Chicago Happenings

[Aloha Mr. Learned Hand]

Originally posted by Shape Shifter
Because we had no internet on Monday, I had to waste time by looking through magazines. While flipping through Corporate Counsel, I came across an interesting ad for Freeborn & Peters. The full-page ad features a picture of the 311 South Wacker bldg at night, with all the office windows dark except for those presumably occupied by F&P. The ad reads:

"Yes, we have regular business hours. Sometimes they're all hours. Freeborn & Peters guarantees hard work, quick turnaround and client service. Our business is conducted in real time, and that's not always daytime. So when our clients notice our lights on late, they rest assured."

A few questions.

1. Do they show this ad to their SAs?

2. If GAs leave early, do they have to leave their lights on to allow their clients peace of mind?

3. Do the GPs know that the website address (www.freebornpeters.com) makes me giggle?

Nice. Great recruiting tool, especially here where things aren't quite as bad as "NY hours" for GA's. I'm sure they don't build that inflated energy bill into their fee structure either...

[Aloha Mr. Learned Hand]

Since it's vacation season and very slow on the Chicago legal news front, I thought I'd take this opportunity to offer some sage advice to the new First Year associates who will be joining firms throughout Chicago (and the country for that matter) after Labor Day... Feel free to chime in with some of your own:


1. Dress code: Even if your new firm is summer casual, always err a little on the side of dressing more conservatively than the associates a few years senior to you... This doesn't mean wear a suit everyday, but don't stand out by being sloppier than most.

2. Be careful when replying to or sending "All-Firm" e-mails or voice mails... For replies, make sure you are only replying to the sender and not to everyone else. When sending e-mails to the entire firm, do so only at the request of a superior, be sure you know exactly what they want it to say, and check, double check and triple check the content before you send it.

3. If you are not busy, don't feel obligated to sit at your desk all evening waiting for the phone to ring. Business is cyclical, and sometimes you will be less busy than your peers. By all means seek out work, preferably by calling directly people you want to work with who have a reputation for treating associates well. But don't feel bad going home "early" on those days when you have nothing on your plate... What comes around goes around, believe me, so take advantage of a lull when you can...

4. Talk to your peers and associates in higher classes about partners' reputations so you know who to work for and who to avoid...

5. Get involved in pro bono work... It gets you more responsibility, more recognition and offers a wide variety of work and experience...

6. Be friendly. Say hello to people on your floor, in the elevator, etc. Don't be obnoxious, but make the effort even if you get a cold shoulder. Face it, some people are happy being miserable.

7. Be nice to support staff and to your secretary. Know your secretary's birthday and get him/her something. The support staff are often in a position to help you out in jam... Your secretary probably knows a lot more about the firm, it's procedures and it's office politics. Let them help you stay out of trouble...

Best of luck to all...

[Did you just call me Coltrane?]

Originally posted by Aloha Mr. Learned Hand
Since it's vacation season and very slow on the Chicago legal news front, I thought I'd take this opportunity to offer some sage advice to the new First Year associates who will be joining firms throughout Chicago (and the country for that matter) after Labor Day... Feel free to chime in with some of your own:

Yes, but what sage advice to you have for a 2nd year in a boutique firm who wants a different job or non-law job?

There's clearly no birthday party for me here.

[Aloha Mr. Learned Hand]

Originally posted by Did you just call me Coltrane?
Yes, but what sage advice to you have for a 2nd year in a boutique firm who wants a different job or non-law job?

There's clearly no birthday party for me here.

Since I've never been in that situation, I'm not going to patronize you with pithy advice about what I'd do. Ok, maybe just a little bit...

Try this:

1. Find a good headhunter. I'd recommend (from colleagues' recommendations) McCormack Schreiber or Major Hagen & Africa.

or 2., failing that:

Move east and nail Paigow...

[mmm3587]

Originally posted by Shape Shifter
[Freeborn and Peters ad description]

Maybe they are just trying to make people think that they're one of the big boys, but it just seems silly. Anyone hiring a law firm from an ad in Corporate Counsel knows that, when they're paying hundreds of dollars an hour for their lawyers to do stuff, the lawyers will work all night when it's necessary. No one, when reading Corporate Counsel and making a decision about which firm to retain, thinks "Hmmm, are these the kind of guys who are going to be going home at five when I need them to get something done?"

And that sounds like a place where face time would be a big issue. Fuck that. When I interview in the future, that will be the first question I ask: "Is this the kind of place that expects me to spend a lot of time in the office when it's not necessary?"

Unless I really need a job, I guess.

[taxwonk]

Originally posted by Did you just call me Coltrane?
Yes, but what sage advice to you have for a 2nd year in a boutique firm who wants a different job or non-law job?

There's clearly no birthday party for me here.

Coltrane, the first thing you need to do is go get a buzz on. Make sure that you're not just suddenly waking up and realizing the honeymoon is over. That tends to hit a lot of 2d and 3d years, and it's temporary.

Assuming that's not the case, you need to figure out whether you don't wanna be a lawyer no more, or you don't wanna work in a boutique, etc.

There are other alternatives. Bigger firms. In-house. You could go government for a few years and really learn something about the type of law you allegedly practice. (Nothing personal, but I finally figured out ten years into the game that I was only beginning to be worth something at about year five.)

If you do decide you don't want to practice law any more, think about transferable skills, etc. But whatever you do, don't burn your bridges. Nothing's worse than leaving a firm, announcing loudly to all that you hate the law, etc. only to find out after a year or two of doing something else that what you REALLY hate is having to work for a living.

Yes, I know all this "advice" is superficial and very general. But let's face it. You don't know me and I don't know jack about you. How deep can we get? Besides, it's worth exactly what you paid for it.

Oh yeah. Getting laid also helps your perspective tons. If it's been a while, I'd start there.

[lookingformarket]

Originally posted by Aloha Mr. Learned Hand
Feel free to chime in with some of your own:

2. Be careful when replying to or sending "All-Firm" e-mails or voice mails... For replies, make sure you are only replying to the sender and not to everyone else. When sending e-mails to the entire firm, do so only at the request of a superior, be sure you know exactly what they want it to say, and check, double check and triple check the content before you send it.

3. If you are not busy, don't feel obligated to sit at your desk all evening waiting for the phone to ring. Business is cyclical, and sometimes you will be less busy than your peers. By all means seek out work, preferably by calling directly people you want to work with who have a reputation for treating associates well. But don't feel bad going home "early" on those days when you have nothing on your plate... What comes around goes around, believe me, so take advantage of a lull when you can...

5. Get involved in pro bono work... It gets you more responsibility, more recognition and offers a wide variety of work and experience...

7. Be nice to support staff and to your secretary. Know your secretary's birthday and get him/her something. The support staff are often in a position to help you out in jam... Your secretary probably knows a lot more about the firm, it's procedures and it's office politics. Let them help you stay out of trouble...

Best of luck to all...

2. Don't just check content. You don't want to be the first year who misspelled the managing partner or firm's name in an all-firm email. People will remember it and laugh at you.

3. Going home early when you are a slow first year means leave at 5:30, it does not mean cut out at 3. You don't want to have a dark office when the partner comes around at 5 to have you do something.

5. Don't do too much pro bono work. By all means, do some, but don't become known as ProBonoGuy because all you do is pro bono work. Do not ever turn down billable work because of a pro bono project.

7. Be nice to everyone's secretary. They will talk about you. When they talk about you, they will talk to other secretaries and will also tell the lawyers they work for about the snippy first year who was an asshole to them. Because smart people like to make their secretaries happy, when lawyers hear complaints from their secretary about a snippy first year, they go yell at the snippy first year.

[Did you just call me Coltrane?]

Originally posted by taxwonk
Coltrane, the first thing you need to do is go get a buzz on. Make sure that you're not just suddenly waking up and realizing the honeymoon is over. That tends to hit a lot of 2d and 3d years, and it's temporary.

Assuming that's not the case, you need to figure out whether you don't wanna be a lawyer no more, or you don't wanna work in a boutique, etc.

There are other alternatives. Bigger firms. In-house. You could go government for a few years and really learn something about the type of law you allegedly practice. (Nothing personal, but I finally figured out ten years into the game that I was only beginning to be worth something at about year five.)

If you do decide you don't want to practice law any more, think about transferable skills, etc. But whatever you do, don't burn your bridges. Nothing's worse than leaving a firm, announcing loudly to all that you hate the law, etc. only to find out after a year or two of doing something else that what you REALLY hate is having to work for a living.

Yes, I know all this "advice" is superficial and very general. But let's face it. You don't know me and I don't know jack about you. How deep can we get? Besides, it's worth exactly what you paid for it.

Oh yeah. Getting laid also helps your perspective tons. If it's been a while, I'd start there.

Your advice is much appreciated. And not superficial at all. Especially the part about bridge-burning. I have a great desire to go down in flames, but I'm not sure why. Part of me thinks it would just be fun. Maybe I'm self destructive or dramatic or rebellious for the wrong reasons. I've been known to do stuff just b/c I'm not supposed to do it. I definitely need to put that out of my mind. The law I practice is fairly specialized, and somewhat interesting. Unfortunately, I still don't have the responsibility I desire, which puts me in a catch-22 position regarding leverage with the firm.

By "get a buzz on" do you mean "get drunk often"? I think I've got that one covered.

Thanks again.

[taxwonk]

Originally posted by Did you just call me Coltrane?

By "get a buzz on" do you mean "get drunk often"? I think I've got that one covered.

Thanks again.

Get drunk, get stoned, drop a xanax, get you ice cream cone with sprinkles for a change. Whatever puts a smile, on, Dude. I make it a point every single week to do something as a treat for me.

[Did you just call me Coltrane?]

Originally posted by taxwonk
Get drunk, get stoned, drop a xanax, get you ice cream cone with sprinkles for a change. Whatever puts a smile, on, Dude. I make it a point every single week to do something as a treat for me.

The SEC is currently hiring staff attys at all regional offices (including Chicago). How difficult is it to get in? It's not DOJ tough, is it? I do have a finance background.

[Aloha Mr. Learned Hand]

Originally posted by Did you just call me Coltrane?
The SEC is currently hiring staff attys at all regional offices (including Chicago). How difficult is it to get in? It's not DOJ tough, is it? I do have a finance background.

Probably isn't quite as tough as DOJ... Plus, it's a growth industry right now. Putting corporate execs. in Federal "Pound Me in the Ass" Prison is in...

[Aloha Mr. Learned Hand]

Hard to believe it was two years ago.

It was a beautiful day here, just like New York. I was on the train to work almost to downtown when the first reports came out of a plane crashing into the WTC. About 10 minutes later, I'm walking to work by one of the brokerage firms and a large group of people are clustered around a flat-screen TV in a storefront window. That was the first time I saw it. I just stood there in shock for a few minutes, but then I thought it was just a horrible accident. I get to work, fire up the computer, and learned by then from the news and people in the office that it was not as the second plane and the Pentagon plane went in.

Shortly thereafter, my office was evacuated. I caught a ride home with a co-worker, but due to the traffic and confusion it took almost 3 hours to make a 45 minute trip. It took almost that long to alert Mrs. Hand, as the cell phones were jammed up. By the time I got home, I wanted to do nothing else but hug my family. I think I watched the news for the better part of the next 48 hours after that...

Though the closest person lost to my family was the son-in-law of a family friend (who left a wife and two darling children), it still hurts to think about it. I have family in NYC, and vividly remember visiting the WTC as a kid. I was in NYC about a month before it happened. I've been back a few times since, and on one recent trip my flight into LaGuardia was diverted fairly low over Ground Zero. I'll never forget looking down into that pit at night, with all of the floodlights on it. I'll go in person someday, but I think I'll wait until they rebuild there and I'll take the kids. They still don't know about it, and I think I'd like to keep it that way for a while... How do you explain something like that?

Any thoughts or memories you have are appreciated...

[Did you just call me Coltrane?]

Originally posted by Aloha Mr. Learned Hand
Probably isn't quite as tough as DOJ... Plus, it's a growth industry right now. Putting corporate execs. in Federal "Pound Me in the Ass" Prison is in...

This is a fuck!

[Say_hello_for_me]

Originally posted by Aloha Mr. Learned Hand
...
They still don't know about it, and I think I'd like to keep it that way for a while... How do you explain something like that?

Any thoughts or memories you have are appreciated...

Not to get political here, but it reminds me of a conversation I had 9 days ago with a Chicago friend about history and legacy.

In Virginia, people can raise their kids and bring them to Manassas to teach them a lesson about Stonewall Jackson. Its a beautiful, albeit imperfect, opportunity to teach children the importance of leadership and teamwork, and to explain how standing firm, as a group, in the midst of battle, can steady the resolve of others who already doubt the outcome.

Additionally, Gettysburg is about 1 1/2-2 hours outside of Virginia, and among the many lessons you can draw there from people of many states on either side, you can walk Pickett's mile, and show how those who believe in something will walk across a mile of open ground to face their enemy under hellish fire. The (mostly?) Virginia division advanced and fought until they are ordered to retreat by their weeping leader who sees his neighbors being slaughtered across the field over which they've advanced.

You can teach kids about the 116th infantry regiment (I think that was the number) of the Virginia National guard storming Omaha beach on D-Day and incurring the heaviest casualties of any regiment that day, in order to do their part to end a conflagration that had enveloped the entire nation and taken the sons of every state.

I could go on and on about the lessons you could proudly teach your children about their heritage in Virginia and, I'm sure, in any other state.


At the World Trade Center, you could teach children that Americans don't always get to choose their battlefields, their battles, or even their enlistment, because our enemies don't always make the same distinctions we do. So whether we like it or not, as Americans, we are all potentially engaged, whether or not we accept it as fair.

But I'd probably hold off on the WTC talk for any kids under 12 or 13. To me, its about the ideological equivalent of Bergen-Belsen or lynchings, though I don't mean to imply that any of them are atrocities of the same scale.

Hello

[Say_hello_for_me]

Oh yeah, and to add to the list of (innocent until proven guilty in some cases) famous criminals with Chicago-area origins, this weekend's Washington Post notes that whatshisname Hatfill's, the anthrax dude's, father, is a Mattoonite.

Or is that too far away to belong to the Hannsen (most damaging spy in history), Kaczynski (not even in the top 100 most damaging Luddites in history, but still noteworthy as the Unabomber), Capone, etc... etc... etc... etc... (repeat 500 times) crowd?

Whats with you people?

Hello