did. I picked Partner R. And I think he kept and eye out and rattled the cage for me a bit.
On a happier note, I recently made my first call to legal counsel of a US client in NY. It was pretty exciting. Made me want to go to NY. Don't know why, because I've actually never had any desire to go to the Big Apple, for work or play.
As I'm going to be settling down as a corporate lawyer, and FINALLY starting what I hope will be a long (and hopefully happy) career, I am planning on blogging more regularly. Furthermore, a couple of my friends, who used to be "sounding boards" for my many and varied work woes and triumphs, have each had a big life change - one has had a baby, and the other has *ahem* seen the light and gone in house ... so I don't want to be bothering them too much with the trials and tribulations of law firm life. That's where this blog comes in - consider it cathartic.
I'm really hoping that there will be lots of positive stuff to post too!
18 May 2006
Well, its been a while between drinks!
I did end up catching up with the supervising partner, as I mentioned in my last post, but NOTHING! ...Perseverance. I got an email a couple of days ago for a farewell for one of his lawyers. I figure they'll need to replace her (god that sounds terrible)... and thats where I come in! Im not sure whether they have worked that one out yet though.
Anyway, the Firm recently had a Trivia nite. Which meant all the lawyers attending had to try get out of the office by 6.30. I was actually pleasantly surprised by the number who were able to make it on time. Of course, there are always a few late stragglers. I cant say I exactly enjoyed myself though. And Im not sure why that is. Starting off with the Sports round when I know nothing about sport was probably not a good introduction for me. It just felt very artificial having all the lawyers and partners from all our practice groups socialising together at a quasi casual trivia nite. At any rate, I left early to go to a friend's drinks. However, I did my bit to help our team come third last by responding to trivia nite questions sms'd to me by one of the solicitors on my table.
I did end up catching up with the supervising partner, as I mentioned in my last post, but NOTHING! ...Perseverance. I got an email a couple of days ago for a farewell for one of his lawyers. I figure they'll need to replace her (god that sounds terrible)... and thats where I come in! Im not sure whether they have worked that one out yet though.
Anyway, the Firm recently had a Trivia nite. Which meant all the lawyers attending had to try get out of the office by 6.30. I was actually pleasantly surprised by the number who were able to make it on time. Of course, there are always a few late stragglers. I cant say I exactly enjoyed myself though. And Im not sure why that is. Starting off with the Sports round when I know nothing about sport was probably not a good introduction for me. It just felt very artificial having all the lawyers and partners from all our practice groups socialising together at a quasi casual trivia nite. At any rate, I left early to go to a friend's drinks. However, I did my bit to help our team come third last by responding to trivia nite questions sms'd to me by one of the solicitors on my table.
27 April 2006
Twiddling...
One of the reasons for setting up this blog was to give me a place to vent, whinge, and whine about work (more specifically the long hours and stress!). But, for the last month or so I haven't been busy at the office...shock horror - a lawyer who isnt busy!
I should back track and do some explaining here.
Im currently finishing off my firm's "graduate program" (our firm has a 3 x 6month rotation system for all its graduates). About two months ago I finished my second rotation which was in our corporate group. Loved the work, but unluckily for me, it was one of the busiest quarters we've ever had - it sapped evey ounce of life out of me. I worked 13 days straight at one stage. My longest working week while I was there was an 80 hour week. I know this may sound pretty tame compared to what some "hardcore" lawyers work (how scary is that statement), but these sort of hours are overkill for a graduate I think (plus we dont get paid enough to put that sort of hard slog in!)
Anyway, the pace in my new group is quite leisurely, to say the least. When I first started here it was great: got to leave at a reasonable hour, have lunch breaks, had enough energy to go out for a drink on Friday nights...it was quite great really, I was on a quasi holiday!
But now, everything is REALLY slow - there's not a lot of work coming in, and even when there is stuff to do, the lawyers arent all that into delegating. And I dont even like the practice area. I've got the trifecta happening: stagnating work flow, no delegation, and no interest.
So I'm getting super bored. And de-motivated. Bored and de-motivated is such a bad combination.
Plus its worse because in the space of a couple of months I've gone from crazy busy to twiddling thumbs. Well maybe not that bad, I've had bits and pieces of work to do, to keep me "looking" busy, but not a great deal of billable, and we know that lawyers live and die by the billable unit. Unfortunately, this is going to kill my budget figures : (
So for the sake of my sanity Ive decided that Im going to try bail before my time is up, and head back to the "land of plenty". It got to the point today where I was considering running upstairs to my old partner, getting on my knees and pleading "take me back!".
But I decided that would probably not be a good look.
I think I'll call him tomorrow.
I should back track and do some explaining here.
Im currently finishing off my firm's "graduate program" (our firm has a 3 x 6month rotation system for all its graduates). About two months ago I finished my second rotation which was in our corporate group. Loved the work, but unluckily for me, it was one of the busiest quarters we've ever had - it sapped evey ounce of life out of me. I worked 13 days straight at one stage. My longest working week while I was there was an 80 hour week. I know this may sound pretty tame compared to what some "hardcore" lawyers work (how scary is that statement), but these sort of hours are overkill for a graduate I think (plus we dont get paid enough to put that sort of hard slog in!)
Anyway, the pace in my new group is quite leisurely, to say the least. When I first started here it was great: got to leave at a reasonable hour, have lunch breaks, had enough energy to go out for a drink on Friday nights...it was quite great really, I was on a quasi holiday!
But now, everything is REALLY slow - there's not a lot of work coming in, and even when there is stuff to do, the lawyers arent all that into delegating. And I dont even like the practice area. I've got the trifecta happening: stagnating work flow, no delegation, and no interest.
So I'm getting super bored. And de-motivated. Bored and de-motivated is such a bad combination.
Plus its worse because in the space of a couple of months I've gone from crazy busy to twiddling thumbs. Well maybe not that bad, I've had bits and pieces of work to do, to keep me "looking" busy, but not a great deal of billable, and we know that lawyers live and die by the billable unit. Unfortunately, this is going to kill my budget figures : (
So for the sake of my sanity Ive decided that Im going to try bail before my time is up, and head back to the "land of plenty". It got to the point today where I was considering running upstairs to my old partner, getting on my knees and pleading "take me back!".
But I decided that would probably not be a good look.
I think I'll call him tomorrow.
09 April 2006
Hello cyberworld!
Ok, yes - this is another lawyer blog - or "blawg" as some like to call them.
I picked "Carte Blanche" as the title for my place in cyberspace for a couple of reasons:
1 When I was in one of my first law school lectures, one of my lecturers used the term "carte blanche". One of my (then new) friends misheard her and thought she said "cut blush". I think he may have even written it in his notes with the less than conventional spelling. We found it hilarious at the time.
2 The legal definition: "carte blanche (f), n. Blank paper given to person to write his own terms on; full discretionary power"(1). When law students start their studies, and to a slightly lesser degree, when they complete their studies, they have a "carte blanche" - they have a clean slate and have the ability to be anything they want to be, go anywhere they want to go, and do anything they want to do (within reason!) - the "world is their oyster" - one of my old study buddies from my Accounting major used to routinely tell me this whenever I used to have a whinge about my law degree.
When law students become lawyers, particularly if they are working at a large law firm, often their carte is not as blanche and they don't have as much "discretionary power" over where they are going. I don't think this is necessarily a conscious thing. And Im not saying that this happens to everyone. But it can.
How serious does that sound!
Anyway, I'm hoping this blog will help me vent any work angst (as well as anything good that happens!) and help me keep track of my, hopefully fabulous, career - sometimes those long days just become one big blur!
(1) Fowler HW, "Fowler's Concise English Dictionary", Wordsworth Editions, Hertfordshire, 1989
Lawyers love footnotes. Apologies if the formatting of this footnote is not up to scratch. I've been out of uni for about 3 years now and don't have much use for footnotes at work. I would have used my trusty Butterworths Student's Legal Dictionary for the definition, but it's at the office...
I picked "Carte Blanche" as the title for my place in cyberspace for a couple of reasons:
1 When I was in one of my first law school lectures, one of my lecturers used the term "carte blanche". One of my (then new) friends misheard her and thought she said "cut blush". I think he may have even written it in his notes with the less than conventional spelling. We found it hilarious at the time.
2 The legal definition: "carte blanche (f), n. Blank paper given to person to write his own terms on; full discretionary power"(1). When law students start their studies, and to a slightly lesser degree, when they complete their studies, they have a "carte blanche" - they have a clean slate and have the ability to be anything they want to be, go anywhere they want to go, and do anything they want to do (within reason!) - the "world is their oyster" - one of my old study buddies from my Accounting major used to routinely tell me this whenever I used to have a whinge about my law degree.
When law students become lawyers, particularly if they are working at a large law firm, often their carte is not as blanche and they don't have as much "discretionary power" over where they are going. I don't think this is necessarily a conscious thing. And Im not saying that this happens to everyone. But it can.
How serious does that sound!
Anyway, I'm hoping this blog will help me vent any work angst (as well as anything good that happens!) and help me keep track of my, hopefully fabulous, career - sometimes those long days just become one big blur!
(1) Fowler HW, "Fowler's Concise English Dictionary", Wordsworth Editions, Hertfordshire, 1989
Lawyers love footnotes. Apologies if the formatting of this footnote is not up to scratch. I've been out of uni for about 3 years now and don't have much use for footnotes at work. I would have used my trusty Butterworths Student's Legal Dictionary for the definition, but it's at the office...
