Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away, this was the season when the new class of first-year associates was learning the ropes at Big Law.

By late September, most First Years had been trained on the Firm’s reimbursement policies, assigned a few projects and were off and billing. These days, I honestly do not even know when First Years start. Some hopefuls were deferred indefinitely; others just seem to pop up on the elevator at random.