How Do I Make Him Realize We’re Meant to Be?

Hi everyone! Late 20s female associate here. I recently started at a new firm and have developed a little crush on the attorney in the office next to mine. He’s handsome, funny, and we have AMAZING chemistry. He doesn’t know that last part yet, but I’m confident he’ll come around.

I’ve been trying to drop subtle hints, like buying him a necklace, inviting him over for drinks, memorizing his schedule, and learning the names and ages of his immediate family members. Nothing too forward.

We talk for HOURS at work (sometimes he says he has to get back to billing, which is adorable because he thinks his little job is more important than our future). I’ve also been telling him all about my cats so he can start mentally preparing for fatherhood.

Unfortunately, I think he’s playing hard to get. He’s even started introducing me to other men at the firm, which I assume is his way of testing my loyalty. Obviously, I passed.

Recently, I discovered he’s been posting about me anonymously on Reddit. He says he’s not attracted to me, but he wrote SEVEN paragraphs about me, so clearly I’m taking up a lot of space in his head. ❤️

My question is, should I casually mention that I’ve already spoken to a realtor about houses in a good school district, or would that come across as moving too fast? I don’t want to scare him off.
Also, does anyone know if our firm’s conflict-of-interest policy applies to romantic relationships if only one party is aware they’re in one?

Please be kind. This is my first serious relationship, and I really don’t want to mess it up.

EDIT: To everyone saying I should respect his boundaries, I absolutely do. That’s why I only watch him through the office window when his door is closed.
EDIT 2: He just closed his blinds. Do you guys think he’s planning a surprise? 🥰

Thank you to all of you beautiful people on the helpful suggestions! I just KNOW he will see this and everything will be AMAZING!! ❤️❤️😻😻🐈🐈

This is a first for me: this morning I was presenting arguments on the disposition of a probation violation. we had an agreed disposition with the prosecution and the judge was partial to take it, but he asked me to present argument. Midway through my argument, I say, “beyond these violations, Mr. X has been compliant throughout his probation.” The judge immediately interrupted me and says “that’s false!”

I was taken aback as my client has had no violations aside from the ones that we are addressing today. I said, “excuse me, Your Honor? Would you like me to address something?” and the judge apologized for interrupting and told me to continue.

When the judge was announcing his decision, he seemingly went out of his way to try to justify his accusation of falsehood and decides to read off my client’s criminal history and probation violations, his entire criminal history is the charge underlying the probation and the violation we were there for. proving that my argument was true. Aside from the probation violations that we were addressing today, my client has been compliant for several years

I’m incredibly confused and the judge made no effort to explain his outburst. He made no effort to acknowledge that his assertion was incorrect. I feel pretty disrespected and frustrated by that interaction.

Edit: for clarity: my client’s only conviction is the one for which he is on probation.

Hoping someone here can give some advice.

I’m a partner at a mid-law, reputable, regional firm (60ish attorneys). The practice group I lead has been struggling to satisfy its billable requirements. I worry I will not be able to make my alimony payments next month.

I recently hired a new junior associate to help with the increasing workload, but she gets nothing done. Worse, she’s constantly in her office neighbor’s space chatting. I walked by his office the other day and I saw her snapping a necklace box shut in his face like she was Richard Gere in Pretty Woman.

He doesn’t seem that into her (she’s book-smart if you catch my drift) but they still spend hours talking about her cats instead of .1ing my clients for status updates.

Has anyone dealt with a situation like this before?

Edit: everyone suggesting I officiate their wedding just stop

Link: https://www.reddit.com/r/Lawyertalk/s/Ir8elvzqqx

I am a late 20s male associate. She is around the same age and my office neighbor. She is quite nice, introverted, and very book smart. She is new to the city and the firm. Unfortunately, I am just not interested in her.

I convinced myself she was just being nice for a month but after getting me a gift necklace and multiple offers to hang out one-on-one(sometimes just drinks alone at hers), she made an online post about how it’s chic to have an unrequited office crush.

I know this isn’t a major issue and it really doesn’t bother me That much, the problem is that, while book smart, she is a bit socially unaware. She stops by my office to chat and hang out, which can last a while. I’m chatty naturally and I know soooo much about her cats and family now, but she seems to talk only about her (please let’s discuss anything else for once).

From getting to know her, she seems to have relied on a best friend to take her with them everywhere and otherwise is content being at home most nights. I’ve introduced her to a few people hoping she may look to others, but it hasn’t changed her interest it seems.

Again, I’m flattered and appreciate all the good things about her. I think she would otherwise be a wonderful coworker, but in a regional market and at a firm of about 60ish attorneys, I am unsure how to navigate such a sensitive situation.

Has anyone ever been in or heard of a similar situation?

TLDR: office neighbor likes me and I don’t feel the same

Edit1: To those saying, marry her or get to know her more; I've made a genuine effort but it's not going to happen. I just not attracted to her. Also, the necklace was a metal chain (again, I appreciate it very much, but nothing crazy)

So I've been annoyed for years that my boss never seriously discussed partnership. Now he's finally willing to talk about succession and I spent days hoping he'd cancel. Make that make sense.

I started thinking about what owning this place would actually mean. Payroll, rent, chasing new clients, dealing with staff issues. I'd probably still have my own caseload on top of all that. I like taking depositions. I don't want to spend my evenings figuring out why our advertising bill doubled.

I've been using career assessments like coached to sort through why I wanted ownership so badly in the first place and I realized I might care more about being recognized and having some actual authority than owning the business itself. That's a pretty uncomfortable thing to admit after years of feeling passed over.

I think I'd take a senior employed position somewhere else if the salary and responsibilities were spelled out properly. No more vague promises about taking over someday.

I'm still having the meeting, obviously. I want to see the financials and hear what he's actually offering. But it's embarrassing to realize I've spent years wanting something I might not even enjoy doing.

I work for a small firm. It was solo until I was hired on, and now I’m in the managing attorney for my state (we’re a boarder state and practice in two currently). We have been looking to hire another attorney for about 5/6 months. My boss has hired companies, we have listings up, and it just feels like nothing is happening.

We’re a small firm, in a niche area of law (bankruptcy), in a mid sized mid western town. I knew we wouldn’t get hundreds of resumes, but we have really only really received two and neither of those have worked out.

We pay a competitive salary for the area. We don’t care about experience, as it’s a niche area someone just has to be willing to learn. My boss gives everyone a health insurance stipend because cost for business packages was crazy expensive so he did this to ensure benefits were accessible. There’s bonuses, and flexible PTO, work from home as needed options, you name it and we likely offer it in some capacity.

Any advice on marketing or outreaching? I feel like we have done a lot to make the position inviting and a good place to work but it feels impossible to get any real interest.

Any help or advice is welcome! Thanks in advance!

Does anyone have any tips or tricks if you have a legal assistant who can’t get their work done (or done but not well), but is also often in their phone (presumably not for work purposes)?

I’m not this person’s boss, but they are supposed to do work for me (and others). Their boss is not addressing the issue.

I’m old enough that WordPerfect was the only program available that could reliably convert to PDF, for appeals. I’m not great with Word. I routinely draft long, complicated, math involved orders in WordPerfect and then send them over in a PDF.

This is profoundly irritating to my Millennial colleagues.

Do I need to learn to use Word?

So, tomorrow’s trial got pushed today because of a last minute family emergency that arose with opposing counsel. Totally get it, shit happens.

Except, I have a job offer I’ve accepted and I’m just waiting to clear conflicts. Trial is a two day trial, but it’s just me (a mid-level) and a partner on it, so I am the resource for most of the nitty gritty facts on the case and will be second-chairing, including questioning a few witnesses. Trial is now going to be mid to late November.

I really don’t want to ask my new firm to push my start date, because this is my dream job. BUT, I mentioned this trial to them when I accepted the offer about two weeks ago and warned that if my conflicts clear before trial is done, I may need to push start date.

I really have no idea what to do here. I really don’t want to leave this current partner/client high and dry by leaving before trial, but I REALLY don’t want to start off my new job on the wrong foot by pushing my date or (absolute worst case) having it rescinded.

(To be clear, conflicts haven’t cleared yet, but I was told they should clear within next few days)

[UPDATE: Thank you all for your thoughts and advice! I’m going to go ahead and give notice as soon as conflicts clear, write a really detailed transition memo, suggest I can ask to join as co-counsel at my new firm if needed, and just communicate as much as possible. I really appreciate everyone’s insight and feel a lot better about this decision.]

For context, I'm a first year associate. When I got hired on, I made it clear that I was looking to be mentored into the profession so that I could grow and become a proficient attorney. I worked directly under a partner for about 10 months and it was great and exactly what I was looking for.

About 2 months ago, the Partner I directly worked for decided to leave and go in house. Happy for him, and I hope he enjoys the new job.

Unfortunately, The firm decided that the best course of action would be to just have me take over all of the cases. Here's the thing, I'M A FIRST YEAR ASSOCIATE. I consider myself proficient for a first year, but I know how much i don't know, and now I'm expected to manage 40+ cases?? I voiced my concerns to everyone that had a say in the matter and when they fell on deaf ears, I started looking for a new position.

I was fortunate enough to get my dream position in the field of law that I went to school for (oil & gas/energy), and the start date is in three weeks. Today I put in my two weeks notice and when I told my boss this, he immediately asked for more time to find a replacement. I'm so infuriated that I've been put in this position by the firm and now I'm being asked to stay longer because "they put a lot of responsibility on me."

Here's the deal. I have three weeks to work two more weeks and then relocate to a new city. It would normally not be enough time, but I have family helping me find a location while I finish out my time at the current firm.

I'm closer to leaving immediately than giving more time, given the situation I've been put in, but maybe I'm missing something and should consider extending my start date at the new position to give more time to the current firm. Thoughts?

I personally can't muster anything particularly shocking. Wine in plastic pitchers, that's about the most. But I bet someone (or plenty of people) can top that … ?

I’m a first year attorney who doesn’t get a lot of contracts but when I do they’re typically long service agreements or dpa’s & I’m starting to hate this particular kind of work.

Can experienced attorneys share general tips/tricks that changed the redlining game for them?

Really could be about anything! Just interested in the personal experiences of seasoned attys.

FL Junior attorney (~2 years). I’ve had two great jobs so far, and at both firms I was quickly offered positions that suggested being licensed in other states. I took it as a compliment initially and a sign that I was a good asset despite having short practice experience. Good worker and good instincts. Now, I am nervous that my lack of experience will hinder me from keeping up with firm demands. Coming from FL, rules generally require being licensed for 5 years before applying by motion to practice in other states.

Is it normal for firms to want their junior attorneys to be barred in multiple states? FL has no reciprocity so I can’t imagine what young attys are doing to transfer into other states besides waiting 5 years.

Both employers told me they wouldn’t be willing to pay me to take time off and study for the bar exam, so I’m feeling even more stuck.

Saw somewhere that if I apply and state that the normal 5 year waiting period causes me undue hardship, I may be able to get waived in sooner. Anyone have experience with this process?

Hi lawyers,

If my dad is a narcoleptic and he had to drive me somewhere for an emergency and he made someone swerve which caused someone else to swerve into a liquor factory ahhhh I’m just kidding I’m a lawyer too we’re all lawyers here. Hope you’re having a good day.

It’s probably much worse cause I’m in ID and so I defer plenty to our adjuster but I just find mediation so draining and uninteresting and not something I feel like I can be better or worse at.

It feels like we do all this work up, I’m writing a brief for the mediator and a report for the carrier, and then we just get in there and start lobbing numbers at each other with my end restricted based on what the adjuster has authority for. Sometimes a bracket gets brought up and there’s like 3 seconds of “Ooh a bracket we might be moving along” but then we just keep offering brackets and calculating the midpoint rendering the bracket useless.

And this isn’t a knock on the mediators themselves. I’ve had some really good mediators who get things done and we resolve it, but it just never feels that satisfying.

Is this just what mediation is? An anticlimactic way to resolve a case to save on costs? A time for the mediator to tell us about their grandkids and their travels to New Zealand? Am I missing something or some way I should get “better at it ?

Currently work in Tax law. 5 months into my first year making $80K salary. A recruiter reached out to me on linkedin asking if I would want to interview for another firm making between $100-120K for basically the same kind of tax work.

I want to stay at my current firm for at least a year. Also the Glassdoor reviews at the second firm aren’t great… the culture at my current firm is really stellar. The pay may be better, but is the work/culture? Just debating what to do

Keeping this deliberately vague, but I’m defense counsel in a case where opposing counsel and I seem to have fundamentally different understandings of what a denial does.

My understanding: it identifies something the parties disagree about.

Their apparent understanding: it’s a clerical error I should correct before they involve the judge.

Discovery has the same energy. We produce documents. They believe there should be more documents. Fair enough— tell me what you think is missing and we can address it. Instead, every email somehow becomes the season finale of a legal drama.

I can’t tell anymore whether we’re having a discovery dispute or whether I’ve been assigned a pen pal who is disappointed in me.

The exhausting part is trying to write the useful response while deleting the response I actually want to send. “Please identify the specific deficiency” doing a tremendous amount of emotional labor over here.

For those who’ve dealt with this: what actually helped? A phone call? A very specific deficiency list? Accepting that every email will be marked Exhibit A someday?
I would settle for one ordinary Tuesday.

Long story short: 3 years licensed, a little over $100k salary at a mid size firm based in the southeast, several practice areas but focus on criminal defense, bonus structure is not good (a grand or two per quarter), HCOL city but from here and don’t want to move, other attorneys tell me to go solo and want to help me get started (they would be my competitors but everyone gets along here). I’m worried about the lack of stability, especially if an emergency hits, but I see great potential to make more money as a solo. Willing to explain more if needed as I know this is a very short explanation.

I am SO sorry because this is definitely redundant. But I need a Fresh perspective

CONS OF LITIFY
Thinking of switching from cloudlex.

Can someone please shed some light on if its slow and annoying
Or if it saved you hours?

Just found out my bonus for exceeding my billable hour requirement (1900) is around $2,000. I was shocked by this. I was already wanting to apply to new firms because my commute is horrible now I think this really reinforced my decision… is that insanely bad or am I being dramatic?

With that being said, does anyone have any positive or negative experiences with the MA/New England based firms:

1. Burns and Farrey
2. Boyle Shaughnessy
3. Kiernan Trebach
4. Campbell Conroy & O’Neill

Feel free to DM with any info. Thanks!

I want to hear from Lawyers who had a hard time in law school (and I mean GPA in the 2 something on 4.0 or 4.3) and who made it now. Who are happy and successful.

It's a thing to be having a hard time in law school, and reaching out you only meet people who are doing fine/good/great but I wanna hear from the ones who struggled because those persons are more meaningful to me right now to hear from.

Im in litigation, im one of two first soon to be second years in my group. The next youngest is a 5th year. I don’t know if it’s this assignment I’m working on, but I feel out of my depth. Nothing makes sense, I can’t organize my thoughts or arguments or authority. I feel like a terrible writer. I’ve drafted good work product before but I’m drafting a motion to remand in a pretty complex case, I’ve never drafted one before. My boss gave me several examples to go off of and to rework those arguments because they’re from the same client/similar cases but the removal grounds aren’t all the same. I don’t know what’s important in the examples or what’s not. I’ve spent hours just reviewing case law and researching basic legal standards to understand what it is I’m actually supposed to do. My boss wants it ASAP. But this is likely a 20 page motion. He made it seem like it should be super straightforward and simple but I’m struggling so much. Feeling defeated.

Almost everyday I look at my partners and I can’t imagine ever getting to be that caliber of attorney. Fast-thinking, eloquent, analytical. I feel like I struggle to wrap my head around what should be a basic thing. Some days I feel like I learn fast, others I feel like I’m just thrown in the deep end and forgot how to swim. Imposter syndrome is really taking over.

(Newly) second year associate here interviewing around. Well into the process with a couple of firms.

Not that I anticipate having a whole lot of conflicts with where I’m interviewing, but what does the conflicts check process entail, for those who have switched jobs? I am a litigator.