I used to post here. I still do. But I used to, too.

Considering abandoning this practice area. Today opposing counsel made being at court feel like a fever dream episode of Jerry springer. Opposing counsel repeatedly screamed at me; mocked me to her client; eventually stood in a doorway shouting at me and calling me stupid to the point where my client and I were scared. I thought she was going to hit me. I was completely triggered and felt unsafe at work.

Eventually the judge sent his law clerk out to demand that this attorney get out of the doorway and leave the area. She then tried to stand outside the door and listen to what he was saying to me. He told her to get away from the door.

He apologized for her behavior, confirmed that she is aggressive and a bully, and begged me to not stop taking family law cases. I cried in my car after court and felt completely abused by this woman who seemed to get off on being combative, rude, insulting, and aggressive. It was verbally and emotionally abusive and I’ve never seen such lack of decorum.

The clerk acknowledged the atrocious behavior and apologized for it but they never reprimand or deal with the cultural problem. No amount of money is worth me feeling trapped and abused. It didn’t even feel like practicing law.

Am overreacting? I have felt sick over this all day. I’m also a criminal defense attorney and was today reflecting on the fact that I’m happier meeting with and repping my felon clients— where the stakes are much higher— than dealing with family law attorneys. I don’t mind the stress of practicing law— but today didn’t feel like practicing law; it felt like I was just being abused by someone with a personality disorder.

Any suggestions on dealing with this behavior? Or am I better off accepting that this isn’t for me and finding something else?

Also, I am a woman. If a male attorney had been publicly treating me the way this woman was, it would have been stopped much sooner.

What’s this about? Are family lawyers just unstable idiots who can’t practice actual law?!

EDIT: I learned after court that this woman got into a physical fight AT COURT with another female attorney in the county next door. Only punishment was she was told not to take any more cases with that same OC. So for everyone saying I overreacted, she’s a violent person and this seems to be understood by the bar.

Essentially OC has been horrendous with discovery. I asked them time and time again whether the stuff was turned over + whether it's ACTUALLY lost.

After weeks of going nowhere, I filed a motion compelling discovery. Then, I received a response from the OC which included a section entitled "Rules of Professional Conduct and Civility Rules". Basically, OC complained that I used the words "persistent reluctance to comply" and "irrational"...And said I broke professional conduct rules because by doing just that, I made disparaging personal remarks to them.

Guys - what should I do? I must have hurt my OC's feewings...

I was watching the dep of Zuckerberg, and was frustrated the attorney wasn’t even more prepared to skewer him. Anybody have any legendary teach tape level depositions you’d recommend?

I settled a big case and want to give my staff a bonus. I have two paralegals and a legal assistant. All have been with me for 5+ years. The fee is $200k. What does everyone think is an appropriate bonus?

I posted this a little over a year ago: https://www.reddit.com/r/Lawyertalk/s/PzJWowYRHU

I was working at a god awful ID firm with a terrible boss and my mental heath was abysmal. Eventually, I went on leave, came back for a few months, then they let me go. The writing was on the wall and it was either they kicked me out or I left on my own.

I since landed on my feet in another position with me and my boss as the only attorneys. It will be a year in December at my new firm and I’ve already developed enough to earn a raise! I don’t usually give myself grace or credit, but today’s events have shown me that I am a capable attorney. My former firms shot my confidence and didn’t provide the mentorship that was promised, but my boss is awesome. She values my opinions, respects my work, and has become a great mentor. With clients, I’ve noticed that her clients started to reach out to me for work.

I have more room to progress in the profession and for once I look forward to it, in addition to growing the firm with my boss.

I’m 25, a K-JD, single, no kids, and just started my second year at a V10. I’m currently living and working in a city that I don’t particularly love, and I’ve been thinking a lot about where I actually want to spend the rest of my twenties.

There are three other cities I’m seriously considering moving to, and honestly, I could see myself trying one out for a year or two before deciding whether I want to settle there long-term. I feel like I’m at the perfect age and stage of life to do that. I don’t have a spouse, children, or really anything tying me to one place.
But every time I start seriously considering a move, I get overwhelmed by the logistics of being an attorney. In most other professions, I feel like you can apply to jobs in a few different markets, see what opportunities come your way, and make a decision from there. In ours, there’s this additional layer of figuring out bar admission, transferring scores, character and fitness, fees, processing times, etc. And that’s before even getting into how difficult it can be to break into a new legal market without existing connections.

I guess I’m frustrated by the feeling that I have to make these relatively consequential, long-term decisions about where I want to live when I’m only 25 and still figuring out what I want my life to look like. I worked really hard to get here, and I’m grateful for the career, but sometimes I envy friends in other industries who seem to have more freedom to just pick up and try somewhere new.

Does anyone else feel this way? Have you navigated moving between legal markets, especially early in your career? Did you find it worth the hassle?
Or am I just being flighty and underestimating how complicated relocating is for everyone, regardless of profession? Lol.

I’m a workers comp attorney in my early 40s. I make $170k, with a realistic path to $200k in the next year or two. No significant bonus. I average around 60 hours a week, so the workload is substantial, but the arrangement itself is pretty comfortable: fully remote, lots of flexibility and autonomy, and coworkers I like.

I’m good at what I do, understand the workflow, and have strong job security. I also handle a specialized practice area that makes me difficult to replace. I enjoy helping my clients, so this isn’t a situation where I hate the work or the firm.

What bothers me is the long-term outlook. I worry that my compensation will plateau around $200k and that the longer I stay, the harder it will be to move into something else.

If I’m being honest, prestige is part of it too. Sometimes I feel like workers’ comp is looked down on by other attorneys, and I catch myself feeling like I’m not a “real lawyer,” despite doing demanding litigation work. I recognize that could be my own insecurity. But I have to admit prestigious something that is important to me. I never really had it in my career and I want it.

My main reason to switch would be greater earning potential and broader career options. I’d consider a temporary pay cut and giving up some flexibility if there were a realistic path to substantially higher compensation. But I don’t want to start over just to work more, earn the same money, and have a practice area that sounds better at a bar association event.

Has anyone moved from workers’ comp or another specialized practice into employment law, general litigation, or something similar? Is it worth it for me to do so?

Should I make this change before I get too much older, or just get over the prestige concerns and appreciate a good setup?

How good is this job after all? I feel like I take it for granted a bit. I am aware that I'm living a lot of people's dream. Am I crazy for wanting to change?

What do you think?

PS

I used AI to produce this writing, but I am actually a real person going through this. I would love some honest advice and feedback. Thank you all. 🙏🏼

Any neurospicy lawyers practicing have any tips on time keeping? The various pulls for attention throughout the day have me posting .5 for a 10 hour work day and I feel like I am always back tracking trying to reconfigure what I have done in the day… also for those folks who wanna say “just post as you go” that doesn’t work for me and hasn’t since I started in practice YEARS ago… I’m looking for something new that might work for me if it works for others with non neurotypical brains…

Specifically looking for any tricks that folks have used to address the issue when it comes to divergent pulls for attention. For example, setting a timer when drafting pleadings is not an issue, it’s when I am drafting said pleadings and an assistant comes in with an urgent call from a client or a partner comes in to give me a new file… once my attention is pulled I don’t even remember that I set a timer and I’m sure as heck not setting a new one when a partner is trying to talk to me…

Anyway, any tips are welcomed (though if it’s “post as you go” don’t strain those finger muscles, I try and try and it’s still not working) 😝

I want someone's opinion as to whether or not this amount is low, fair, or insulting.

First year associate in big firm, handles 25-30 cases, prepares them for trial and/or settles. Averages 42-50hrs per week. Obviously they don't control rates/payments. Paid about $100k/annually. Gets bonus of $360.75 for the year.

I hope this doesn't break community rules! Sorry if it does.

Added: Florida, and firm has "no billing requirements."

Can we all just take a moment to laugh at the fact that we passed the exact bar she failed?

This is not to say anything negative about other people who didn’t pass that particular bar because surely you did not lie about it repeatedly on national television.

She failed my bar and then went on national television to lie about it. A lot. 😂

The mods removed my prior post about whether Dexcom’s process in obtaining consent to its new T&Cs is unconscionable. But enough members of one type 1 diabetes subreddit saw the comments which affirmed my opinions stated in a post about this in that subreddit, and others subsequently brought it to people’s attention on other platforms. And apparently Dexcom caught wind of the concerns and issued an apology, albeit feigned, via Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DeihvPQlDjo/?exln=cDRyYWUwbXliMTgw

I'm a trial lawyer at a biglaw firm and my practice group goes to trial often. I just started at the firm a month ago. Do you think my accent will hold me back? I have a moderate Chinese accent.

I think maybe the juries and judges won't like it which will hinder my trial career. Please be honest. I can switch to corporate law if that would be better.

Thank you all.

Hey all, I am a career-long public interest and government attorney considering an offer to join a firm, and I am trying to interpret the billable hour target in terms of how demanding the job would be in terms of hours and workload. The work would be about 70% plaintiff and 30% employment advice and counsel. The firm has a billable target of 1680. They say that they are not sticklers for the hours, and their proof of that is that bonuses are based off of receipts instead of billable hours. The attorney who was in the role that is now vacant (who left for a different job) billed/tracked 1478 hours last year and got about a ~$58k bonus based on receipts.

Any insight, or even identification of unknown variables that would help me get a good sense, would be very much appreciated.

Edit: Plaintiff's work is employment discrimination, wage and hour, and fair housing.

I’ll start with that im a pretty new attorney (graduated June 25, July 25 bar, admitted July 26) and that I’ve had some pretty clear struggles so far.

There just has to be something I’m missing with billing. Work at a boutique family law firm with 9 attorneys. The other day I last second had to cover a court appearance last second for another attorney who had to leave for a family emergency. While the conference itself maybe wasn’t anything extensive, I still had no knowledge of this case at all before I was told I was doing it in 2 hours. Spent about an hour reviewing what was a pretty big file with over 10 different motions in it so I’d be prepared. Even that didn’t feel like enough time as I really only focused in on the stuff I thought I needed to know that day.

Anyway got scolded for billing that time to get up to speed on the file. I just don’t get it lol