Ah second-year law students, how I envy you. Donning pressed wool suits in the still-hot weather, milling around bite-size interview rooms anxiously awaiting your turn on the slab, clutching leather folders in sweaty palms as the Skadden or Simpson parner laughs uproariously at something the interviewee directly before you said, shooting fleeting glances at her [...]

I’m plodding down the sidewalk on a dreary afternoon, venturing into the teeming wild of Midtown for a lunch (in my lawyer days we called them “meetings” where lunch happened to be served – now they’re “lunches” where some business eventually gets discussed). Weaving through herds of tourists waving maps and hot dog carts filling [...]

“Mel, I need your help,” R, a law firm veteran and good friend, says in a low voice.
“Really? What’s up?” I half expect him to ask me for help writing his resignation letter. He’s been contemplating an escape from the trenches for months, while I’ve cheered from the sidelines.
“It’s time. I’m buying S [...]

We’re at a large birthday dinner full of people we barely know, the kind of mildly awkward social situation where you grasp at any shred of conversation and wonder what your mutual friend has in common with these people. Around a third of the group are lawyers, and I’m shrinking into the wood of my [...]

So the “Times” wants to talk about women in law firms. It cites the very interesting statistic that, despite the fact that 50% of the associates in first-year classes at most firms are women, less than 17% of partners are female. Of that group of bright-eyed, eager young female first-years, more than half are gone [...]

Throwing away a deceased laptop is a bit like moving; it forces you to sort through piles of crap from your past and confront the person you were years ago. The other night I sat in my living room shuffling through old files on a hardrive that will soon occupy space in some landfill. There [...]

The following conversation has occurred several times over the past few weeks:
One of Multiple Friends at Various White Shoe NYC Firms: Hey Mel! What’s up?
Me: Hey Friend at White Shoe Firm. How are you?
Friend: Doing OK. Did you hear about the $20K raise for associates in New York?
Me: Yes, I heard.
Friend: So, what do you [...]

It never ceases to amaze me how clearly society has ranked and labeled professions. This job is worthy, that one is not, we’re taught this from the moment we set a tiny foot into the modern world. And, non-coincidentally, the level of prestige associated with a profession is directly proportional to its potential for a [...]

Today’s anonymous story is a perfect example of a near-universal phenomenon I call the Critical Moment. We make it through law school and land the high-paying firm job. We enter the firm determined to leap any hurdle between us and that prized 500-square-foot corner office on the 48th floor. Most of us trudge along for [...]

Recently, someone pointed out that I haven’t dedicated much airtime to another unique perspective: that of secretaries at law firms. It’s safe to say that no one else sits in such a prime position to observe absurd workplace antics. So today we have a list of observations from an experienced legal secretary, who also happens [...]