Every summer I look forward to squirreling away a few hours to read the open-ended questions on our Midlevel Associates Survey. There’s always something entertaining and enlightening in the responses by this well-educated and articulate group. This spring, 5,748 third-, fourth-, and fifth-year associates anonymously answered our 2013 scoring questions as well as the three open-ended ones: Tell the managing partner one thing. What would you change about your firm? What most surprised you about working at your current firm?
Perennial complaints persisted: Why won’t firms shine more light on the path to making partner? Why aren’t firms more transparent about their financials? (And the never-ending refrain: Why aren’t I being paid market rates?) Some of the comments could have been written anytime in the last few years: One New York–based associate at an international firm criticized the culture at his/her workplace: “Make hours or no bonus (and it’s your fault), but don’t bill too many hours for X, Y, and Z [clients]. . . . Training is important . . . but no you can’t sit in on this call/meeting/etc. because we don’t want you billing for it.” Another associate in Washington, D.C. wrote, “I’ve been here three years and never met with a client, taken a deposition, or witnessed a hearing.”
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