We are all Slave now.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

Point 1: Big law can't help.

My first biglaw, my entire class got turned down for partner at the last minute because "the firm wasn't doing well, and they needed to ensure that each current partner could expect a certain income." So they added a year to the track.

A bit after that a young partner gave me a list of billings from the "current partners." It was full of deadwood. Guys who once had a promising practice but now had no work and did very little. there was the problem- people who wanted "assurance" they'd be paid, when their anemic practices were the problem.

Meanwhile, my class? there were 7 of us. At first we'd been 50. Across 8 years they'd weeded us out. the associates who made it to the vote were 100% skilled and hard working. Yet they passed us over, rather than cut the comp for the real problem. BECAUSE the real problem had equity. The very clear business reality didn't matter.

I'm not looking for a boo-hoo for me- just making the point Big Law cannot change, not to keep me, and likely not to adjust to a diverse culture.

Partnership at BigLaw has very little to do with hard work or skills, except to the extent that those things are an indicator of whether one brings in business. There are a lot of talented lawyers out there. Given where work comes from, black attorneys are at a big disadvantage in trying to develop books of business.

the answer may be for in-house counsel to be willing to move away from big law and look to mid-size firms that have more ability to adjust to realities, and to look to build a firm that looks more like the clients they represent?

It's always safer to go with the big firm. No one questions you when they screw things up.